Comments on: Now This Is Important

By: Jim Martin

Jim Martin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:09:26 +0000

L.L.,Isn’t it interesting how things in life will happen and it triggers thoughts regarding prayer, etc. I appreciate your desire to pray with your children. I wish you the very best as you seek to act on this desire.Just an aside— My children are grown now. I can tell you that my children came to know their mother and dad’s hearts as their heard us pray aloud with them. I think they came to know our hearts in ways they would not otherwise. Likewise, I feel like I came to know the essence of their hearts as I listened to them pray aloud as well. Just thought I would mention this because I really had never given this experience (the experience of coming to know one another’s hears) much thought in he early years.

By: Jim Martin

Jim Martin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:55:54 +0000

Richard,A very good comment. I like what you say about a life of prayer being a constant reminder of who we are as his servants and of our helplessness as well.Thanks again. I always appreciate your remarks.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:06:58 +0000

Thanks for such a great post. You said that "Prayer is a daily reminder of your helplessness before God and desperate need for him." This is so true….A life of prayer is that constant reminder that we are his servants on earth and are simply helpless without his love, grace and mercy.

By: L.L. Barkat

L.L. Barkat — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:20:59 +0000

Yes. Like this weekend, when I watched some hard things go down in my spouse’s family. I thought, you know, I should be praying with my children NOW. Because if I ever face these kinds of things with my own children when they are grown, I don’t want it to be awkward, like the first time we’ve ever tried to pray together. It should be a way of life now. So…what to do… I just have to act on this thought in a meaningful way, and that will be the challenge.

By: Connie Lard

Connie Lard — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:47:53 +0000

One sentence I ran across (somewhere) when I was younger that was very helpful – "Pray as you can, not as you can’t." Or something like that. That sentence reminded me that even during those busy days of childrearing, I could snatch moments that came up during the day that I otherwise might have wasted.

Merton said something similar – "If you have never had any distractions, you don’t know how to pray." He goes on to explain that the secret of prayer is a hunger for God, and that the man who has to manage to pray in the midst of clamoring ideas and thoughts and events may be forced to learn to pray better than he would have otherwise. I have found this to be true.

By: Invisible

Invisible — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:17:20 +0000

How do you know you’re hearing from God? It’s not like He’s talking in an audible voice. I have prayed, and thinking I was hearing God speak His will concerning what I pray, I act on it. Only, it turns out in disaster.
I don’t put God’s name on anything any more, nor do I hope for anything because if you don’t hope for something then you don’t get disappointed in the results. Not sure that’s how it’s supposed to work though.
Still, aren’t you afraid you’re only hearing your own voice and acting on what you think is God? I guess I just learned to live a day and what happens in it, happens. It doesn’t seem like we have a choice but to wait and see what God does if we don’t know ourselves, and we don’t trust our ability to hear from Him.
I wish God would just talk in an audible voice like He did with the earlier people.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:30:42 +0000

Thanks for the reminder!O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."-bill

By: bryan

bryan — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:38:14 +0000

I believe that prayer is very important since it it the way we talk to God. I try to pray as often as i can. i try especially to pray when i sit down for a meal in a public place. While i still live in the caribbean i saw this bumper sticker that read… seven prayerless days make one weak.. i thought that is so true..

By: Greg England

Greg England — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:29:23 +0000

One area of growth in my prayer life (which is nothing about which to brag) is that when people ask, “Will you pray for me?” I will usually respond, “Yes … can we pray right now?”

By: ben overby

ben overby — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:24:58 +0000

This connects with me, Jim. Prayer has become central to my existence. There was a time when it seemed optional–it didn’t really seem to matter to life.
check out http://www.sacredspace.ie for a neat jump-start to prayer or as a way of enhancing prayer time.