Over the last month I've started a workbook for the Prayer Lab course I was planning to teach two years ago. The Father has been showing me such neat things along the way. It's intended to be an overview course, but since good theology leads to good practice, there's no way to do an overview without a bunch of heavy lifting, scripturally. I've been genuinely surprised by this. The going has been slow, but it's good stuff. The Spirit has even reordered the book at least once (maybe twice) and added several chapters. So far it looks like 8 weeks of solid work, but a bunch of the topics are not mainstream--or at least I haven't seen them in print very frequently. Of course that may be why the going is so slow. Any time you work on something that will help people pray effectively, the enemy won't be happy.
One of the biggest things that is hard to get across is that God Himself is worthy of being sought, not just his gifts. This is fundamental both to communicating with God and interceeding for others. All effective prayer starts with a look up, to revel in the greatness, majesty and wonder of God. I'll have more to write about this over the next few weeks, but it's a great place to start if you feel distant from Him or just tired. Nothing lifts my spirits like a breath of praise--it is truly a breath of fresh air in the staleness of my life. Even the cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy..." is enough to drop my stress level about 20 notches.
Try it...
"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."
Feel better? I do...
Welcome back!
ReplyDelete