(Daily prayer follows after this short introduction)

What kind of prayers does God listen to?

Prayers for strength...requests for good health... for healing... for a happy marriage... help for a loved one... help for your finances... for a better life...a stable life...a peaceful life... to save your relationship...find someone special for you...to deal with any personal problem... help you with your fears... your anxieties...your loneliness...help you control your emotions (such as anger, hate, jealousy, envy, apathy, depression...etc.)...your disappointments...addictions (whether it's drugs, alcoholism, obsessive spending...etc.)...??

What if I were to tell you that He listens to none of that, would it shock you or even surprise you?

I hope not.

First, God listens to your heartfelt desire to communicate with Him because you love Him as your Father; words without faithful love for Him mean nothing...so speaking to God because you want something for yourself means nothing...

Secondly, when you love God, you don't "pray" to Him, like some kind of formality...communicate with Him as someone you genuinely love...

This is what Daily Communication Prayer to God is all about; to teach you how to communicate with the Lord the way he wants to hear from you...






Monday, December 31, 2012

Lord,

In as much as I have reached out to you...

Seeking you out;
Knocking at your door;
Asking you for strength, for helping me in my various issues and circumstances;
Requesting that you intervene in my life;
To lay your Hand on me and change my circumstances for the better;
And get me out of the situations that cause me discontent...

In as much as my hopes and expectations rest on you  Father...

I can declare in this daily communication prayer to you that:
I know that you defend me Lord;
I know that you are expecting me to strive forward Father in my contact with you;
I stumble and fall sometimes, and I lose my communication to you;
Yes I fall into what the world calls sin.

Well, I call it losing contact with you Lord...

Losing contact because I can be blamed for certain indiscretions;
Losing your blessings because I sometimes don't trust you Lord;
Having myself weakened and falling into disconnection from you Father...

I can tell you that I am trying to live a blameless life...

Not forcing it, just living life as simple as it can get for me;
To live it like Jesus showed me (and showed the world);
To see all things with expectations of joyful conclusions;
And to share the experience with you Father.

I am convinced that you are looking into my heart Lord...

You've been examining my mindset, my thinking;
To see how I'm doing with what you have given me;
You have detected that I live in fear Lord;
With uncertainty I walk the world;
With self-imposed limitations I live;
You've noticed that I don't trust you enough.

I am sorry Lord...life has been a tiresome adventure at times.

But in as much as I was like the prodigal son;
In as much as I treaded upon the world with disdain and personal ambition;
In as much as I stepped upon others to get what I wanted;
In as much as all those things, you did not forget me.

You watched me as I treaded upon the asps and the vipers of my life...

You viewed my progress;
You spied on my plans;
You saw the ambition;
You witnessed my secret plots;
You let me play out my story to see where I would go...because you wanted to see me finally come back to you.

But I wasn't coming back...I lived my life only in the natural, where all things were unfair in love and war...

So you brought me back Father;
You laid your powerful Hand upon me;
You intervened and changed my plans;
You ripped away my natural plots;
You wanted me back.

So I too sat by my own rivers of Babylon...

I too experienced a sense of exile from you;
Where all was lost;
Where all ambition left;
Where fortunes were lost;
Alone with a sense of abandon.

Yet you have never left me from your sight Father...

You have re-built me;
Strengthened me;
Re-supplied me;
Blessed me;
Provided more-than-enough for me.

With my return to your house Lord...

You have robed me with the finest;
The golden ring on my finger;
Risen me from the ashes;
Restored my fortunes;

All because I returned to you...

And conscious of your unfailing love for me;
You Lord, ran to me...I feel so unworthy for having you do that Father;
I should have been running back to you;
But you ran back to me instead...

There is no greater love than yours Lord...

You have proven it to me;
You've shown me;
You've demonstrated it to me (and still do)...

Now you can look into my heart Father and see my gratitude...

As I am mindful of your unfailing love;
I am mindful of your presence in my life and those who I share it;
And you know now Father how I rely on your faithfulness.

This is why Father I ask that you continue to support me and strengthen me...

Against the challenges I face;
Support my victories;
Destroy and confound any enemies in my life (within me or outside);
Inject me with your Holy Spirit power that I may live in joy knowing that you are with me all the days of my life...

Thank You Father...

(from GM Evagrius)