Be Joyful always; Pray continually!

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately, and reading books on prayer, and yes, I've been praying.  It's amazing to me how God works when we pray.  One of the books I've read and I recommend is The Power of Surrender by Michael Catt.  He's written several others in this series, and they are all very good.

One point he makes is that in order to pray for revival, we first must surrender all to God.  That's something I'm working on, and have a feeling I'll be working on it for a while.

Here's a verse I'm memorizing:

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

Pray on!

"Create in me a new and clean heart, O Lord"

PRAYER.  That's what I'm excited about right now, and that's what I'm going to be writing about on this blog.  I hope you are or will be as excited as I am about prayer and how God is working.  So, let's get going!

Over the past year and a half, a co-worker and I have been calling each other every morning during our morning commutes.  We call these our Prayer Calls.  When we first started, I have to admit that on some days it felt to me like we spent more time talking and griping about things than we did praying.  But, God has answered our prayers and the desires of our hearts because out of those first calls have come a true prayer ministry.  I can feel and see the change in me and my co-worker has talked about the changes she has seen in her own heart and life.

And, our actual praying has changed.  Now, we spend most of our time praying and many days end up sitting in our cars in the parking lot to finish our prayer time.  I also can see how our actual requests have changed, and how God has led us to pray for people and events.

God's Timing is Perfect:  Our Sunday School class uses the Masterworks series from Lifeway and the book for the first of the year used selections of Priscilla Shirer's book, Jonah, and Michael Catt's book, The Power of Surrender. Both of these books are powerful and if you haven't already read them, put them on your list to read as soon as you can.

Reading these books and others as well as spending more time with the Word as I've been journeying to become a prayer warrior has convicted me of things I need to change in my life, of things I need to surrender to God. 

Here's a verse I'm memorizing this year (with Beth Moore's Siesta Scripture Memory Team--If you don't know about this, check it out here.  I'll write more about it next week):

"Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,   

    and lead me in the way everlasting."

                  Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

 Pray on!