“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17 – NIV) Today, I launch a new clergy collegial blog. I hope we will encourage and empower each other toward success and excellence in pastoral ministry. As I sit in the Pastor’s Study at Cambria Heights Community Church, I often ponder the possible feedback of clergy colleagues as it relates to preparing sermons, counseling in particularly difficult situation, designing fresh worship, balancing competing priorities of ministry, marriage and family, maintaining self-care, pursuing personal dreams and private interests outside of ministry and family, and finding resources to meet the ever evolving and changing needs of the people whom I serve. After a sustained period of prayer, reflection and meditation, I realize I can invite you to come “In The Pastor’s Study” for an exchange of ideas.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Practical Suggestions on Prayer


Practical Suggestions on Prayer

Prayer:           To make a fervent request; plead; beg; to make a devout or earnest request for; a reverent petition made to a deity or other object of worship; any act of communion with God, such as confession, praise, or thanksgiving.

v  Prayer is a conversation with God.  It parallels the discussions that we have with close relatives and very good friends.

v  We should bring the same intimacy, openness, honesty and frankness to prayer with God that we would to a personal confidant.

v  Fruitful prayer requires willingness and risk.

v  Prayer should be an intensely private and personal experience of God’s presence.

Approaches to the experience of Prayer

v  Active imagination – Carl Justav Jung

v  Attention – Simone Weil

v  Drawn by the Holy Spirit – John H. White, Daring to Draw Near

v  Flow, the theory of optimal experience  – Mihalyi Cskinmihalyi, Flow

v  Reflection - Deuteronomy
  

Daily Discipline of Prayer


v  Set a sacred time that you protect against distractions and interruptions.
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Be creative and pragmatic about the time
Alternate the time depending upon the day
Be disciplined allowing for the practicalities of your life and schedule

v  Develop a mindset for prayer.
           Attention
           Breathing exercises
           Centering
           Focus
           Raising consciousness

v  Find a sacred place for prayer. 
Seek solitude
Ensure privacy
Don’t geographically limit this space!

v  Bring spiritual tools
Bible
Hymn Book
Prayer List
Prayer Journal and writing instruments

v  Utilize your spiritual imagination – Ephesians 3:18-21
Write a letter God – using the computer or by hand
Maintain a prayer journal
Rotate the items on your prayer list
Pray within the busyness of your life
Embrace the uniqueness of your personality in your prayer time and space
Record (audio or video) your prayer requests
Practice rituals – e.g. burning a paid off mortgage note
  

Avoid the pitfalls of legalism in prayer


v  Resist Pharisaism
Self righteousness
Pride
Lack of humility
Thinking one is equal to God
Forgetting the sovereignty of God
Doubting and double-mindedness
Insisting that all prayers are verbal
Believing the prayer is limited to a certain space – e.g. the church
Believing that prayer must last a certain time to be authentic
Believing that prayer must be done in a certain posture to be sincere
Forsake the fallacy of developing a prayer formula.

 Different types of Prayer

v  Adoration and Praise                  Psalms; Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8
v  Intercessory                                 James 5:13-16; Romans 8:26; 1 Timothy 2:1
v  Invocation                                    Luke 11:13; Acts 1:8
v  Petition                                         Philippians 4:4-7
v  Supplication                                 Judges 16:23-30        
v  Thanksgiving                               Psalms; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18
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