One-Minute Victories

Today I tried the one-minute prayers at work. I wrote "one minute" at the beginning of each hour, from 8 am to 5 pm, on the calendar on the laptop. I made it repeat every Monday through Friday. Then I added an unobtrusive alarm sound that only lasted about one second.

On the hour, I hear the sound of a glasses clinking as if someone has just proposed a toast. At that point, I reset my timer on the iPad for one minute. I pray until the timer sounds. Isn't technology wonderful?

It was great. At 8:00 this morning, I was still at home, so I prayed the one minute at home. I thought about what I could pray about for one minute. I decided that I would pray for my friends who are joining me in this What Would Happen If You Prayed 40-day challenge. Each of you who asked for a prayer scripture booklet received one minute of prayer this morning. :-) For some of you, I prayed for more than a minute. HAHAHA. And TWIMC: yes, you do need to be prayed for. :-) We all do.

It was fun praying in that way. It was difficult to finish praying in one minute though. At work I was a little distracted by . . .  you know . . . work. It's not easy to type and pray. On some hours, I had to start over a few times.

I thank God for showing me simple ways to do things. It sounds complicated by the time I set the calendar here and the timer there, but it works for me. I pray anyway throughout the day, but it was nice to take a break on purpose to acknowledge God and to thank Him for all that He's doing in our lives.

I am working on my goal of creating a culture of prayer in my life so I can fulfill:

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 NLT

Lord God, thank You for giving me wisdom and a strategy to help me remember to stop and praise You throughout the busy day. Thank You for my friends who are praying with me and reading the Word with me. Did I mention to You that I am truly thankful for my friends? You've given me some of the best friends ever. I don't feel like I deserve them, but You've been gracious to me because You know what and who I need in my life. They all add something precious to me; I want to do the same for them. You're a wonderfully awesome Father. Please bless my friends. Help them to draw closer to You and to know You better. Show Yourself strong and loving to each one of them. Bless them with good health, peace, joy, and prosperity. I know this is Your will for them so I am confident that You will answer in Jesus' name. So be it!

My Food and My Water–The Word and Prayer

I tend to look at natural patterns in my life as having spiritual roots or at least a spiritual relationship. So if I do something naturally, I wonder how it pertains to my spiritual life.

I like to eat . . . a lot. My palate is eclectic—I enjoy a variety of cuisines. If it's well prepared and/or made with love, I'll probably try it. I rarely lose my appetite for food. Eating comes naturally for me and I've done it all my life. On the other hand, I have to force myself to drink. I learned to drink at a very early age. For some reason, I just don't care to drink as much as I need to. I try to drink water more than anything else, but it's difficult. I prefer eating.

This is not a healthy habit though. Our bodies are mostly water, or at least they should be. Our blood needs water. We need water to carry toxins out of our bodies. Water also carries nutrients from our food to all parts of the body. And we need water to maintain a normal body temperature. Many times I drink water because I know I should not because I want to.

Our need for water may increase at times: before and after exercising, in hot weather, if we're ill, and for women: when they're pregnant or nursing.

As I said at first, I wonder how natural patterns relate to spiritual patterns in my life. To me, and it's in scripture, the Word of God is for the soul/spirit as food is for the body.

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. '" Matthew 4:4 NKJV

Eating spiritually is rather easy for me just as eating naturally is easy. I read or listen to the scriptures. I read books written about the Word. I listen to preaching of the Word. I can listen to different teachers of the Word as long as I can tell that it matches what's in scripture.

One day I realized that not only is the Word spiritual food, but for me, prayer is like water. I need to pray to maintain my communication with God—my life force. After reading the Word I need to pray to help my soul process and digest what I've read. I can pray a prayer of repentance to get rid of the toxins in my mind and emotions.  I need to pray to help me stay on the right track—normal body temperature.

There are occasions when I may need to pray more: before and after sharing the word or helping others; in hot/hectic/stressful times in life; if I'm ill in my body or in my soul; and if I am pregnant with a dream or if someone is depending on me to feed them spiritually. Even in the case of writing this blog to share with others, I have to pray about what I'm writing.

Just as it is more difficult for me to drink than it is to eat for my physical body, at times it's more difficult for me to pray than it is to read the scripture. As I said before, prayer is active. It takes a little more effort for me to pray than to read scripture. Sometimes I just don't feel like opening my mouth to pray and that's how I end up thinking about prayer instead of praying.

Don't misunderstand. I pray. I like to pray. My goal, however, is to pray more and to pray about everything. I want my prayer life to be such that I'll be able to say that I obeyed this scripture:

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 NLT

Pray with me:

Gracious Father, I praise You because You are worthy to be praised. You are a patient, loving Father. Help me to realize the importance of prayer in my life. It is my communication with You. It helps me stay connected to You. It is the way I process the Word that I read and hear. It helps to cleanse me of anything that is not like You.  I want to devote myself to prayer. I know that I can because of what Jesus has done for me and through His name. So be it.