Prayer

Sports were my obsession. I immersed myself in statistics and scoreboards and would sooner worship at the shrine of sport than anyplace else.

We are exhorted to practice persistent repetition of our requests, not a formulaic repetition of words, which Jesus condemned (Matthew 6:7–8).

I began journaling during my 16 months overseas. I saw my “thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips and through the fingertips,” a little saying I learned from a mentor who gave me my first journal.

Do whatever you can to be at peace with all those around you. Practice forgiveness. Be helpful. Do little things, such as write letters of encouragement, or make a phone call or two.

The key to loving our enemies is to consider God’s love for us.

Your prayer together is an act of surrender to the God who is there, the God who cares for you and responds to you. Let me try to convince you to start with my top 10 benefits of praying together.

Think of it! On the eve of His crucifixion, with the world’s sins weighing on His heart, Jesus took time to pray for us down through the ages, for all who would receive Him as Saviour.

And it was this intensity that caused prayer to degenerate from a flowing spontaneity to a rigid, packaged plan, dispensed routinely by the religious leaders. Prayer changed from privilege to an obligation.