Prayer

Community Prayer

Today I found a creative approach towards prayer for those who would like the support and the cooperation of others in faith. The blogger details how to build a prayer covenant. You could find participants through your network of contacts or through people in your church or parish. In Ms. Harcombe’s example, she demonstrates a large prayer covenant group (forty of them!) who were organized online.

To begin a prayer covenant create a list of all the members and appoint a day dedicated to each person or family. The idea would be that everyone on the list would pray for the person nominated for that day. Each participant is asked to give three brief points, the first a point of praise and the other two requests. Intentions and prayers can be changed at any time as they are answered or substituted as needs changed.

Visit the following link for some useful guidelines in organizing an effective prayer covenant. Remember, in your efforts, no group is too small to make a difference. You could start with your family members (both distant and local) or perhaps a circle of contacts with whom you communicate with regularly by email or phone. In the blogger’s example, she didn’t even know some of the members personally, but as the circle progressed in their prayers, they grew from the sharing experience.

If you want to build group support for your efforts at prayer, perhaps this idea will help you get started! God Bless! 

More on Prayer and Meditation

Searching for the keyword “meditation”, I found a relatively new blogger on the block, “Aurora Astra” who also focuses on meditation, the spirit and God. For those of you interested in exploring further the benefits of meditation and want to know how to connect with your inner spirit, the blogger shares a personal way of starting meditation using prayer. In the article: “Prayer as Preparation“, there is a step-by-step description using The Lord’s Prayer to build focus and calmness in one’s mind.

As the writer states, there is no right or wrong way to pray… just your own way. I really liked the article’s focus on the physical state of being (breathing, thinking and awareness) towards the preparation provided through prayer. It certainly can be used at any time: as a morning wake-up, to take a break in a busy, hectic day or as a wrap-up in the evening. I can’t wait to give it a try myself. Thanks “Aurora Astra” for sharing your technique!

Prayers That Get Answered

Have questions about God or Jesus Christ and their role in your spiritual life? I found an informative, Christian oriented website that addresses some typical questions about topics such as building a relationship with God and how to know God. 

For those of you interested in further exploring the role of prayer, check out this site for its short discussion on the nature of prayer. It asks the question: “Does God hear our prayers?” and “How do I pray?”; the answer to the former question depends largely on the relationship we have built with God. Do we have one? Sometimes prayers seemingly go unanswered – what have we done wrong? What things keeps our prayers from being heard? There are some listed passages from the Bible for further reading and study as well. Check out their discussion on prayer through the link above.

How does this article fit with your original understanding of prayer? How will it affect your daily 10 minute commitment to God? Think about your response – take some time to journal or blog on it.
 

A Touch of Insomnia

Just the Three of Us TogetherWell, it’s slightly past midnight on an early, Sunday morning and I just happened to be up again. My wife and baby are fast asleep and I pause for a moment to look across at them. My daughter is now just past her first year and these times have been rewarding, yet tough on my wife and me.

Even with a little help from my parents, it’s been a challenge; Child rearing has been my wife’s full-time occupation with me filling in the small gaps in between work and sleep. People ask us when the “next one” is on his/her way and I find myself dumbfounded at the notion. One has been enough for us to handle! Still, we marvel at the small miracle of our daughter, who has grown beyond any level we could have imagined since that day when she was born into this world.

In the silence, I say a small prayer of thanks for the gift of this past year – we made it! I browse through the many pictures we have taken to date and eagerly trace the growth and development of our child through the thread of thumbnails on my computer screen. The memories are all good to me, and some even bring, through the darkness of night, a light chuckle to my throat.

My thoughts wander to a short, anecdotal story about motherhood entitled “You Will Call Her Mom“. It talks about a dialogue between a child in heaven talking to God and about his/her assignment to come down to earth to be born. Indeed I feel that the child in our care is a gift from God. He has entrusted my daughter into the hands of my wife and myself. I pray a little harder for a blessing and for guidance in raising, protecting and nurturing our child towards a responsible, hard-working, God-fearing life.