Jennifer Kennedy Dean, in Live a Praying Life, offers some depth of understanding to prayer, that gives me some deeper insight into these three words.
She says, "Prayer is not a group of words sandwiched between 'Dear God' and 'Amen'." We often tend to think of prayer as limited to that segment of time when we specifically verbalize our needs to God, punctuated by our "Dear God", and our "Amen".
But there is so much more to prayer. Live a Praying Life is living in a continual awareness of God, with a continual opening of our hearts to Him, expressing and living out our continual dependence on Him throughout our day.
Prayer is ... keeping company with Him all through each day.
"Keep company with Me,
and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
(from Matthew 11:28-30 The Message)
Cherry,
ReplyDeleteWhat a truly wonderful scripture you have selected to accompany this post,
It sums it up beautifully. "Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." I love it!
I remember some years ago, when I had not been spending sufficient time with the Lord. I was busy mopping the floor in my kitchen, when I heard a still small voice say,
“I miss my time with you!"
I knew instantly what the Holy Spirit was telling me and I practically ran to my private place to pray.
What a loving God we serve.