Prayer: Daily Conversations With God预览

Day Seven: Sabbath Prayer

Commit yourself to continue in prayer 

Let’s take a minute to stop and think about the past few days. As you’ve followed this rhythm of spending each day in prayer in specific ways, how have you seen your conversations with the Lord grow? How have you seen your faith encouraged? Has prayer become a little easier to do with a simple focus each day? 

Learning to talk with the Lord doesn’t have to be complicated. It is something we can do wherever we are and whatever we are facing. And like a muscle, it is something that can be built and strengthened with some effort and consistency. 

As we enter our last day together, the momentum you’ve built over the week doesn’t have to stop. You can use it to propel you on in your daily dialogue with God. Use this simple pattern we’ve established this week: praise and thanksgiving, repentance, asking, yielding, family and friends, a weekly challenge, and a sabbath prayer to keep the conversation going. Take what you’ve learned and keep moving forward in your relationship with the Lord. 

For our final day, I want you to rest in the Lord’s presence. Find a spot to be still and embrace the silence away from the distractions that vie for your attention. Let your body sink into your favorite chair and listen for the Spirit’s voice. Lay down your striving, your to-do list, and your constant need for noise and simply be with the Lord. Quiet your mind and turn the volume down on everything around you. What is He saying to you at this moment? How does He want to tend to your soul right now? Find rest that comes from Him alone and feel the depth and breadth of His unfailing love for you. 

I don’t know about you but the speed of this world can keep me from moments like this, moments of simply sitting at the feet of my Father. Let’s end this time together by taking a minute to feel the weight of this world, our problems, and our worries being picked up by Jesus and exchanged for a lighter load. This is what He wants us to experience as we make an effort to pray and engage Him in all our cares. 

Friend, I hope you’ve found our time together helpful. My prayer is that this journey has ignited something inside of you that won’t merely end at the close of this plan, but that will venture on in your life as you continue in your relationship with Him. I want to challenge you as I’ve challenged myself: pray without ceasing. The only way to serve Him better, know Him deeper, or love Him more is by taking the time, each and every day, to talk with Him. 

Prayer Prompt: Dear God, help me to continue the ongoing conversations I’ve had with you throughout this week. Remind me to…

■ Praise you and offer thanksgiving for the many gifts you’ve given me. 

■ Repent of the sins that threaten to hurt my soul and relationships with you and others. 

■ Ask you to meet my needs, calm my fears, and seek your will. 

■ Yield to your will and desires for me. 

■ Pray for family and friends.

■ Challenge myself to pray for needs beyond just my world.

■ Sabbath and rest in you.