hurry is the death of prayer...

hurry is the death of prayer, of hearing GOD speak. not only do you need to get in a quiet spot but then you must mentally and emotionally calm yourself down too.

let me describe to you the reason why most prayer is unfulfilling for people. here's a typical prayer experience.

you're going to pray today and so you get off by yourself. maybe you happen to find a quiet place but the moment you set down to pray, your mind starts reminding you of everything you haven't done. your mind is going at high rpms and when you set to talk to GOD, your mind is racing. it just flits from one subject to the next and you find it very difficult to focus unless you wait and calm yourself, by choice, mentally and emotionally.

what happens is, you set down and you start thinking of all the unfinished tasks you have, all the responsibilities you've got, all the things you'd better not forget.

folks, if you're ever wondering what you have to do today, just set down and start to pray and you'll think of it all real quick because the devil makes sure all of those things crowd into your mind instantly.

when your mind starts moving from subject to subject you can't hear GOD. so what do you do?

i've discovered that if you try to ignore it, it doesn't go away. if i say, i'll think of those things later, and i push them down, they just scream louder so here is a good solution.

when you start to pray take a pad with you, like a post-a-note pad and something comes up when you are praying and your mind says, "don't forget this.." just stop and write whatever it is down on that pad and go back, pray some more and something else comes up, stop and write that down.

you may end up with 15-20 things but at least you don't have to worry about forgetting them. most people never get past this mental chaos stage in prayer.

just a thought from the front porch…