Lord,
Help Me Pray!
Feeling
like your prayers are weak?
Here’s how Scripture can help you pour the power.
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Many
of us may find it hard to pray when our lives is fill
with tight schedules. We often run into tiredness before
we can even say our prayers or to pray for others. How
can we overcome the feeling of weakness in our prayer?
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Put
It in Writing
Despite
my determination, I had a problem focusing on what I was
praying about. For example, when my girlfriend asked me
to pray for her unsaved husband, I remember praying, “Lord,
thank you for Sam’s interest in spiritual things. Thank
you for his desire for a Bible he can carry in his briefcase.
Did I take the roast out to thaw? May Sam’s eyes
be opened to the truth of the gospel. Help him to … Did
I sign Jericho’s permission slip for his field trip tomorrow?
I
began to write out my prayers in my journal. This activity
helped me to focus my thoughts. Sometimes I wrote complete
sentences; other times I jotted down a phrase or just a
name. Before long, my journal became an invaluable tool
in my prayer life.
When
I explained this technique to a friend, she revealed that
concentration during prayer was hard for her, too: “It’s
too easy to get lost in daydreams if I pray silently, so
I pray out loud.”
Find
a Prayer Partner
Just
talking over some of these problems gave me the idea to
find someone to pray with. It seemed to be a natural “fit”
to include prayer in my Wednesday night meetings with Tricia.
Tricia
was a new Christian. She and I met for Bible study as part
of a church discipleship program. At the end of the study
we decided to keep meeting. My white van became a place
of prayer as we sat parked in front of our favorite restaurant.
Afterward we celebrated over coffee (or on wealthier nights,
hot fudge sundaes).
I
loved praying with Tricia! God seemed to reward her prayers
with mind-boggling answers that encouraged both her newfound
belief and my older (sometimes cynical) faith. That was
an amazing summer.
The
Power of Prayer
The
next January, the Lord led my family to a newly planted
church. This protestant denomination had purchased an old,
brick, Catholic church.
One
Sunday, we arrived to find that the five-year-old daughter
of church members had died in an accident. The entire church
grieved.
During
the worship service our pastor said, “This church building
comes equipped with something we normally wouldn’t use.
But today I feel a need for us to kneel before God and
lay our sorrow before Him.”
Kneeling
benches thudded onto concrete flooring as families knelt
side by side in prayer. As God’s Spirit gently stirred among
us that morning, I had never felt more alert to the power
of prayer.
Heartfelt
words began to flow as I prayed for a family I didn’t even
know: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort
those in any trouble with the same comfort we ourselves
have received from God”
I
know I will continue to grope past immobilizing sorrow,
search for evasive words, and at times, have to discipline
my wandering thoughts. But I don’t want the Lord to have
to say, “Why are you sleeping, Lynn? Pray.” With the Holy
Spirit’s help, I have determined never again to “sleep”
when I should be praying.
About the Author
Lynn
Hallimore is a medical assistant and freelance writer living
in El Dorado Hills, California. She and her family attend
Lakeside Church, where she is a nursery worker, teacher
of junior highers, and active in evangelism.
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