Day 55: Communicating gratitude

Now thank we all our God

With hearts and hands and voices. 

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom his world rejoices;

who from our mothers' arms,

Hath blessed us on our way.

With countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today. 

-Martin Rinkart

The problems we often have with communicating our gratitude to God, is not that we don't show gratitude to Him; rather its the manner in which we do so. Often, like our requests, we say 'thank you for the food... thank you for sending your son to die on the cross....thank you for this day...etc.' However, they are never more than just saying thank you. 

There is nothing wrong with saying thank you, however, if this is all we ever say to God, it can become boring and eventually it fails to reflect the true attitudes of our hearts. 

So...how are we to do it?

We must talk to God and explain to Him why we are thankful, if in fact we are. A good way to do this is not to say thank you for this and for that, but rather to tell God a story about your circumstances, or your life, reflecting on what God has done for you. In this way you are showing gratitude to Him without simply repeating a clique. 

Psalm 34:4-7

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears. 

Those who look to Him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame. 

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

He saved him out of all his troubles. 

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,

and He delivers them. 

Notice how the psalmist describes the blessing from God to those around Him. In expressive terms he explains what God has done for him, and in so doing, He is thanking God and showing gratitude to Him. 

We all have stories to tell how God has helped us. He always performs wonders for His children; so whether great or small, we all have something to tell Him, and thereby show our gratitude to Him. 

And by giving thanks to God in prayer, we are also benefitted. When we go through times of despair, when we feel that God is not near, we can pray to Him, recalling the wonders that He has done for us, and most often the result is that we are encouraged to overcome those depressing feelings. Thanking God from the heart often leads us to happiness and joy. 

You turned my waling into dancing;

You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to You and not be silent. 

O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever. 

(Psalm 30:11-12)

Day 54: Communicating your petitions

When you ask God things in prayer do you sound like you're reading from a list, ticking off the points as you go, 'yes I've done that, God will you please care for so and so, Lord help such and such an old lady, be with that family, be with those under church discipline.....'etc?? Do you sound like that? Or do you spend lots of time thinking about what you are going to pray about, yet when it comes down to praying, you don't have much time and just rush through it all; briefly touching on all the points??

I think many of us frequently offer our petitions in this, or a similar, manner. But are there better ways for communicating with God??

Of course.

Firstly, we must remember that there is nothing wrong with making lots of brief requests in prayer; however, it is when this approach dominates our prayers for a long period of time it can lead to the neglect of important dimensions of effective communication with God.

Jesus' teaching on prayer makes it clear that prayer may be much more urgent and persuasive than a rapid line of requests. In the parable in Luke 11:5-8 Jesus' teaches us that our persistence will win out.
He says: Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him, and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.'? Though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 


For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. God is intensely concerned with our needs and so we should earnestly bring these needs before Him. We cannot simply pray: "Lord, please take away my problem", instead, we must communicate our deep longings in the situation.

If we want a friend to come and do something for us we will persuade them until they come. We will continue to talk with them and build case with them as to why they need to come. Similarly, we must do the same thing with God. We need to continue to speak urgently with Him, to lay before Him the reasons why we need Him to help us. In this way we convey urgency in our prayers.

We can draw on three elements when building up our case before God: God's people, the world, and the Word of God. Consider the prayer Moses offered to God in Exodus 32 after seeing the golden calf. God had determined to destroy the people of Israel, but Moses offered an urgent and persuasive prayer.

He firstly reflects on the people of God: 'Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?' 

Secondly Moses draws attention to the world around him: 'Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 

And thirdly, Moses recalls the promises of God to the patriarchs - he turns to God and His word - as a basis for his request: Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all thing land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever'. 


As children of God, we can pray to Him in this way. We may appeal to His character and His word as we pray. God is faithful to His promises. When focussing on these available resources (God's people, the world around us, and God's promises) Moses received a wonderful response from God: So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. 


Isn't that such a comfort that we can come to God in such a manner, through prayer, knowing that He will hear us and He will answer us?

