One of the things Jesus modeled for us is regularly pulling away from other people to get time alone with his heavenly father. As a community, we want to follow Jesus’ example. We believe that part of following Jesus involves regularly spending time with Jesus. What follows is a Prayer Guide to help you connect with Jesus in your everyday life.
Everyday, Monday through Saturday, a new prayer guide will be posted. You can visit the website to find the latest post or you can sign up to receive it each morning through email.
The Prayer Guide is split up into 7 main sections that will serve as a simple guide to structure your prayer time. Below, you can read how to engage each of those sections.
Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
Get comfortable. Let your body relax and your mind quiet down.
Take a few deep breaths and then ask God to make his presence known to you.
Be still. Take some time to sit and soak up God’s presence.
The primary purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what we want. The primary purpose of prayer is to connect with God and be formed by God.
After being still for a few minutes, engage the opening prayer. Read it slowly, reflectively, aligning your heart with each word and phrase. Repeat this a few times to allow the prayer to form you.
The psalms are incredibly helpful in learning to pray. They contain a wide variety of emotions – anger, sadness, grief, joy, delight, and praise. And the one thing that ties all these emotions together is God-directed honesty. The psalms are honest. They teach us how to be honest with God in prayer no matter what we are experiencing in life.
Committing Scripture to memory allows us to carry it with us wherever we go. Each week a memory verse is provided to help us stay centered on the person of Jesus and what it means to follow him in our everyday lives.
Dwelling in the Word is an ancient way of reading the Scriptures. It involves spiritually submitting to the text of Scripture with a desire to hear from God and respond with our lives. You will read the passage three times total. Read slowly and reflectively, creating space to listen to God after each reading.
First Reading: What word or phrase stands out to you?
Second Reading: Why were you drawn to that word or phrase?
Third Reading: What invitation do you sense from God?
God invites us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us. God is all-together good, already knows what we need, and is eager to give us good things. So we don’t need pray out of anxiety or fear, but confident trust. Spend a few minutes making your requests known to God.
The opening prayer ushered us into God’s presence, centering us on Jesus. The closing prayer is designed to send us into the world in the way of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to head into the world with Jesus-like, cross-shaped, love.