The Discipline of Prayer

"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom

This week my Spiritual Disciplines Study Group is studying the discipline of Prayer. I was searching on the net for quotes regarding prayer and found the quote above by Corrie ten Boom. I love that quote! If I wait until I "feel" like praying, I will probably never pray. It is my desire to put God first in my life. One of the ideas Valerie Hess gives in the "Spiritual Disciplines Devotional" is to develop your own "rule" of prayer - that is, something you do every day no matter how you feel or what your schedule is. She emphasizes the importance of being realistic and starting with something simple that you can commit to doing at the same time every day in this season of your life. I only live 6 blocks from where I work. I know, I'm blessed! :) Well, today is the first day I took advantage of living close enough to walk to work. Before I left, I decided I was going to use the time while I was walking to work, to spend in prayer with the Lord. My day went much better than usual and I found myself seeing various answers to my prayers throughout the day. I want to make this a habit. I've already associated walking to work, with praying time with God, so now I just have to make it a habit! I also want to work on not praying just because I need/want something, but also continuing to pray for the needs of others and to take the time to just listen in the silence to what God might be trying to teach me. Tomorrow, I will not be walking to work, because our Study Group is meeting at Panera, so I will just plan on praying on my drive to Panera and then on my drive to work. I am so blessed to be able to attend this Study. Lord, please teach me how to pray without ceasing!