Guidelines for Prayer and Meditation

What burdens, what 'trash,' are you carrying around with you? How is it weighing you down? What keeps you from placing this trash at the feet of Jesus? Set aside a good chunk of time today. Bring all of this trash to Jesus. Spent at least one-half hour in prayer, confessing whatever you need to confess and asking the Lord to carry your burden for you. Close your prayer time with healthy praise for the One who offers to carry your burdens. -- Max Lucado

Who is God?

Guidelines For Prayer and Meditation

An overview of prayer and meditation for a given day may be outlined as possible:

First, let's define:

Prayer: (1) The act of making a reverent petition, or act of communion to God, such as in devotion, confession, praise, or thanksgiving ~ Speaking (2) A specially worded form used to address God
Meditation: Meditation is often misunderstood as some difficult, mysterious practice by isolated monks or mystics. Christian meditation is different from Eastern meditation. The meditation of the Eastern religion relies on emptying the mind of conscious thought. Christian meditation is (1) Listening to God (2) The discipline of growing in your knowledge of God by contemplating the Bible and the attributes or the acts of God.
Praising God helps us to grow and change. We need the humility that occurs when we acknowledge God as God.
Praying for a knowledge of God's will and the ability to obey His will is important for our recovery.
One way to establish a relationship with God is by thinking about His Word throughout your day. The Bible urges us to meditate on who God is, what He has done, and what He has said. Meditation is simply focused thinking, a skill you can learn and use anywhere. When you think about a problem over and over, that's 'worry'. When you think about God's Word over and over, that's 'meditation'. If you know how to worry - you know how to meditate! Just switch your attention to Bible verses. The more you meditate, the less you worry. SIMPLE!
Purpose of Bible Study is Application. It is important for our growth that we apply the truth of the Bible to change our lives.

At the beginning of the day, review your plans and:

Ask God for direction in your thoughts and actions
- To keep you free from self-pity, dishonesty, or selfishness
- To provide the guidance needed to care of any problems

Ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or decision. We relax and take it easy -- do not struggle. Don't be surprised how the right answers come after we've tried this for awhile

Ask God for freedom from self-will

To prevent making requests unless others will be helped
To avoid praying for our own selfish needs
What used to be a hunch, or occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind

Dr. Bob's morning devotion consisted of a short prayer (many on this website), 20 minutes of verse study from the Bible, and a quiet period of waiting for directions as to where he, that day, should find use for his talent.

During the day, in moments of indecision or fear:

Ask God for inspiration and guidance
Make a decision to turn your will and your life over to the care of God (step 3)
- Relax and breathe deeply several times
- Be aware of any desire to struggle with a situation or person
Pray (talk)to God as often as necessary during the day
- "God, please remove this (feeling, obsession, addiction, etc.)"
- "Lord, not my will, but thine will be done
- If possible, call a support person to identify and share what is happening
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show

At the end of the day, review the events that happened and:

We constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?
Now we ask God for guidance in taking corrective action
Ask God for knowledge of His will for you
Ask God's forgiveness where needed, and acknowledge that this review is not intended to cause obsessive thinking, worry, remorse, or morbid reflection
Give thanks to God for guidance and blessings that were part of the day

Our prayers can seem repetitive or empty at times. They are like the dry dust of the desert and we have trouble reviving our words or putting our true feelings into words that we feel are worthy of God's ears.

What Should We Pray For?

We must grow up and stop using God and begin to ask God to use us. Real prayer is not telling God what we want. It is putting ourselves at His disposal so that He can tell us what He wants. Prayer is not trying to get God to change His will. It is trying to find out what His will is, to align ourselves or realign ourselves with His purpose for the world and for us.

Our prayers can seem lifeless and even be boring. What can we do at times like these? I have a suggestion for you. (Try this. It really works). Pick a Psalm, any one of your favorites will do. Read a few verses and then pause, think. Let your mind ponder the words of the Psalm. Then use the words of those lines as a springboard to pray. Then read a few other verses in that same Psalm. Think quietly on those. Then pray using those words and thoughts as seed for your own words and prayer to the LORD.

What should we pray for? The Bible says to pray for the courage to speak up, for those who will believe, for the spread of the message, and for more workers. Prayer makes you a partner with others around the world. You should also pray for missionaries and everyone involved in the global harvest. When you read and watch the news where there is global conflict, pray that God will use it to bring people to Him. Ask God to tell you who you should pray for.

Prayer is the most important tool for your mission in the world. People may refuse our love and message, but they are defenseless against our prayers. -- Dr. Rick Warren

An excellent, and very practical book on praying is:Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds: Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore

Source of content: "The Twelve Steps for Christians", Based on Biblical Teachings, RPI Publishing, Inc. and "Twelve Step Sponsorship - How It Works" by Hamilton B.