Focused Prayer

Does anyone else have any trouble with your mind wandering during your prayer time? Does your prayer time sound like this:

Dear Lord, please bless Suzy and heal her broken foot, although she probably wouldn't have that broken foot if she hadn't attempted to skateboard at her age, and speaking of age, Ms. Vicki was looking very old and frail on Sunday, of course that could have had something to do with the hideous color she was wearing, no one looks good in that color, except that woman I met the other day at the grocery store, but I think that was because it really complimented her skin tone and hair color, which reminds me, it's time to color my hair again, the roots are starting to show, but that's probably because I've been so stressed lately, and good grief, I just realized that I forgot to pick up milk while I was at the grocery store. . .

Okay, so maybe it's not quite THAT bad, but you get my drift? Why is it that when we sit down to pray, our minds go in a thousand different directions? The answer is simple: Satan wants to keep us distracted. He doesn't want us to tap into the awesome power of prayer. Oswald Chambers put it this way: "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. . .The prayer of the feeblest saint on earth who keeps right with God paralyzes the darkness--that's why he tries to keep our minds fussy in active work until we cannot think in prayer." So true, so true!

I like the approach Cheri Fuller, author of A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer, takes. She uses an acronym of the word "bless" to help keep her prayers on track. The acronym is this:

Body
Labor
Emotional
Social
Spiritual

By keeping this acronym handy during our prayer time, our prayers are likely to stay more focused and more productive. But no matter what approach you take to your prayer time, please don't fail to pray! It is truly a source of strength and power.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. - James 5:16