Prayer Begins with God

As I thought of this great day for our country, the National Day of Prayer, this phrase came to mind: "prayer begins with God." It came from a message I heard yesterday on Dobson. Not sure who was being interviewed. I only caught a few minutes of the broadcast.

This man basically said that in prayer we need to begin by listening to God, letting Him speak first before we speak. It made me think of a devotional that one of our elders, David Wray, led us through at an elders retreat. He read a portion of Romans then asked all of us sitting at our tables to spend some time in silence listening to God, asking Him to speak into our spirits as we meditated on that Scripture. Then we spent some time at our tables telling what we heard from the Lord through that passage of God's word.

Last night at a Brazil 2006 prayer session, we began our prayer time by hearing the words of Jesus in Matt. 11 -- the "come to me all you who are heavy laden" passage, which I love so much. It is usually a bit uncomfortable being silent in a group, not saying anything for a minute or two. What is it about being silent before God? Why does it make us uneasy at times? Do we not feel in control when we're not speaking?

After our period of listening, we then took turns responding to the Lord, sharing what was on our hearts. It was so cool to hear each other react to the words of Jesus -- asking Him to put that yoke on us once more. Surrendering to His will. Giving our worries and burdens to Abba Father.

So, on this National Day of Prayer, we might spend some time listening to God, asking the Holy Spirit to speak into our spirits as we meditate on His word and allow Him to apply this Word to our present situation.

"In the beginning, God..." Everything begins with God. Creation. Salvation. And of course, prayer.

Jim