Day 53: From the heart

Its so easy to let prayer become a daily ritual; you pray before meals (or maybe you don't), and you pray before you go to bed, and you do so because that is what you have always done. Now there is nothing at all wrong with praying at these times, in fact it is very wise to pray at such intervals in your day; however we must not let this become something we just rattle off out of ritual, like an old tape recorder.

'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the Lord. 'I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats'. (Isaiah 1:11)

In the time of Isaiah the Israelites were sacrificing to God out of custom. While they daily brought the sacrifices to the altar, their hearts were not in it. In their hearts they served other gods rather than the Lord to whom they offered sacrifices. Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters at once. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

We need to be especially careful that our prayers and worship of God does not become like the empty sacrifices of the Israelites. We cannot just go through the motions; God has no delight in that. Rather, He wants a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart; these O God you will not despise (Psalm 51:17).

May our prayers then be prayed from the heart. Come before God in prayer knowing that you don't deserve His blessing, and yet, knowing that you are able to come before His throne only because of the blood of Christ. God is an almighty and just God who demands reverence and fear; yet we are His adoptive heirs, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17). It is for this reason that we can come before Him and speak to Him with the openness of a child to its earthly Father. God loves you; that's why He sent His son to die for you. The path for prayer to God has been opened; now we just need to pray from the heart.

Day 52: HOW to pray

Now that we have determined what we must pray, we need to have a look at how we are to communicate these thoughts and desires. Some people suggest that our prayers must adhere to a form, while other people say that we must have freedom in our prayers to say whatever comes to mind as this is how we address people we know; we don't prepare a speech before we go talk to a friend, so why should we have to with God.

The problem with such suggestions is that if we go to the extreme of either of them we are putting ourselves in a dangerous position of jeopardising our prayer life. Instead, we must find a balance between freedom and form without our prayers; the key is variety. 


On the one hand there is credit in believing that we need to have freedom in our prayers. God has revealed Himself to us in ways that invite us to speak to Him on an informal level.

Jesus Himself said: No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

God has revealed an intimate concern for us and thus it is appropriate that we talk to Him in an informal, spontaneous manner. Informal prayers may also work to enhance our personal relationship with Him. Without the formal language of traditional prayers, there is not literal barrier between us and God.

On the other hand, however, some people will argue that by having the formality in prayer (e.g. using thees and thous) we instil a sense of awe and respect for the Almighty God. God, as our Creator and Redeemer deserves to be treated with the highest respect. If this means that we have to prepare our prayers, for otherwise we blunder and tirelessly repeat ourselves, than by all means, we must do so.

God is HOLY.

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. (Isaiah 6:3)

God is our friend but He is also our KING. We need to make the distinction that although God is our friend, He is not like our mates down the road. We cannot bring Him down to our level of understanding. He is great and greatly to be praised!

However, if we use rehearsed or traditional prayers, we still need to make them our own. If we fail to do this, then our prayers are still vain repetition; we are just praying words and they have no meaning with regard to our personal situation. We can draw upon the many prayers within the psalms. They all reflect many different types of emotions and situation also applicable to our day and age.

Don't be satisfied to simply repeat the words someone else has already written. Rather, find the balance between having your own personal freedom in prayer where you can pour out your heart before God, and yet, remember that using forms in prayer is a valuable gift in helping us to maintain focus and balance in our prayers.

The model prayer that Jesus gave on the sermon on the mount is a prayer we must all make our own. Be able to do more than pray the words; make the words applicable to you and your situation; may the words come from your mouth and heart.

Our Father, who art in heaven, 

Hallowed by your name,

Your kingdom come, 

Your will be done, 

On earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

and lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from the evil one,

For Yours is the kingdom, 

the power,

and the glory, 

forever. 

Amen. 

Day 51: In times of need

If you stop and think about all the petitions in your prayers, how often is it that you can sound like an ungrateful child in a toy shop. "Will you buy this for me? Will you buy this for me, too? This too? Why not?" After all that which God has given us, we always come back asking for more.

