A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 7/25

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Help me to pray, Lord,

for I don’t know how to pray as I ought…

I try to "make time" for prayer -

forgetting that few things in my life are more important

than spending time each day

talking to you…

On the other hand,
you're always ready to meet me in prayer,

never too busy to sit down and listen to me

to walk with me and hear me out…

Then sometimes, Lord, I worry about prayer.

I worry bout what to say when I pray,
forgetting that you're always ready
to pick up our conversation where we left off
- even if I've forgotten what we talked about

the last time we spoke…

And while I worry about what to say
- you're simply happy that I've showed up again!

I complicate my prayer when I worry

about what to say, and how to say it
as if you might possibly turn down my prayer
because I stumbled in finding the "right” words

- or found no words at all

for all my heart had to say...

You're pleased with my prayer

even when it has no words, Lord:
you're pleased with the prayer of my presence...

I forget that you understand me completely,

that you hear my prayer, Lord,

in the flow of my tears,

the groans of my pain,

the shivers of my fears,

the silence of my sorrow

and in the peaceful sigh

of finding myself again in your presence…

My prayer needs no special words, Lord:
you're always pleased
when I "make it up as I go along,"
when my words come not from a book

or from memorized texts

- but simply from my heart…

Remind me that beginning to pray is simple:

I need only sit in silence

and speak your name…

Help me remember, Lord,

it’s always you who call me to prayer

- even when I think it’s all my idea…

I know that you know what’s on my mind

and in my heart

long before I ever even think to pray:

but oh, how you love it

when I share with you

what you’ve known of me

from before all time…

Your love for me is simple, Lord:

you’re always waiting for me

even when I haven’t prayed in a long time;

you welcome me warmly,

even when I've strayed from your Word;

you look me in the eye

when I fear looking back into yours;

you open wide your arms to me

even, especially, when I've been unfaithful to you;

you’re there for me, always,
even when I've ignored you

or turned away from your face…

I don't need a saint’s words and wisdom
to come to you in prayer, Lord,

I have only:

to thank you for my blessings,
praise you for your glory,
ask pardon for my sins,
seek your help in all my troubles
and beg the grace to be more faithful today
than I was the day before...

Remind me that meeting you in prayer, Lord,

is like meeting and speaking with a good friend,
an old friend who loves me

and accepts me as I am...

Help me to pray, Lord,

for I don’t know how to pray as I ought…

Amen.