Effective praying involves a number of ingredients: there is praise, confession, contrition, thanksgiving, commitment, meditation or creative listening, intercession and supplication. Supplication - is praying for our own needs asking God for something. It is an extension and amplification of the prayer breathing exercises that Lloyd Ogilvie writes about: “We exhale saying Lord, I need you and then inhale – Lord, I receive you."
William Walford, the hymn writer tells us that supplication is the Sweet hour of prayer when we bid at our father’s throne to make all our wants and wishes known.
Beginning today, you are invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Praycation. Praycation is a spiritual discipline vacation from your ordinary prayer routine. It is a 31 -day step away the ordinary without catching a plane, boat or train. It is a journey from where you are right now to where you can be in Christ Jesus through prayer, praise, silence and study. This journey can be taken in a matter of seconds and minutes.
The increments of the journey are such that you can do it right where you are – home, work, or on your own vacation. It can be done with others or alone.
The goal is to draw closer to God by listening more to God than talking. Here is your opportunity to slow down to see the hand of God working in your life; listening to discern the will of God for your life; finding strength in your weak places; becoming more centered in Christ; do more praising than complaining; do more studying so that God’s word is working in you.
This is how it works: for the next 31 days when you wake up, before you speak to anyone speak else talk to God in prayer, exhale saying I need you, Lord and then inhale I receive you, Lord. Create a 31-minute space in your day to pray. Be still after your prayers for at least 31 seconds or more listening to God. Praise God for at least 31 seconds audibly or in your heart. But when you do it out loud, it will immediately change the atmosphere of the home.
Log onto the Selah prayer blog for your daily praycation scriptures and sentence prayers – the link is on this site. Study God’s Word at least 31 minutes per week. You can go to a bible study in your area, log onto an on-line bible study or you can do it on your own with a good study Bible. Focus on the scriptures provided during the week on the prayer blog.
Keep a written account of what was revealed to you in prayer, praise and study. On September 1st we will have an end-of-the summer praycation conference call to see what wonderful things the Lord did or is doing in your life.
Remember Praycation is a journey of 31 days of “first-thing in-the-morning-prayers” – exhale, I need you Lord and inhale, I receive you Lord; 31 minutes of prayer; 31 seconds of silence listening to God, 31 seconds of praising God, 31 Bible verses, 31 sentence prayers and 31 minutes studying God’s Word weekly.
DAY ONE
Simple Sentence prayers have been around for centuries. This prayer form has often been described as a classical form of prayer. You can add it to your prayer arsenal along with intercession, supplication, thanksgiving, confession, praise and contrition. You have probably utilized simple sentence praying without knowing it. Have you ever prayer, Lord, Have Mercy or Lord, save me? That's a sentence prayer. Below is our first Bible verse of the journey followed by the prayer. Let the journey begin!
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.”
Psalm 62:5
Lord, speak to me.
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