So how then are we to decently come to God in prayer and lay our requests before Him?

Firstly, we must remember that our requests must be based on our needs rather than our greed. Before we ask things of God, we must distinguish between what are our needs and what are simply the things we want. We are not free to ask from selfish motives. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3). A way to ensure that you don't ask amiss is to couch our requests in a deep and abiding sense of contentment with God's provisions. When we spend time in prayer and devotion talking about the blessings that God has already given, then we go a long way towards avoiding self-centered petitioning.

Secondly, when we pray, we actually need to pray with the expectation that God will answer our requests. We cannot pray expecting God to change His plans; I am God, and there is no other, I am God and there is none like Me... My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure (Isaiah 46:9-10).

Our prayers cannot change God's plans but this does not mean that they are of no effect. For prayer is a cause of change; it is by prayer that things happen. God uses our prayers to make things come about. (This may sound queer, but that's most likely because I'm not explaining this well enough).

The reason why we prayer is similar to the reason why we go to the doctor, why we work, and why we spread the gospel. Things don't just happen. We can't expect to have money is we don't work. Working is a cause through which we receive money. Similarly, prayer is a secondary cause through which God fulfils His plan (see  Ex. 32:11-13 where Moses prays to God that He may be merciful to the Israelites).

And thirdly, when we pray, we must do so with expectation. But what sort of expectation? To one extent we have to humbly submit ourselves to His will and trust Him to do the right thing; however, we must not let this attitude so rule us that it leads us to passive resignation, so that we think that God will do His will no matter how or what we pray anyway. Instead we must pray with a general confidence in the goodness of God. Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him (Ps. 34:8). God, out of His goodness will not give us a stone to eat when we ask Him for bread (Matt 7:7-11).

Yet, we must remember that God's goodness does not always seem good to us at the present time. We cannot understand the will of God, or even try to, (and this is where the trusting in Him comes back) however, we can pray in the assurance that God wills good for His children.

And lastly, when we pray, we can also find confidence in the compelling certainty that particular things will be granted. For instance, I find that I know God will give me strength, peace, and patience (and other such things when I ask Him for them). Although He does not take the specific issue or pain away, He gives the strength to bear the pain, and in these things we can have the compelling certainty that God will give us this. I also find that after praying to God for these such things, you see God 'speaking' to you through His Word next time you read it, and particular verses jump out to you, reminding you of the particular things that will so give you the strength or wisdom to get through whatever need you encounter.

I call upon You, O God, for You will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. (Ps 17:6)

Day 50: In times of Joy

There are two distinct parts to Christian joy: the quiet, peaceful joy, and the exuberant joy. Both are essential parts of our Christian experience and prayer relates to these positive attitudes. Firstly prayer acts as a vehicle for discovering joy in this troubled life, and secondly prayer is an opportunity for celebrating our joy in Christ.

We can find the quiet, peaceful joy in our lives in the midst of trouble. Deep within our souls God instills a confidence that He will never leave us. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod, and Your staff, they comfort me (Ps 23:4). This confidence in God's care sustains us; when we face struggles we can take joy in the fact that God cares for us.

Sometimes blessings or circumstances in our lives are so extraordinary that we are overcome with excitement. This exuberant joy is evident in Ps 150:

Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. 

Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness. 

Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, 

praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, 

praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with the resounding cymbals. 

This form of joy is so overwhelming that the evils of life seem to vanish before our eyes. As the sun chases away the darkness, so this joy takes away the sorrows. Life can be tough at times, and all we do when we pray is ask God for help in this and that, that He may deliver us from such and such an ailment, and that He may provide for our financial needs etc. We ask God for this and for that. But we spend little time actually praising God and experiencing the joy that should be part of our lives as christians. We have all been saved through the blood of Christ and His Holy Spirit renews us; isn't this enough cause for joy in our lives - joy that we should be expressing in our prayers? 

