I've recently been very intentional about how I spend my times alone with God. I've developed an order of responses that help me stay focused. As always, the dangers lie in two extremes: One extreme is to have no structure at all just doing whatever "feels" right at the time. The other extreme is to be so rigid that you leave no room for spontenaity and freedom. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and other ideas for how to meet with The Savior. "Revelation" would be Bible reading/study. "Response" would be prayer.
Revelation (God reveals Himself through His Word)
Response:
1. Repentance/Confession
2. Praise
-For who God is (His intrinsic value)
-For what God has done (particularly, His saving acts)
3. Intercession/Supplication
-Church
-Family
-Non-Christians
-Missions
4. Petition (personal requests)
5. Thanksgiving
6. Meditation (on some specific Biblical truth)
7. Listening
1 comment:
Yeah, my time in prayer kind of changes- at times it is very structured...and others I am more free....I am looking still for a good balance- because I think sometimes I leave things out when I am not structured enough- but sometimes I end up making it too structured, and then I feel like Im going through the motions and being repetitive.
Sometimes for me repentance and praise flip flop. If I know of something right off the bat that I need to confess, then I do that first. But sometimes I have to get my focus off of myself and remember who I am talking to. I need to be humbled, so I begin with Praise.
I kind of follow this outline
A- adoration(this also includes whatever I just studied in His word)
C- confession
T- thanksgiving
S- supplication
but all of those things you mentioned fall in those catagories...except listening. I need to do a better job of that. I do that when I am confessing a lot. Just asking the Lord to bring things to my mind and He is faithful!
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