Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Prayer~A conversation with God

I wake up and most days I talk to my Husband. I drive to work and I speak to my coworkers. I speak to the sweet elderly. The phone rings and it’s a friend- we have a sweet conversation. And so my day goes. The conversations I’m really working on are the ones I have with God. I have been reading an awesome book called The Power of Persistence by Micheal Catt.  It is a very good book on prayer. I think we take conversing with God for granted, He wants us to talk to him about everything and anything.

Many times when I look at my blog, quite often actually I see that someone has been to a post I put entitled I Pray you enough, it was an email I had received that touched me. It makes me think that people are looking for thoughts on praying.

The U.S. News and World Report ran a cover story entitled “The Power of Prayer”.The article shared a recent Roper poll that found that nearly half of all Americans said they pray regularly or meditate every day.Far more than those who regularly participate in corporate worship. It also shared some interesting facts found in over six thousand responses to a poll they conducted:

*75.6% say they are Christians.

*64% say they pray more than once a day.

*56% say they pray most often for family members.

*3.3% say they pray for strangers.

*38.3% say that the most important purpose of prayer is intimacy with God.

*41.2% say their prayers are often answered.

*1.5% say their prayers are never answered.

*73.9% say when their prayers are not answered,the most important reason is that they did not fit into God’s plan.

*5.1 % say they pray most often in a house of worship.

*79.4% say they pray at home.

All of these are interesting facts found in the December 2004 issue of  U.S. News and World Report and retold in Michael Catt’s book on prayer.

The most important prayer we pray is the first one God hears, when we pray the pray of salvation.

John 9:31 (New International Version)

31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.

1 Peter 3:12 (New International Version)

12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
      and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
   but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Isaiah 59:2 (New International Version)

2 But your iniquities have separated
       you from your God;
       your sins have hidden his face from you,
       so that he will not hear.

Ask yourself this question-when was the last time you had an absolutely meaningful deep conversation that had true meaning with an absolute stranger?

Do many of us want the benefits without the relationship?

I want both-I want the comfort, the joy, the counsel of being able to talk to God about everything. I want the power to see things I can’t even imagine. I want to rest in Him so that even when I don’t know what to ask for, He knows.

Jeremiah 33:3 (New International Version)

3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

I’m going deeper in learning about having a life of prayer and conversing with God and I’m excited about it!

Be blessed,

untitled

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know I don't pray near enough but something I want to improve upon daily. I know God is working in me right now as I write this. His plan for me continues. Oh how I love and trust Him.

LeAnn

Anonymous said...

Good post! God and I have many talks during the day...I'm talking, talking, and talking, but it's the listening I need to practice!

How's the weather? Cold enough for you?

Putz said...

100 percent of this family prays twice a day not 67 or39 or 00 percent>>>thanks for visiiting me

Jubilee on Earth said...

That was an amazing post! I'm going to have to check out that book. Those stats were interesting!