Although in the previous chapter of the book we were told that in prayer there is room to express our sorrows and negative attitudes, our prayers should not remain that way. There are psalmists that lament before God, however their frank displays of negative feelings often lead them to a fresh discovery of joy. Psalm 59 begins with words of despair: See how they lie in wait for me! Fierce men conspire against me....(vs.3)  however a different attitude emerges at the end: O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God (vs.17) By taking our troubles to God we can emerge from prayer having that quite, peaceful joy, a joy with which can then express in prayer. 

When we find ourselves overwhelmed by joy, from whatever circumstances, we should come to God and share this joy with Him. Just as a child will seek their father to show him their delight (and the father also takes pleasure in the delights of his children), so our heavenly Father wants for us to share our joys and pleasures with Him. We can pray to God about His blessings (after all, the joy we experience is a direct blessing from Him), and in this way our exuberance will also filter into the other areas of our lives. 

Once we start seeing the joy in life we begin to see the blessings rather than the grudges of everyday life. So often we receive tremendous blessings but fail to delight in them because of the problems that remain in our lives. We have a wonderful meal, but complain about doing the dishes. We have a lovely home, but moan about mowing the grass. We are blessed with healthy bodies by groan about the colour of our hair. It always seems we'er complaining about something. But we shouldn't; we have no need to complain. For most of us we have so much; we should be filled with thanksgiving and joy. 

Joy in Christ; Joy with which can share and express to God in prayer. 

Day 49: How vast the chasm between us and God

I was reminded in bible study club tonight of the extensive wonders of God's grace. So often we take for granted the fact that we are a christian. Especially since having been born into a Christian family, where my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were also all Christians. Having come from a christian background with a rich heritage we sometimes forget the greatness of the grace of God.

We were discussing sins and how do you distinguish between bad sins and BAD sins; or is there no distinction? Will you get punished more for murdering someone, than for stealing a cookie out of the tin? The conclusion we arrived at in our discussion was that we need to remember that God views all sin as sin. Whether we may see them as little or big sins; they are still sins. And sinning is a breach of His commands. It is like comparing stealing out the cookie tin as 1 x infinity (that's how far we have come from God's perfect holiness) and murdering as 2 x infinity. No matter what the sin is, its a sin and God in His perfect holiness absolutely abhors it.

So then, when we consider this, how far we have fallen, and how great that distance is between us, unworthy sinners, and the perfect righteousness of God, all we can do is look to Christ. There is absolutely no way that we of ourselves could EVER bridge that gap between God an us. Ours sins are far to great, and the stock pile of them grows daily.

But not all is lost, for God, in His infinite love and mercy, has sent His Son to bridge that gap, to make it possible to us to have communion and fellowship with God again.

Just sit back and contemplate that for a while.

We, who by our own wilful disobedience fell into sin, through Adam in the garden of Eden, are saved because God, in His good pleasure decided to bestow us with a measure of grace, that we may have Life. Isn't that just a wonderful gift?

And all we have to do is accept this gift with a believing heart? How amazing is that?

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, 

that saved a wretch like me...

I once was lost, but now am found, 

was blind, but now I see.  

Day 48: In times of trouble

So how do we effectively talk to God about the things that trouble us? When troubles assail us, when dark thoughts plague our minds, when we feel as those our heads are going under, when life is a constant struggle - how, when we are in such situations do we pray to God? How to we tell Him all these things? Will He even understand, or will it even help to tell Him?

We must come to God in prayer as we are; we must not put on a happy face, or try to maintain an optimistic outlook. We are not required to be satisfied with life. Rather, God wants us to come to Him as we are; when we are troubled by life's burdens we must come to Him with them. Pour out our hearts before His face, and He is sure to hear. We can feel bad about ourselves, our own spiritual decline and personal problems; we can be troubled by the outward circumstances caused by other people, and we can also express troubled feelings about God. All these feelings, as long as they are not selfish are welcome before God in prayer.

