Recap on Sunday 3/16 - prayer discussion

Here's a little recap on our discussion today with suggestions from me and the group.
We started with the assumption that we want to have better prayer lives than we currently do. I want to apologize again for planning too much and going over time. Elizabeth suggested that I keep the third part for another day and I should have listened. We may revisit again anyway.

When is a good time to pray?
a) time budget your prayer time - it needs to be a priority
b) model prayer with your kids - evening/morning/meals (but not only meals)
c) Also, when kids are asleep, plan time to try more earnest prayer. I suggested that the first 5 minutes of nap or night time, before we set to the work and chores we get done then. There is also the early morning standard. Elizabeth suggested a day that you fast from meals and pray instead. You could start first with just one meal, say lunch on monday, and pray instead and go further later.

How do we pray? - we had several suggestions
a)Don't ever shun the simple prayers that you model for your kids - lord thank you for X, etc.
b)Keep a list of things to pray about and go through it at a certain time.
b) We are normally familiar with "stress induced prayer" of supplication - this is an important time to pray. We need to be responsive to prayer needs at any time and be ready to pray for people in the moment or as we remember.
c) For me, using a "starter prayer" helps me get my mind and spirit going. I memorize a 3-4 line prayer that I created or I got from a book of prayers (like the episcopal book of prayer) and that gets me going onto more personal prayer.
d) use a structure like ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) to help you remember to pray consistently.
e) Write your prayers out in a prayer journal - either as a stream of conscientious or compose a formal letter to God. (Casey reflected that a friend's grandfather did this for years and some of them were read at his funeral as a testimony to his devoted life. I hope I can be remembered in a similar way.)

How do we meditate on scripture (aka planned day dreaming) -
a) Actually, literally, repeat the verse a number of times in your mind or aloud to make sure you are familiar with it, memorizing it. ( I even write passages out 10 times in a row- old school memorization)
b) Ponder questions such as "what did he mean by that?" What does that word mean?
c) Key (in my opinion) to scripture meditation is Application and planning. What I mean by this is imaginative pondering/day dreaming of how you might apply this to your life, and actually make plans to do so in the near future.

Be ready to discuss how you tried to improve how much time you pray when we get back together. I'm going to post a survey on the blog for people to respond to later today. Please check it out.

Caleb