Prayers

Prayer  -  Everyone I have ever met says that prayer is the best thing to do in any/every situation.  And yet everyone I have ever met also says that they don't pray enough!  What is the deal with prayer?  We all say we do it, need it, want it,  but I wonder sometimes if anyone other than little 80 year old women are doing any real prayer time.
 
If you want more prayer you have to make it part of your daily routine,  i.e. habit.
This in no way takes away from the meaning of prayer.  Just like a friend who gives you a call just to chat instead of only calling when he/she needs something,  God wants to hear from you on a regular basis.  Pray before meals (say grace), pray before you go to sleep, pray in the morning (before work or school).

You can start with short simple prayers until you get comfortable with doing it in a deeper more meaningful way. 

There are 2 different kinds of prayer that I use, both of which are effective (especially when inspired/led by the Holy Spirit).  Pre-written and "Free-style".
The 1st are just like they sound - these are prayers written ahead of time by you, or more often by someone else.  The Lord's Prayer is a good example of a pre-written prayer.   Also, you can purchase whole books of prayers.  These are great for those times when you don't know how to put into words what you want to say.  I mean no disrespect when I say, just like picking out the perfect greeting card for someone on their birthday,  pre-written prayers come in handy.  You can even memorize a few of them,  especially ones based on sacred scripture.

The 2nd kind - "free-style" - tend to be more spontaneous.  They can be short, or long, full of big words,  or little words.  They can quote from scripture or other writings.  They can ramble, or hammer the same point over and over in different ways.  They can be for our selves or for others.  The list goes on and on.

Remember though,  not all prayer time involves you doing all of the "talking".  Sometimes the best prayer time is spent simply listening.  No matter which type of prayer you like best,  I encourage you to try them all.  Also,  prayer works best when it is from the heart.  Take the time to put away your ego,  remove the "walls" that we all use to keep people at a distance,  and offer up your most inner self,  that part of you that God wants to know and love.

Here is the prayer I mentioned in my last post:
SURRENDER
    Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.  All that I am and all that I possess You have given me:  I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.  Give me only Your love and Your grace;  with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. 

May the Grace and Blessings of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever. Amen

Your humble servant,  pastor-jonathan

Readings

Greetings all,
Today I thought I would get us started with listing the readings from a lectionary. Also, I created an e-mail address just for this blog. Please try not to over-use it, but do contact me with important items/comments.
The readings for July 4th - Psalm 66:1, Isaiah 66:10-14, Galations 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9
July 5th - Psalm 145:8, Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22,
Matthew 9:18-26
July 6th - Psalm 115:9; Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13; Matthew 9:32-38
July 7th - Psalm 105;4; Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12; Matthew 10:1-7
July 8th - Psalm 80:4; Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9; Matthew 10:7-15
July 9th - Psalm 51:17; Hosea 14:2-10; Matthew 10:16-23
July 10th-Psalm93:1; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 10:24-33
Today's Gospel (7/5) teaches us to approach Jesus with confidence that our
prayer's will be heard.
"Jesus, only say the word and I shall be healed".

Tomorrow I'll share a prayer that I found in an old book that's been on my shelf for years. It's centuries old, but some things are timeless, like Truth.

Yours in Christ, Jesus - pastor-jonathan
pastor-jonathan-blog@live.com

first post

ok people lets do this!! First of all I must warn you that you will find all sorts of things on this blog from all parts of christianity. Instead of being non-denominational, I prefer to be inter-denominational, or is it intra-denominational?
Doesn't matter.

What I'm trying to say is I don't care what denomination you are as long as you are christian. I seek truth and understanding from many sources, although I regard the Bible as the only Word of God, completely inerrant.

So, having said that, lets begin this journey together and see if we can have a little fun as we strive to become better people and spread the "good news" as far as we can.