The problem is, however, that we try to hide our genuine attitudes before God in prayer. We tend to conceal our heart's condition before God, rather, than reveal our problems to Him. Remember: God knows our hearts; we can fool other people with smiles and flattery, but God knows when we are troubled. Thus we must be honest and open with Him in prayer. '

But how do you actually put all this into words? How are we actually meant to pray?

We can take a look at the examples of prayers in the psalms.What jumps out at the reader is the vivid images and detailed descriptions of the psalmists condition. The psalmist doesn't say, Lord things are pretty bad down here, but he uses metaphors of bulls and lions to depict his ravaging enemies.

Many bulls have surrounded me, 

strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. 

They gape at me with their mouths, 

like a raging and roaring lion. 

(Ps 22:12-13)

We must not shy away from using this vivid imagery in our prayers. By speaking this way it causes us to pause and think about what we are praying, to examine ourselves and our troubles and to tell God the truth about how we feel. 

Now while we are encouraged to pray about the negative things in our lives, the things that trouble and dishearten us, we must also remember that there are limitations. Firstly we must maintain our fundamental trust in the goodness of God. When we take our complaints to God we must always remember that He is faithful; we cannot by any means question the reality of His love. Secondly, our expression of negative attitudes in prayer must not be motivated by greed or selfishness. Remember the distinction between what you need and what you want. This about the difference and think about whether what you are praying for is a want or need. And thirdly, our negative feelings must be accompanied by an openness to receiving God's response with gratitude. We must be ready to be instructed, corrected, or further enlightened on the matters that are our concern. 

Be ready to hear what God has to say to you. After all, isn't that the reason you pray to Him?

Day 47: How to pray in our day

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance 

(Eccl. 3:4)

We all go through different circumstances in life; we all experience different difficulties and blessings. Yet we all have both positive and negative experiences. Although the ratio between these two differs from one person to the next, we can all say that we do experience both. We have times of joy, new life and prosperity, and we also have times of sickness, death and loneliness. So how are we to respond to these positives and negatives in life? How do we speak of these in prayer? Does God want to hear about everything in our lives? 

What we have to understand is that in prayer we have to be honest with ourselves and honest with God. If in our lives we are experiencing much struggling and suffering then we are not expected to have a prayer filled with joy, praise and thanskgiving. If that was the case then our prayers would not be honest; they would not reflect our circumstances and we would feel no comfort from praying that sort of prayer. 

Take a look at Ps 69; the psalmist was going through some very tough times and this is reflected in how he prays. 

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 

I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me... (vv. 1-2)

You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; 

all my enemies are before you. (v.19)

Here the psalmist pours out his complaints and negative feelings before God; he shares himself with God for he knows that God will hear. God cares about His children. He loves you and so He wants to hear from you in prayer. 

Similarly, in our positive circumstances we must also praise and thank God. We can share those experiences with Him too. In contrast to Ps 69 there are other psalms that reflect a positive attitude towards life. This is our chance to thank God for the wonderful blessings we experience, meditate on the abundant goodness of God and proclaim the wondrous works of God. 

I will exalt you, my God the King;

I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you 

and extol your name forever and ever. (Ps 145:1ff)

Our prayers must not be autopilot; they must deal with what is in our hearts. This does require us to examine our attitudes before we pray. Be honest with your response to life: how do you feel about God, about the world around us, and about ourselves? Tell God how you feel and include both your positive and negative responses. Lay your attitudes before God in prayer. 

Day 46: How prayer brings us into the presence of God

At times we may feel as though God is so far away. We feel as though our prayers only reach the ceiling but to do go beyond. We feel as though we hardly even know God. We have lost that sense of nearness with God. So how do we get it back???

Firstly we must examine our lives to see if we can find the cause of this lack of nearness with God. There must be something that is making you feel this way. There are two main reasons: that you have a continual sin that is acting as a barrier between you and God, or, you neglect God is prayer. Most often it is the second reason. 

