prayer: conversation with God

"Prayer Ruts" are prayer killers. Ruts make prayer boring and leave us unmotivated. One way we can keep our prayer life fresh is to pray the Word. Praying the Word simply means reading a passage of scripture, meditating on it, and turning that meditation back to God in prayer. If we are reading new passages everyday, we will always have new topics for prayer. Praying the Word also helps us conform our desires to God's desires and to pray His agenda. How does this work? Let me give an example from my own life. This morning I was reading in Psalm 112:7;

"He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord"

As I meditated on this verse I began to pray,

"...O Lord, what power here, what awesome truth; He hears bad news, but he does not fear bad news! No, he fears you (v.1), so he is firm! "His heart is firm, trusting the Lord". O Lord, what a word from you; for I do hear bad news - I hear bad news daily that would cause my heart to be weak and tremble and worry. But I fear you, O Lord, and delight in your commandments. O Lord, make my heart firm - for I draw close to you..."

Then I brought to the Lord all the "bad news" that was on my heart. That made a big difference in my attitude as I prayed for my own needs and the needs of others. And I left with my heart and my prayers refreshed. Give this a try in your "conversation with God".