Disclaimer: This post was originally written right after the 4th of July weekend.
It’s been awhile since my last guest blog post here… And I’m glad to be back! I was inspired recently by the “Letter to the Ephesians” topic being picked apart in my church in Barcelona. Our head Pastor, John, especially got my attention when he explained by saying: “It’s time to walk in the sonship and daughterhood that we have been offered by the Father.”
I think this is an important idea in terms of the key ideas that children need to understand. God is not some far away, idle being; but rather He is your Father, your confidant, your savior, and your rock. For me, growing up it was much easier to build a relationship with God thinking of him as my loving Father figure, as opposed to an untouchable, vague entity.
The other takeaway from the service was when John went over how to pray. Many, many Christians grapple with the issue of how to pray. Here’s the good news: it’s easy! If you’re someone who likes structure and routine, you’ll probably appreciate how they broke it down. A simple yet effective way to pray is to break it up into three parts: Give thanks, Specific requests, Give Praise. Not too bad, right?
So Part One: Give thanks… pretty self-explanatory there. This is my favorite part of praying. Every time I pray I start off by rattling off a dozen or so things for which I’m thankful. For example, “Dear God, THANK YOU for the sunshine today, for my family and friends, for fireworks, thank you for lemonade, for diversity, for my wonderful church, and God, I also want to thank you for all of my talents, my health, my opportunities, and my relationship with you.” All you have to do is thank God for whatever comes to mind; it is that simple!
Part Two: Specific requests. This is what people usually think of when they think about praying… “God please help me pass this test; God please say that I get this job,” etc. God already knows what’s on our hearts, but there is nothing wrong praying this way. Often times, it also makes us feel better in the moment. What is interesting, however, is if you try to switch from Heaven-up prayer requests to Heaven-down requests. So instead of sending your daily requests up to God, perhaps next time ask: “God, what should I be doing to better this situation?” or “Father please show me how to be a better sister” – that is more Heaven-down style praying. Mix it up!
Part Three: Give Praise! Conclude your prayer by rejoicing in your faith. You can make it as long or short as you like. I usually wrap it up with “Thank you God. You are so good, always. You fill up everything everywhere. I love you; I praise you.”
Don’t make praying harder than it should be. Through prayer we get to directly communicate with our Father and that is awesome! As our head Pastor reminded us, “He is profoundly near whether we feel it or not.” So pray, pray often, and pray with your heart! Happy Saturday everyone!
SAMHOPEHANSEN 