But then, what does it really mean to neglect God in prayer? Aren't you praying to Him; then obviously you are giving Him some attention, aren't you? 

Consider for a moment the relationships you have with other people. If we don't particularly like a person we tend to put a psychological distance between ourselves and that person. We prefer to remain uninterested in their life and keep our conversations with them to a superficial level. On the other hand, however, if the person is someone we like very much, someone dear to us, we put our hearts into our conversations, and we desire more and more to be with that person. We not only share the same space with each other, but we share our lives also. 

So how is it to be with our conversations (our prayers) with God? If we ignore Him in our prayers; if He is merely the addressee, then how can we expect Him to bless us with an awareness of His special presence. James puts this matter suscinctly: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8a) If we want to experience the nearness of God, we have to come near to Him. We must seek after Him as we pray. 

And how do we do this? 

We must devote our hearts to communing with Him; it must be our desire to be with Him in prayer, to share our lives with Him in a personal way. In the previous chapters it was mentioned how we can get closer to God in prayer: by having a fascination with His character and works, and coming to Him with a servant's gaze. But we can also get near to God by contemplating on His holy dwelling. This does not require us to conjure a picture of what we image heaven to be like, but to meditate on the splendour and glory of our Father's dwelling place. 

In the bible we often find a focus on God's almighty dwelling. 

As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10)

Heaven here is pictured as a magnificent royal court filled with unimaginable power and glory. If we contemplate on the fact that the one we pray to, Our Father, who is in heaven (Matt 6:9), and the fact that He dwells in such an unimaginable place of glory, then our hearts are also there with our Father in heaven. The our hearts are with Him; they are near Him; and he will feel near. 

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1). Seek God in His holy dwelling; seek and you will find. 

Day 45: Fascination with God's works

Once we start to find an admiration for God's character and many attributes we stand in awe of the many things He does. We can divide the actions of God into two main categories; His works for salvation, and His works of providence.

In looking at God's works of salvation we firstly look back to the things that God has done. There are too many events to list, but they include the flood, the migrations of the patriarchs, the crossing of the Red Sea, the giving of the law at Mt Sinai, the conquest of Canaan, the establishment of the monarchy, the exile, the deliverance from exile, the coming of Christ, His death, and His promised return. When we take a look, and I mean a proper, deep look at these events of the past, we are amazed at the works of God. If we pray about these events and read of them in the bible - if we speak of them in their vivid imagery and feel the event as though you were there - then you will appreciate the wonder of this event, and the wonder of the God who controlled it.

In our own lives today we can also see God's works of salvation. When a someone believes for the first time, or when a Christian receives special help for his/her problem, or even when a new church is instituted we can see these as saving acts of God. If we contemplate on these events, as they also effect us, this will give a valuable dimension to our prayers.

And we can also hold onto the future saving acts of God that He has promised us in His word. We can think of Judgement day, when all those dead will rise again and stand before the judge, when Christ will take to Himself all His chosen ones - these events are yet to come, however, the more we consider them and pray thoughtfully about them, the more we can develop a sense of awe and fascination at those works which God has, does, and will do.

We can also see the work of God in His creation, in the way that He upholds, governs, and preserves this world. Think of Ps 104:1 - Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. And why is God so great? Because He makes springs pour water into the ravines, it flows between the mountains, They give water to all the beasts of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst....and the acts of God continue.

God has done so much, if only we just stop and see that. Take the time to consider all the God has done for you, and what He is doing at this moment in your life. God is always busy and He will always be busy with you and your salvation. We just have to realise this, contemplate this, and mediate on this, so that in so doing we may know how and what to pray to God about. If we are filled with awe and admiration at God's works, then our prayers will be far from bland and lifeless.

Day 44: Having a fascination with God's character

Are you fascinated with God? Do you ever just sit there and contemplate His awesomeness, His majesty and His greatness? When was the last time you expressed an attitude of wonder and amazement at the powerful God you call your Father?

