If you aren't one to pray very easily or you think that you can't, just consider it a talk with God or a friend. Letting Him know the things that are on your mind, the things you are thankful for, worried about, questioning, happy, sad... You can freely give your prayer over to God and let Him refresh you in it.
Who doesn't look forward to refreshing? Any other moms missing the refreshing of a daily shower? Especially with a newborn and toddler, it wasn't always that easy to get into the refreshing stream of a shower daily. Maybe that was just me, so I especially look forward to my refreshing in the Spirit and prayer. Where showers may escape us, we can escape in our prayer through full surrender to the Spirit of God. Thankfully, we can be refreshed after all, amen.
Ephesians 6:18 "Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere."
Paul is encouraging us and the Church to constantly live in the Spirit, praying continually for one another, and in an unrelenting faith. As if to say, keep the eyes of your heart open wide.
In order to do just that, we need to pray earnestly and allow all the other thoughts to pass away giving full attention to our prayers. Don't give way to distraction or interruption during this time of open wide prayer. With kids, babies, toddlers, this time without distraction isn't so easy. Making sure to get some time of refreshing for ourselves is important though, to charge up and be a charging and happy source for our kids. I get up early before anyone is awake so I have my time of wide open prayer, even though I can't seem to keep my eyes open at times... I can still surrender and give my heart over in prayer.
Take a moment or moments throughout your day where you can catch a glimpse of His love and glory in your prayer. Get recharged as you focus and give way to prayer in the Spirit. God answers our prayers, amen. Let our hearts not be asleep as we only appear watchful. Let us instead have hearts that are watchful even when our eyes are shut in prayer. Let us be like minded, not having one thing on our hearts and another in our voices.
Our lives can become a prayer to God as we lift up our hearts to Him continually, being watchful and earnest, thankful in our prayers. Let's learn to be continually watchful in prayer. We can stretch ourselves and be more alert and refreshed by praying at different times during the day, apart from our usual routine. Let's pray before school or work, before the kids or hubby get home, before we visit friends or family for example.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for my life and want it to be a prayer for you. Teach me to be fully awakened, your will not mine. Help me know what it means to have the eyes of my heart wide open. Give me a full desire to soak up your Word, to pray and give thanks. Put others on my heart, that I may also lift them up continually in prayer and Spirit with an open heart.
Application: Where would you like to see improvement in your prayer? Using the acrostic ACTS-Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication, we can include each of these elements in prayer throughout the day to stay connected to God.
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