"Food" for Thought and Action!

The Church I attended back when the first men’s Promise Keepers conference came to the metro area got together a group and we had probably some twenty five of our guys who went. The traffic getting there was terrible and it was kind of funny to see all these men on their best behavior allowing folks to cut in and at times creating more of a jam because no one wanted to pull in front of the other guy. I guess we all had our very active road rage tempers very much subdued that day. At any rate, it was quite an experience to be in this huge indoor stadium with 50,000 men all singing praises to God and being taught God’s word. I’m not too much into things like this Promise Keepers program but I did get hold of something there that has forever changed my life. John Maxwell, a noted author, preacher, and seminar teacher taught the men who attended how to pray the Scriptures back to God.

This may be obvious to some who typically recite the model prayer which begins with, “Our Father Who art in heaven” and continues. This was not what praying the Scriptures was all about as presented by Bro. Maxwell. It is taking the inspired word of God and making it your own and then praying those inspired words from your heart back to God. My favorite portion that I have learned to pray is the 145 through the 150 divisions of the Psalms. These are all songs of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to God. With very little practice one can take these words and make them their own.

Another thing I like to do is to isolate the prayers of the Apostle Paul and use them to pray for others because his prayers always focused on the greatest needs of everyone, that is that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior and become strong in our faith and work for Him. Yes, it will feel awkward until you get the hang of it but once you begin to allow the words to saturate your life and then flow from your heart they have a great impact on the person praying.

I find when I need an attitude adjustment there’s nothing like finding those great songs of praise in Psalms 145-150 and praying them back to God. What happens whenever you lose yourself in the truths concerning His Person and His goodness? Your attitude begins to be impacted by your altitude as you gain perspective and clarity on the Great God we know and serve. Like I say I didn’t care for all the sermons at that conference or a lot of the music but I did pick up this technique and it has been a wonderful blessing in my life.

The saying goes that our sharing of truth about the Gospel is nothing more than one beggar telling another beggar where they can go to be fed. Therefore, I encourage those who read my blog to give this approach to praying a try. Always remember that God is not impressed with our polish and how well the words are pronounced, He reads the heart and He knows what’s behind the words we speak. Try it! You’ll not only like it, but it will change your life! …..More later.