Are you awestruck at the wonder of God?

Can you say with the psalmist: One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the lord and to seek Him in His temple. (Ps 27:4)?

Or does the text in Revelations 2:4 apply: I hold this against you: You have foresaken your first love?

I think we are all in danger of letting God become like our once new cars. Just like the shine of the new car, our amazement of God may dull with time. So we have to do something about it! But what?

Prayer is an excellent means of refreshing our appreciation of God. In prayer, seek to know God in a more intimate way. God has many attributes; His character is complex so really we should never stop being fascinated by Him.

Psalm 18:1-3 shows how fascination with God and contemplation can be tied up in prayer:

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

We must contemplate on God's character; consider the many different forms that this can take. And also consider, what does it mean to me that God is my rock, or that He is the horn of my salvation. If we see God in this new light, and have a fascination with His attributes then we are more and more inclined to call upon Him and worship Him for His glorious works.

Use metaphors, descriptions and see God for who He really is. Understand His character and be fascinated by it. This amazing God is your God, and He is my. Isn't that in itself a reason to bow down in prayer right now?

Day 43: A Servant's Gaze

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, 

as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, 

so our eyes look to the Lord our God, 

till He shows us His mercy. 

(Ps 123:2)

What kind of attention are we supposed to give God when we pray?

As servants of God we are in utter need of His provision; His hand alone comes between us and eternal death. This total dependence on Him in all things is what should drive us to come before Him in prayer, doing so with the gaze of a servant. We need to see ourselves as needy servants; totally dependent of Him, so that we can enter prayer with the proper focus.

How then are we to 'look' at God when we pray, if we are to have this servant's gaze? We show our regard for others by looking at them when we talk; how do we 'look' at God? We must do so by having the focus of our prayer of Him. So often we briefly mention Him in the opening, 'Our Father' or 'Merciful God', and at the end 'in Jesus' Name. Amen', and we also tend to intersperse His name throughout the the prayer 'Lord.......Lord......Lord...'. But in all this God is never really the focus of our prayer. When we pray like this, its almost as though prayer has become a spiritual shopping list; and God has taken second place. We become to absorbed with our material and spiritual needs that we crowd God out. So instead, of pushing God aside, remember that it is He who made you, and He who saved you. You are completely dependent of Him; so pray to Him in that manner.

Some ways to improve our attention to God is to address Him in prayer by different names. Add variety; this will give you a new awareness of God Himself. The bible provides countless other names besides 'Father', 'Lord', etc. Try: "righteous Judge" (2 Tim 4:8), "Head of the Church" (Eph 1:22), "Firstborn of creation" (Col 1:15), "Lamb of God" (John 1:29), "Prince of Peace" (Is 9:6). And that's just a few names; there are so many more. God's character is so rich that we tend to minimalise this when we call Him by those familiar names. But when we call Him by others which reflect the multi-facets of His being, we are also enlighten ourselves towards this awesome God we can call our Father.

Day 42: Pray with your eyes open

I have just started reading a book, Pray with your eyes open, by Richard Pratt, Jr., and it is my hope to write a post on every chapter I read.

At times praying can become frustrating, it feels as though our prayers never seem to go anywhere. Or we find that we are always distracted, or falling asleep before we finish our prayers. Prayer has dropped down the priority list in our lives, and although we pray it just seems like we do get anywhere with it.

So what can we do? How can we improve our prayer life?

In the opening chapter of his book Richard Pratt reminds his readers that for prayer to actually 'work', you need three components. You need God, yourself, and communication. Without all these three you cannot have prayer, and you also don't need more than these, such as a quiet room, friends to help, or lots of time. You just need God, yourself, and communication.

