I just read something from the Desiring God blog I want to share with you guys.
Here’s the challenge John Piper issues as he closes his chapter on prayer (chapter 6) in Desiring God:
[O]ne of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.
But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it.
Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer—for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy. (Desiring God, 2003 edition, pages 182–183)
Wow...you can't get where you want to go without a plan. I definitely want a significant prayer life! Like I said yesterday, my goal for the next year is to get fit, spiritually and physically. And so I need a plan...
I'm going to spend the weekend thinking about it and let you guys know my plan next week.
P.S. My birthday update is coming soon too!
sounds good! i hadn't thought about prayer this way...I think partially because we make it seem like such an easy thing - one way we encourage it is because it's so simple - but we really should think about it seriously too. i'm going to think about how to be more intentional with my prayers, instead of just mumbling them as i fall asleep...which is generally what happens. (or my prayer book, which is good but for really short times, not longer, focused ones)
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