Struggling to pray boldly and fervently has been a life long battle for me. When in a crisis, my praying reflects the urgency of the moment. But my routine is NOT filled with confident praying. But as I read stories of others who experience prayer encounters with our Triune God, I’m compelled to dive in deeper. I’m learning that much of my praying has always been a laundry list of requests rather than listening for what He is saying. The mountains of my selfish view of living must be moved so that I have a clarity of who He is in my life.
“Do we really think we can experience integration of heart and mind and spirit with an erratic prayer life? Do we really believe we can, like Moses, “speak face to face” with God as someone would a friend by our unpredictable prayers? No, we develop intimacy by regular association. We develop ease as well. Why ease? Because we are forming fixed habits of righteousness. In time these “holy habits” will do their work of integration so that praying becomes the easy thing, the natural thing, the spontaneous thing—the hard thing will be to refrain from prayer.” - Excerpt, ‘Parayer’ by Richard Foster
“We acknowledge to God the mountains—our struggle to forgive, the hurt we hold onto, the anger and bitterness we harbor, our desire for the other to hurt like they hurt us, the grudge we hold. Faith leads us to be honest with God about these things we cling to in our hearts. That honesty with God puts us in a position for God to work in us. God is the one who moves the mountains in our hearts, not us. Our role is to bring the mountains to God, asking God to remove them. Our prayer is the expression of our faith.” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford
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