"Confessions of a Prayer Slacker....."

I struggle with prayer.

I mean, I'm good at quick little "arrow" prayers all throughout the day.  It's easy to just shoot up those prayers whenever you hear some bad news (Oh Lord, please help Johnny through surgery today... Amen.)  Or even when you hear good news (Oh Lord, thank you for helping Janie to pass that test!). 
But the kind of prayer where you shut off the world for a few minutes and not only talk AT God, but try to actually listen to Him, well, that kind of prayer is NOT my forte.  Yet.

"God insists that we ask, not because He needs to know our situation, but because we need the spiritual discipline of asking." - Catherine Marshall

I read this today:
     "An omniscient God must know what we desire before we ask.  God knows what we really need most is reliance on God.  And how do we develop reliance?  Like most other things, by practicing.
      If it weren't for the need to remind ourselves daily or hourly that all power flows from God, we could just say a quick prayer at the beginning of each week, or each year, and be done with it.  Surely God could fill our requests a year ahead of time.  But getting our wishes granted isn't the purpose of prayer.   Getting to know God is the purpose."  

I LOVE those last two sentences:  "But getting our wishes granted isn't the purpose of prayer.  Getting to know God is the purpose."

How do we get to know someone?  Spending time with them, talking with them, listening to them... why is that so hard for me to do that with God?   Sigh.... I'm SO easily distracted.

I've heard it said that you never "drift" toward good things.  You don't drift into a good marriage.  You don't drift into a good exercise program.  You don't drift into a good prayer life.  You have to make deliberate decisions to step toward good things.  SO....I'm really trying hard these days to carve out a piece of my day for prayer.  Solid, direct, focused prayer.   And I'm anxious to see how my life transforms from it.

And I'm going to re-read my friend Diane Moody's book, "Confessions of a Prayer Slacker".  It kicked me in the butt the first time I read it and I got on track.  Sadly, I drifted back into my old habits.   If you are like me and need a good kick-start towards getting your prayer life alive again.... I highly suggest getting Diane's book.   Diane also has a brand-new book "Blue Christmas" and several other books that I'm anxious to read.  I love her writing and I LOVE that lady!  Check out all her books at her website: www.dianemoody.net

Have a great week everyone!!