{"id":14316,"date":"2021-06-18T21:14:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T02:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=14316"},"modified":"2021-06-18T21:14:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T02:14:44","slug":"starting-to-pray-again-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/starting-to-pray-again-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting to Pray (again!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(A few hints to help you start again and perhaps to help your prayer time be more effective. Take some time with each of these.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. The very thought or desire to pray is an invitation from God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one can say \u201cJesus is Lord\u201d (1 Cor. 12:13<\/a>) without a grace from God. So every time your heart is lifted, how- ever faintly, to look toward God – – – it is God actually reaching out to you. Let this be an encouragement. God loves you and wants your friendship. He\u2019s begins the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Prayer is about Friendship and Trust in God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do friends speak and listen to each other? Honestly, straightforward, without fear of offending, knowing your friend cares for you. Things like, \u201cLord, I\u2019m sick and tired of …\u201d or \u201cDear God, I did it again. Help me.\u201d Or, \u201cWhy won\u2019t you take this away Lord?\u201d Or, \u201cWhat a blessing that was. Thank you.\u201d Or anything else your friendship needs to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. God is invisible, so . . . images help.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God made our minds to work by way of images. Pictures of loved ones keep them more clearly in our minds and hearts. But we cannot see God so – – – images help. Jesus said he is a Good Shepherd, picture that. Water springing forth in the desert. A calming voice, a hand, etc. Let yourself find an image that helps you to trust his presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Start where you \u201care\u201d not where you \u201cshould be\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is very important. You don\u2019t \u201cget holy\u201d and then start to pray. We start right where we are. Lazy, selfish, angry, happy, . . . whatever. Give yourself to God just the way you are. That\u2019s what friends do. But remember. . . . He\u2019s the Lord. His will is the path to life. End your prayer by submitting to God\u2019s will. Jesus did in the gar- den.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, \u201choly\u201d thoughts are not what God wants. God wants YOU! In all your imperfections and failures. He\u2019ll begin to show you a new path but it starts right where you are! Find YOUR way of praying not someone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Warm up to prayer. Don\u2019t just jump in the pool. Take a minute or two to \u201cprepare\u201d your meeting with God. You\u2019re beginning a holy moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A memory is a good start. How has God helped you in the past that you can thank Him for at the beginning of prayer? It helps to get a memory bank of times God has intervened. (It takes about 10 minutes to shake off the noise of the world and get down to business with God.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. We learn to pray by praying. (Remember the Holy Spirit will help you.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one ever learned to play the piano by reading about it or seeing a video. You learn by putting fingers to the keys. So too with praying . . . just do it. There\u2019s no one there to grade you. God will take whatever you offer him and magnify it. Remember the Mustard Seed? (Mt. 4:31<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Be quiet. No thoughts. Just look out your window. God is with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you\u2019ve read scripture and spoken to the Lord, it\u2019s time to listen. God speaks to us with thoughts, memories, and sentiments that move our will to want what God wants. Often times it\u2019s only later in the day (or week!) we realize what God has done in our prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Don\u2019t try too hard. God comes in quiet, peaceful moments; often times unnoticed, like a bird landing quietly on a branch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just know that the smallest of gestures toward God brings his blessing. God loves you. You are his child. Keep on trusting, keep on asking, keep on looking for signs of his hand. \u201cSeek and you shall find.\u201d (Mt. 7:7<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer. Just do it. It\u2019s what love does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(A few hints to help you start again and perhaps to help your prayer time be more effective. Take some time with each of these.) 1. The very thought or desire to pray is an invitation from God. No one can say \u201cJesus is Lord\u201d (1 Cor. 12:13) without a grace from God. So every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14318,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316\/revisions\/14318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}