Eilidh writes...
Last night we spent some time thinking about prayer at Women to Women. Hopefully those who were there were inspired to go away and get to know God better through prayer. We’re having a break from our monthy W2W meetings over the Summer, but here are some ideas and resources to help you connect with God in prayer. We are all at various stages, different seasons of life but God knows us inside out and would love us to get to know Him more!
There are obviously loads of resources out there, this isn’t an exhaustive list but these are some which someone from Carrubbers has personally found useful. We hope there's something that will be ablessing to you too.
Practical Ideas:
-God’s Creation – why not get out and about in the summer weather and praise the Creator of Heaven and Earth! Follow the sunbeam up to the God who has made this beautiful world.
-Use God’s Word – although you don’t hear God speak back like we speak to each other, He does speak to us and we have the Bible to read and listen to what He has to say. Spend time memorising it, writing, speaking it and praying it. You can make prayer more conversational by reading God’s word and replying to what He says.
https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2013/01/04/how-to-pray-using-scripture/
Here’s a useful link to a study on The Lord’s Prayer by John Piper
http://www.desiringgod.org/series/the-lord-s-prayer/labs
-Use the words of a song or hymn – pray it, sing it and find yourself being reminded of God’s Truth and speak to Him through the day as the tune pops back into your head!
-Organise and prepare for prayer:
Sometimes all the prayer requests can be a bit overwhelming. You may find using lists or having a prayer diary or journal helpful. You may want to come up with your own system of how to prompt things you would like to speak to God about.
Technology could also be helpful - Prayer App called Prayer Mate which helps you organise what to pray when if you find yourself always forgetting who and what you said you’d be praying for.
Talks online:
-Kevin DeYoung – From East of Scotland Partnership Conference 2016 Seminar of Prayer https://vimeo.com/161438496
-Use the W2W online talks from this term and previous years
http://www.carrubbers.org/ministries/women-to-women/audio/2016-02-03-Cara.Thompson.mp3 For example this one focusing on ‘Our Father’
Books:
- 5 Things to Pray for the people you love – Rachel Jones
- 5 Things to Pray for your church – Rachel Jones
- Enjoy Your Prayer Life – Mike Reaves
- Becoming a Woman of Prayer – Cynthia Heald
- A Praying Life – Paul Miller
- Spiritual Reformation – D. A. Carson
