Prayer

If you haven’t seen Betsy’s new babies, look at the post below this one also but do NOT skip this one!

This is copied from Prayer Connect enewsletter/prayer list. It is EXCELLENT. Nothing is changed, not even formatting.

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A Season, a Time and a Word

Season
- an indefinite period of time

Time - a
measured or measurable period

Word - a
brief remark or conversation

Would it
ever end? I was certain I felt myself aging. There I was, waiting for it
to be over and waiting for the Lord to return - wondering which would
happen first.  The place? Prayer meeting!

I was
seven. At that time, prayer was probably around number 208 on my list of
priorities. I mean, after all God already knew our needs. He also
already knew the future. So in my highly educated and intelligent
seven-year-old mind, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t
understand. If God knew what we needed and knew what we were going to
ask for when we prayed, then locking ourselves in the church for what
seemed to be an endless period of time to tell God what He already knew,
seemed to me like a great big waste of time.

You see,
during those days over thirty years ago, the saints met frequently for
what they called a “season” of prayer. In the little church where I
grew up in Green Pond, Alabama, they were serious about it. They met
with the intent and purpose to pray until something happened. If it took
30 minutes, fine. If it took five hours, that was fine too.

Jump forward
a few years and more and more you began to hear the phrase “a time of
prayer.” Oh yes, make no mistake, there was still prayer meeting - it
just didn’t last quite as long. No more meeting to pray until you hear
from heaven, now we were more on a time schedule. Okay God, you have
from 7:00 - 8:00 PM on Monday night to show up, or we’ll have to catch
you next week. A “season” had somehow evolved to “a time.”

Jump forward
a few more years to our fast paced, push-button society where we’ve
become accustomed to getting everything in a hurry. No more taking days
or weeks to travel across country by horse or train admiring the beauty
of the landscape that God created. Now we get on a plane and in two
hours or less we can get 1,000 miles in any direction. No more taking
hours to thaw something. Just pop it in the microwave and the same
result is accomplished in mere minutes.

Wouldn’t you
know it? The church has also progressed. How many times in your local
service or at larger events do we pause now to have a “word” of prayer?

How
interesting. We have gone from a season, to a time, to a word. To borrow
wisdom from Webster’s dictionary, it would seem we have gone from “an
indefinite period of prayer, to a measured or measurable period of
prayer, to a brief remark or conversation with God.”

It would
almost seem that with all of our computers, gadgets and modern-day
conveniences to help us save time, we have gotten so busy that we have
almost phased prayer out completely. Makes me wonder about scriptures
like:

1 Thessalonians 5:17, the Apostle Paul tells believers to “pray without
ceasing.”

Luke 21:36 -
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
the son of man.

While I know
that we can’t pray non-stop due to work schedules and the need for
sleep, but speaking for myself, I could definitely dedicate more time to
prayer. There are times when all we have time to do is utter a “word”
of prayer. Other times our schedule may be a little more flexible,
allowing us to devote a little “time” to prayer. But let us not forget
that periodically, we must not neglect having a “season” of prayer. No
matter how busy, periodically we must give ourselves to an extended
period of seeking God. We need that - He does too!

I was at a
church last week and someone told the congregation to just “breathe a
prayer.”

I wonder
what will be next. God help us!

Lisa Marshall
Strategic Prayer Coordinator
World Network of Prayer

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