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Try this and you may find you’ll love
talking to God and completely opening
up to Him.
How to Keep Focused
If you find your mind drifting off, here
are some tips to keep focused.
Pray out loud, even if only very
quietly.
Don’t get too comfortable for obvious reasons. Some people pace back and
forth slowly as they pray. In Jewish tradition, those who pray often rock back and
forth from their waist with their hands
out at their sides. I like this image a lot
and often pray swaying gently and holding my hands upward at waist level as if
receiving a gift. It helps me focus on the
Lord and keeps me awake even if I’m
tired.
Find a private, quiet place to pray.
Avoid a busy kitchen or a place where
others are walking around. Jesus talked
about praying in a closet for good reason: there aren’t many things going on in
a closet – not a TV in sight. If you have
a phone in the room, unplug it. Get rid
of as many distractions as possible. Put
away any interesting magazines – their
pictures will sidetrack you fast.
But It’s Just Too Hard!
OK, so you’re still having problems getting down to pray? Ask a close friend to
hold you accountable and call you each
day to ask: “Have you spent time with
God today? How long? Did you crowd
Him into grocery shopping or did you
spend real time with Him?”
Or here’s something else I've done.
A friend of mine had a key to our
church and several of us met there at
6: 30 a.m. almost every day to pray
until 8 o’clock when we had to leave
for school. There were three to 12 of
us teens and young adults holding each
other accountable.
Here’s how we organized it. When
we arrived, someone would put on a CD
of soft worship music – but not necessarily too mellow. As individuals we would
seek God’s presence alone. We weren’t
gathered together but scattered all over
the sanctuary and church building for
personal prayer time.
It’s like going to the gym: if you
have a friend to go with, it’s easy. But
if he stops going because of vacation
or whatever, you generally stop too because it’s a lot more difficult to maintain
the discipline.
Getting Ready for “Amen”
Christian prayer has the power to rearrange what will happen today or govern
circumstances that will happen tomorrow.
We need to start believing this not only
with our heads but also with our hearts.
On the night of September 10,
2001, a group of Christians living in
New York City were meeting to pray.
One worked in the World Trade Center. They started praying and felt God
wanted them to do a prayer walk. He
brought them to the Twin Towers – the
last night the buildings were standing,
but they didn’t know it. The group
prayed there for a long time, then went
home thinking nothing more of it. Next
morning, the one who worked there felt
God was telling her not to go in that
day. But she had an important meeting
so started arguing with the Lord. However, she knew His voice and decided
to stay home. She’s alive today because
she recognized God’s voice and obeyed
it. We too could be so much more alive
if we learned to recognize God’s voice
more, and obeyed it.
Remember the campfire and my
counsellor friends sitting around it?
Three years have passed since we shared
all those words about Africa. I still remember word for word my friend cussing us out for talking too much and
doing little. It’s time we stopped talking
so much with each other and started
talking more to God.
Let God’s love restore our souls.
Craig Macartney is 19 and lives in Ottawa.
He worships at Dominion Outreach Centre.
