Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1-3

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Reluctant Pray-ers

Growing in Prayer
Lesson One:
"The Most Reluctant Pray-ers in the Bible"

You know what happened to Jonah, right? He tried to run away from God and ended up in the belly of a specially-made fish!

One of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible is memorialized in Jonah 2. The runaway prophet cries out in despair, but he also proclaims, "I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord" (verse 9).

Verse 8 resonates with me each time I read it:

Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

What worthless idols am I clinging to?
What grace am I forfeiting?

Action: "Begin each day this week by praying, 'Lord, help me to be quick to pray today and slow to resist you'" (p. 22).

Significant Quotes

Help us, Lord, to turn toward you, and in our turning,
find you have been turned toward us all along.
Timothy Jones

I have been driven many times to my knees by the
overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.
Abraham Lincoln.

(Note: Growing in Prayer is a six-week study from the Women of Faith Bible Study Series.)
(Photo credit)