Setting
a Goal, Making a Plan
Making
a Decision
Spend
as much time in meditation and scripture prayer as you
like…no such thing as an overdose. But be advised,
this pursuit does take time. Some folks are just looking
for things to fill their time. That’s probably not
you! You will need to take stock of what you will eliminate
in order to capture quality time for investment in prayer
and meditation.
Cutting down or
cutting out TV time is an easy answer…if you watch
TV. Multi-tasking some things could help…like:
returning important phone calls on your cell phone while
you power-walk. Be creative.
Just be certain to
eliminate time wasting, energy sapping activities
…as many as you can identify. This will leave enough
space for productive, necessary things. Then you
won’t feel conflicted over the amount of time you
spend on prayer.
A
Blessed New Habit
Restructure your time and you will
be blessed going in and blessed going out.
(Deut
28:6) You’ll
have more energy and less stress because of the
unproductive activities you dropped…and you’ll
be gaining spiritual plasma from your prayer time.
Formulate your plan
and stay with it daily for at least thirty days. It takes
that long to form a new habit. And…that’s what
you want. You want scripture prayer to become a natural
part of your thinking and your knee-jerk response to any
situation.
Renewing
of the Mind
(Building Knee-jerk Response)
I know a man who had been a person
of prayer for decades. He has a good grasp on his authority
as a believer and the fact that he is called to be a king
and a priest in the Kingdom of his God.
One afternoon as his
wife shopped in Wal-Mart, he stayed in their van in the
shade of a tree…way on the far edge of the parking
lot. He was in his late seventies at the time and quite
arthritic in his hips. He sat in the refreshing shade, a
breeze coming through the open window, when a young man
shoved a gun in his face and said," “Get out!”
"
The aging patriarch
came to attention and shouted, " “Be gone in the name
of Jesus!” " The gunman was frozen in his tracks.
Bill shouted it again. Now the startled gunman responded by
leaping into a nearby car driven by his accomplice. The two
went speeding away.
The police to whom
this story was reported could hardly believe what had
happened. I'm sure the two thieves could hardly believe it
either. It would be interesting to know what they had
experienced in that power-filled command, the knee-jerk
response of a man who had given himself to prayer for
years.
Transformation
What
we spend our time doing and who we spend our time with will
have a profound effect on who we become.
As we spend dedicated
time in scripture meditation and in prayer, we are spending
time in the presence of the Lord. And, that will determine,
more than anything, who we are to be.
Decide
and Schedule Now
If you are inspired and motivated
to take more ground in prayer, but feel that you need a
general overhaul with goals, priorities, and scheduling,
consider working through a good book on that topic.
I’ve benefited greatly from First Things
First by Steven
Covey and The Power of
Focus by Jack
Canfield and Mark Hansen.
Every year I go
through one of them as a refresher. With humor, touching
stories, and in-the-trenches wisdom, both books help you
get where you want to go, setting a goal and hitting the
target.
For the present,
check out the two links below for some practical
suggestions on managing your prayer life. Don't put this
off. Many issues lie in the balance!
More
Resources
Plan the
Time
Set the
Place