Since our focus this month is on prayer, I thought I would pull out a quick post from the archives describing a special kind of prayer you might enjoy trying. Think of it as a bonus to this month's featured class: Prayer Secrets!



Believers are always looking for ways to deepen their prayer life. And while a prayer journal is one powerful way to do that, you don't always have your prayer journal with you during the day. If your goal is in fact to "pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17Pray without ceasing.), you may want to consider trying the technique I share in today's reading. It's a great way to help you cultivate those little spare moments you have through the day, and invest more of them in prayer.

It is especially valuable if you have a prayer request with special urgency and importance. The duration can be for a single day or can run longer, but it works best if you only focus on one request at a time.

It's a simple idea, actually, but it works. I first got this idea when reading some of the many prayers recorded by Paul in Scripture:

Philippians 1:3
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

I Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

II Timothy 1:3
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

It's easy to skim over these verses, and others like them. But if you look at them more carefully, it becomes clear Paul was hinting at one of his secrets to staying in a state of constant prayer. I like to call it "remembrance praying".



Let's say you have a close friend who is going through a delicate surgery on a specific date. You decide to use remembrance praying that day, to pray for your friend. In other words, you make a personal commitment to pray for that friend every time they come to your mind on that specific day. It doesn't have to be a long prayer, depending on your situation--you just pause a few moments to talk to God about their need.

Because it is both an urgent and important request, you are likely to think of them often. So you pray the pre-op process goes well. That God would calm their nerves. During the actual procedure, you pray repeatedly for the doctor and other medical staff--that everything would go smoothly. You pray there are no complications. Later you begin praying for the recovery period. That they heal quickly, and regain their strength. You pray the surgery proves a complete success.

Something strange happens when you commit to praying for someone at every "remembrance". They start coming to mind a lot. In fact, the more you pray for them, the more you find yourself thinking of them. If you stick with it, you will probably find yourself conversing with God about them all day long. If you get side tracked by some project for a while, your friend comes right back to mind as soon as that project is finished.

I'm not sure there's a verse to support this, but I personally think the Holy Spirit enjoys prompting us to pray. John 14:26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. makes it clear He is able to bring things to our remembrance at will, so there's no reason to think He can't bring our friend to our mind multiple times during the day. It certainly has been true in my experience!



Of course, our requests don't have to be limited to prayers for someone facing a medical crisis. We can commit an entire week of special focused prayer, to plead with God for the salvation of a child that has wandered from Christ. You can dedicate time to praying over some decision you are facing. Or perhaps to pray about some particular character quality you want to cultivate in your life. Completion of some major project is another good topic for remembrance prayer. The possibilities are endless.

The principles are simple. Pick a single topic that is both urgent and important. Commit a specific period of time to pray for that request. During that period, you use every flash of that subject into your memory as a trigger to pray. The more you pray, the more you think about that subject, which triggers even more prayer.

It's a powerful tool. Why not try it today? Pick some topic--perhaps sparked by something in your devotions--and give that subject focused prayer all through the day. It takes a bit of effort, some discipline, a smattering of concentration. But with a little practice, you may just find yourself praying more through the day than you ever thought possible.

It seems to have worked for the apostle Paul. It can work for you...

Comments

So what do you think of this approach? Have you ever tried anything like this before? What might happen if we were more intentional about praying this way? Share feedback or questions in the comments below...

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