God is the recipient of our prayers. The way that we understand God has a direct influence on the way we pray to Him. If you see God as your best mate, or if you view Him as your heavenly King, will determine if your prayers are informal and casual or reverent and more formal. Another mistake we tend to make in our prayers, is that we lose interest in prayer because we are bored praying the same things over and over again. However, this need not be so. We lose interest because our perception of God is so narrow. If we broaden our understanding of God and His attributes, then depending on our circumstances, we can draw upon the different dimensions of God's character. In this way we avoid having a one sided conception of God, and our prayers will be filled with more life and vitality, as we strive to deepen our awareness of God in all the ways He has revealed in Scripture.

Taking a look at the psalms we see how the psalmists mention the many attributes of God.
To you I call, O LORD my Rock, (Ps 28:1)
I love you, O LORD, my Strength, (Ps 18:1)

We also need to consider ourselves in our prayers. That is, after all the source of our prayer. Although we acknowledge that God ultimately gives us the ability to pray, it is still us who have to pray and provide the communication with God. In so doing we must be deeply aware of our own thoughts and attitudes so that we may know what it is that we must pray about, and how we should do it. Our prayers must not be superficial. Consider for a moment: I a close friend asks, how are you, when clearly you are not well, and you reply fine, do you think that that would suffice between close friends. Would you only talk in such a superficial manner? Of course you wouldn't; so then this applies to how we speak to God. Do we say, please for give all my sins, or do we go in depth, review those sins that we did during the day and ask for specific forgiveness and the strength to fight against specific sins?

God is ready to hear us when we pray, so we must examine and express ourselves as honestly and completely as possible.

And lastly, we still need communication to make prayer possible. How do you pray? What words do you use. The structure and format of prayer differs for all individuals, however, one thing we all must know is that prayer is not at all restricted to a few given formats. Some people like to use acronyms such as JOY (Jesus, Others, Yourself), or ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), or even following the format of the Lords Prayer. The problem with this is that our prayers tend to be the same; we always pray for the same things, in the same order, and because we are human this gets boring.  Consider again the psalmists: they do not always begin prayers with praise or adoration. Sometimes one's situation does not lend to doing so.

The psalmists lift up praises:
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever (Ps 136:1)
They offer laments:
We are consumed by Your anger, and terrified by your indignation. (Ps 90:7)
They express statements:
Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. (Ps 43:4)
They ask questions:
Will the Lord reject us forever? Will He never show His favour again? (Ps 77:7)

There are many different things to say in prayer, we just have to realise this, and think about them all. If we learn from the psalmists in this respect, that our prayers will become more fulfilling, and we can begin to overcome our frustrating problems with prayer and experience more fully the rich blessings of talking with God.

Day 41: Hope

Hope is something I always would like to be able to hold onto. Hope is something that gets me through difficult times. Hope is the beacon and the end of a dark tunnel of trials. Hope is the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

In this life, we can have hope. We can live in hope, knowing that Christ will return again to take us to Himself. Every Christian must live in hope, in anticipation for the life to come. 

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:19-20)

To live a life of hope is to live a life with eternal purpose. Knowing that the trials on this life are only temporary, and that God will not give you more than what you can endure. We must work to remain, to a certain extent, optimistic. Although not all things are good, God works everything to the good of those who love Him.

Lords Day 10 of the Heidelberg Catechism sums this all up nicely: We may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with view to the future, we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and father, that nothing shall separate us from His love, for all creatures are so completely in His hand, that without His will, they cannot so much as move. 

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)

Day 40: RAIN

Isn't rain such a beautiful thing? To hear it sound on the tin roof; pitter, patter, pitter, patter....and then it pours. It's so wonderful; such a blessing. In this dry land we call Australia, we need all the rain we can get, and every single drop is a sign of God's mercy towards this country.

Every time it rains, it reminds me that God is still looking over us; He is caring for us. As sure as the rain falls I am reminded that all things come to us not by chance, but by His fatherly hand (Matthew 10:31).  God is in control, also of the rain. He sends rain in its due season and with holds rain also. But it's a wonderful thing that when we ask Him of rain and He gives it liberally.

"Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone." (Zechariah 10:3)