God's Presence and Work in Your Life

A good while back I read a book, Opening Windows: Spiritual Refreshment for Your Walk with Christ compiled by Mary Fairchild with entries written by a number of well-known Christian authors and speakers. Each chapter was followed with questions that encourage contemplation. Below is one of them. Feel free to share some, all, or none of your answers in the comments section. Regardless of whether you share ask yourself these questions and allow God to work in your life.

Reflect on God's presence and work in your life yesterday. What meaning do you see in your work, your conversations, and your activities? Then write a four-sentence prayer that includes adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.

~ taken from Opening Windows p. 111

Prayer of the Heart

Please join in prayer with my friends, Tam and Papa. This week Tam shared a post - "Pressed to Pray" and Papa just today sent out a call to Please come pray with us! so I thought it would be a good time to continue sharing from Opening Windows compiled and edited by Mary Fairchild. I'm going to spend the next few posts sharing the discussion questions from Your Fresh Take.

On page 97 at the end of the chapter by Leanne Payne – Open to “Prayer of the Heart” the questions are:

Think back over your recent petitions to God. What do your requests tell you about the desires of your heart? For the next week, keep a daily prayer journal that includes a list of your petitions.

When I was thirteen I started my "letters to God" in a spiral notebook, when that book was full, I started another and on and on. Somewhere along the way I quit recording my prayers and regret it. They show you so much. First of all they give hope because you can see how God worked in situations you have long forgotten and secondly you see changes in yourself and realize that God is making you into His image one day at a time. You can also watch your handwriting mature - haha

As you have matured in your faith and knowledge of God, how have your prayer petitions changed? Do you sense that your heart is more closely aligned with God’s heart than it was five years ago? How or why?

My prayers definitely changed from the time I was 13 to my mid-twenties when I quit journaling them. They changed from fairly self-centered to thinking more about what God desires. I still have room for growth as I'm guessing most of us earthbound souls do... I'm a different person than I was five years ago because God has changed things about me that needed changing, but as I see myself now I know that I still have more needed growth in Him.

Choose several Scriptures passages that are meaningful to you. Turn them into petitionary prayers. To edify other Christians, discuss how God has made His presence real to you as you have turned biblical promises into petitions and waited in faith for God to work.

What role does prayer play in your life?

I'm reading a devotional thought type book called Opening Windows by a variety of authors - compiled and edited by Mary Fairchild. At the end of each chapter the author challenges the reader in a section called Your Fresh Take.

On page 61 at the end of the chapter by Thelma Wells - Open to Constant Communication the questions are:

Identify two or three times in your daily schedule when you are least aware of God. What conscious changes can you make to increase your awareness of God in these parts of your day?

For me the times I'm least aware of God are when I'm trying to be in control of my world when I try to take things into my own hands. I need to let go and trust God with all things especially the things that seem out of my control - because they most likely are...

How would your day change if God were the first thing you thought of when walking in the morning and the last thing on your mind before sleeping?

I do make an effort to have God be the first thing I think of in the morning and the last before going to bed, but I don't always succeed. I find that when I do things go better and I don't feel as much need to be in control because I KNOW that God is in control.

Do people who are important to you know you are praying for them? If not, what will you do to assure them of your prayers?

I'm pretty sure those important to me know that I'm praying for them. For some people mainly my immediate family and close friends I will pray with them during times of crisis. I'm feeling convicted that I should stop and pray with more people immediately as they share requests. The times friends have done that for me it has really impacted me in a positive way.

Feel free to share your answers in the comments section or just think and pray about them during your time alone with God.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18