A Pattern for Prayer

As you can imagine, there were MANY references to prayer in the concordance of my Bible, but these were the three that spoke to me...

2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

James 5: 13-16: "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

I have been thinking a lot lately about prayer. This is an area of my life I started struggling with in the last year. It is hard to run to God when you don't know what to say, or how to be angry at Him but still desire a relationship with Him. I must say, I have taken the easy way out many times in this area, and just haven't talked to Him at all, or at least minimally and those times were purely selfish for the most part.

In recent times, however, the closer I have drawn back to Him, the more I have been able to see what He has been showing me all of this time, but I have been unable, or unwilling, to see.

So, I have a quiet time every day, most of the times in the morning. Here is how I have laid it out: Prayer, Meditations (on the Indwelling Christ and how His presence manifests itself), Study (whatever Bible Study I am working on at the moment), Devotional (from Purpose Driven Life), Prayer (just a quick closing prayer of thanks). I was consulting the Emmaus handbook we received on my Walk about Patterns for Prayer. I have used this concept of prayer patterns before to help me focus my prayers so I don't get distracted (which happens VERY easily) and so that I am sure to focus on all I need to. I take very seriously a promise to pray for someone, and in order to keep that promise I MUST write it down. The last couple of weeks I have used the ACTS pattern...Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. It works alright for me, but I'm curious about what other patterns may exist.

During my time of research, the same idea has popped up time and time again and I know God is trying to tell me something. My sister-in-law's sister, my sister in Christ, fellow blogger and friend, Alicia and her husband, Chris, suggested I start a prayer/praise/blessings journal. I started one back in college, but it fizzled out. The thought had crept back into my mind merely days before she suggested it. I had accidentally caught glimpses of others' journals; God was really speaking to me about this. Then, in all of my researching on patterns for prayer, the journal idea has been mentioned MANY times as a source of reflection and growth. Okay, Father, you've got my attention!

So, I'm going to start journaling about my prayers, praise and blessings again. Please pray for this endeavor.

Also, I would love your input on the patterns you use for your prayers if you do so. Some don't need to use a pattern, or write it all out, but if you do, and would be willing to share, I would be grateful for the insight.