I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I am helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.
~C.S. Lewis
prayer /prer/
noun
1. a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God.
One fact of life we all experience is that life is busy. Our minds are constantly racing with checklists, schedules and projects … all jockeying into the priority position way before the morning alarm ever goes off. If I’m honest my morning routine usually consists of crawling out of bed, making coffee, feeding the dogs, thinking through the details of my day, responding to text messages from individuals who apparently avoided sleep the night before…all the while wondering if my favorite shirt is clean. Most mornings I’m way in the “machine of life” before I ever even think about talking to God. Unless by chance I happen to mutter, “God, help me” as my tired, stiff body rolls out from under the covers. Does that make me a horrible Christ-follower?
I think that makes me human.
It’s not that I don’t talk to God. I actually talk to Him quite a bit … mostly in my car. It’s the perfect spot for me to turn off the music, quiet my mind – or at least try to – and let my heart speak. Some days I have more syllables than others. Some days I just try and listen to see if God has anything for me. Most of the time He does.
Last week we began a new five-week series on worship entitled “Coloring Outside the Lines”. We are exploring what it means to worship, how to define it and what it looks like. One of the main points addressed in last week’s sermon was that God’s picture of worship is far bigger than ours.
To help expand our view of worship we are introducing a new area located in the sanctuary called a Prayer Wall.
The idea is simple:
- Write down your prayer whether just one word or a hundred … it doesn’t matter.
- Paper and pens are provided on the tables in front of the wall.
- When finished, roll the paper up and place it in the wire mesh on the wall.
- Your prayers are confidential … just between you and God.
- The wall is available before, during and after our worship time together.
If at any point you feel lead to write something for yourself or for someone else, the wall is always open. I wrote my first prayer last week and placed it on the wall. It felt good and it felt right.
Prayer leads in language of the heart.
Written by Cindy Limbrick
