Excuses, excuses. Yes, I’ve heard them all. I’ve used them all myself.
By now, you should be convinced you need a Prayer Maven. And even if you don’t have a Maven in mind, you know that God will use two or three who are gathered together.
So, your heart is saying you need a prayer partner, but your head is saying you don’t have time.
My answer?
1) We need to be creative; and
2) It’s going to be inconvenient for someone.
We need to be creative.
I used to think I needed a special prayer room and an uninterrupted hour in my day to pray with someone else.
Note to self: It will never happen!
Being creative means looking at our schedules and finding a few holes. Getting up early. Staying up late. Praying on the treadmill; in the coffee shop; on the sidelines at the soccer game.
Now, if we are going to pray with partners, it should be at a regular time and place. My Prayer Maven and I meet every Wednesday morning, by telephone, during my morning commute. It’s usually only 30-45 minutes. And it works!
It’s going to be inconvenient for someone.
Did I mention that my Prayer Maven gets up at 5:00 a.m. to pray with me? She’s on West Coast time, and, yes, she’d rather be sleeping. But instead she makes the sacrifice. (This is why I highly recommend praying with a Maven. Notice that she is the one who is inconvenienced in this relationship!)
The bottom line is that prayer is hard work – something we’ll talk more about next week. But it’s worth it.
How will you make time for a prayer partner?
Are you praying for that Prayer Maven?
6 comments:
Susan,
I really like what you say about getting creative.
I am the person that used to need perfect circumstances to really feel engaged in prayer. Now I do it whenever I am able to slice out a moment of time in my head. I feel closer to God this way, and it feels much less forced.
You tell it like it is.
Why are we so good at taking intitiative and organizing our lives in so many areas, but when it comes to prayer, we are passive? I bet you find the rewards of a prayer partner well worth the silly "inconvenience" that you had built up in your head. Me too.
I have had a prayer partner for about a year now, and we usually get on the phone once a week, just like you and your maven, to share our lives and support each other in prayer.
I have a beautiful email prayer partner who is more faithful than I am. I'm so blessed by her words and hope my words feed her soul too.
My life was changed when I first read "Practicing the Presence of GOD" as Brother Lawrence teaches us to simply be in conversation with GOD in the everyday things...like driving to work!
I love your prayer maven. 5am? Really? That woman loves you. And this: I"ve never thought of having a prayer meeting on the phone like that. That is creative. I love it. Thinking about this, Susan.
Dropping in from Michelle's. I love this. It's going to be inconvenient for someone. When did we get the idea that all this should just naturally fall into place?
Praying over the phone takes some getting used to, but is an amazing thing. And I'm with Laura. Your Maven loves you, very much. If something like that doesn't help hold our feet to the fire, I don't know what does.
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