This is a post I recently wrote for a missionary friend, explaining to the people who had signed up to pray for her,
exactly how I pray for an extended period of time.
Once a month my husband and I spend at least half an hour praying for our friend Hillary.
Some of her supporters are puzzled as to how to pray that long, so here is how I did it.
I set the timer so I wouldn’t keep looking at the clock. I’ve done this before while praying—usually when I have somewhere to be and don’t want to be late.
Setting the timer frees me to focus what I’m doing- praying- and allows me to relax and wait for the Holy Spirit to lead my prayers.
I like to use the PRAY acronym.
I can’t tell you how long I spend on each letter– each component of the prayer time– but it helps organize me and the time.
P stands for Praise.
I begin by thanking God for the honor to pray for Hillary and for Sicily. I praise God for specific things I know about Hillary’s life and circumstances. I remember incidents from the past that God has used in her life and thus in mine.
I praise God for Hillary’s family, for her education, for her experiences, for her love of Scripture, for her enthusiasm for the gospel, for her obedience to Christ.
I praise God for experiences I’ve had with Hillary, for things I’ve learned from her, for the people in her life who have blessed me, for her perseverance and a host of other things.
I also spent time just praising God for who he is and how he works in our lives; for the Holy Spirit’s promptings, Jesus’ willingness to die on our behalf and so forth.
It’s probably worth noting that prior to praying for Hillary, I read through passages of Scripture.
When I feel like I have exhausted this category—it feels like I’m mentally gone through the closets in my brain looking for things to praise God for—I move on.
R stands for Repent
What does that have to do with praying for Hillary? Maybe nothing, but again, it helps keep me organized to have the framework.
I don’t personally know of any areas in her life that Hillary needs to repent, and it’s none of my business anyway. However, the Holy Spirit knows her heart and so I ask that she would be receptive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in any area that needs to be addressed.
I repent for things I may have said that have not been helpful to Hillary—my own lack of faith in certain areas of her ministry.
A is for Ask
Most of us think asking God for things is prayer, and I’m no different, so I spend the most time here.
Hillary provides us a list of specific prayer concerns each month and I work through those. Several are of particular interest to me and I pray around them from different angles.
In addition, I pray for
*People—those in her current life encouraging her, those whom she encourages, those she needs to speak with, those with whom she will be working in Sicily, those who need her in Sicily.
*Places—her current job, her ministries, the towns of Belpasso and Catania, wherever she is today.
*Things—specific items I know she needs (visa, new computer, more financial support)
*Responses to the Holy Spirit—that she would recognize where and when she is being sent and respond in accordance with Scripture.
I’m sure you have similar lists.
Y stands for Yield
I yield Hillary’s life up to God, gave her ministry and her situation to the Lord, and asked him to bring peace into her heart about her current circumstances.
I praise God and thank him as well, because that so often is the result of prayer.
When the timer dinged off, I was done with my half hour.
It went faster than I thought!
Closing Thoughts
Author Carolyn Weber on April 15, 2014 Family Life Today, spoke of the result of one man’s willingness to share the gospel with her. (The whole story is told in her wonderful memoir Surprised by Oxford):
“As the result of Kent sharing the gospel with me—living the gospel out to me, and even marrying me—it’s changed the hearts of my family, of my unbelieving friends, of my students, of my community at Oxford, my community in Canada, my children—everything. Everything has changed from that one drop in the pond.”
Prayer is the vehicle by which God changes people’s lives, prompts them to speak, and gives them the confidence to trust everything into God’s hands.
Is half an hour of prayer one day a month for one person a long time? Click to Tweet
What would I do to break the hold of sin on one person’s heart? Click to Tweet
What does it mean to love my neighbor through prayer? Click to Tweet
It’s a privilege to join with my brothers and sisters in Christ on behalf of Jesus in Sicily.
And to thank him for providing a willing heart in Hillary.
Join me, won’t you? Or do you have someone/thing else that needs lengthy prayer? 🙂
I love your acronym, Michelle. God bless you for being steadfast in your prayers.
Thanks, Jim, the same to you! 🙂
I came to Christianity from a Zen Buddhist tradition, and I’ve found that a lot of the tolls in the Buddhist meditation “toolbox” work very well in achieving a meaningful prayer life.
Most important are the “mind-emptying” techniques I learned. I’m not sure if most people have this problem, but I have a lot of ‘stuff’ going on subconsciously, and when I try to pray the ‘right’ way I’m very easily distrac…oh, look, a squirrel!
When I use the image of my thoughts as a pond, and concentrate on eliminating the ripples to reflect the sky perfectly, it’s then that I can head God’s “still, small voice”.
I was hesitant to write this; you would not believe the amount of criticism I got, up to and including accusations of apostasy.
For a long time I envied those who could pray in words, and who could conform to the accepted norms. But I think – I hope! – that God takes the prayer the way I can do it, and uses it to His ends. That’s the intention.
God looks at the attitude of your heart, Andrew, not me, and if this is how you can best connect to God and you see fruit coming from it . . . so be it.
The distraction issue is one many of us battle and sometimes I think it’s because I’m not taking my time with the Creator of the Universe seriously enough.
Consider this: Let’s say I was invited to meet the Queen of England. I entered whatever room and as I walked toward her, I stopped along the way to peer out the window, check my watch, admire someone’s hat, readjust my clothing and then ran out–just a sec–to turn on the oven. How likely is that to happen? What would she think of me? Yikes!
Yet, I do all those things when I sit down to pray, presuming on God’s love for me–he’ll understand, right?
🙂
vERY INTERESTING WAY OF PRAYING. And meaningful in each catagory Thanks for the ideas. I’m going to pass these suggestions on to my friends.
I’m glad it could be of help, Donna and Nora–I often pray that God will give me imagination when I pray and this is one way of doing so!
Thank you for this helpful post, Michelle. I meant to read it before now but it got lost in all my other email.
I was thinking the R for repent would be repentance on the part of the one who is praying, as in confession of known and unknown sins that may hinder God receiving and acting on the prayer. I don’t mean to sound negative about your asking on behalf of Hillary, but I am remembering in reading about prayer (Evelyn Christianson) that she and her group of women did not get God’s favor in prayer until they confessed thoroughly their own sin. Not to sound like I am pointing my finger at you for anything, but just trying to pass along what I learned from reading in a book by E. C. Thoughts?
Certainly, we repent for ourselves and in this case, I have used that R to repent for saying discouraging things when I should be encouraging her faith.
I don’t think it hurts, however, to pray whomever we are interceding for will recognize God’s conviction in their own life.
Thanks.
I almost missed this one. Challenging.
The Navigators “Half Day of Prayer” is so life-changing for me. Afterward, I ask myself why I do it so seldom..