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by Roberts, Rebecca E.

• ISBN13: 9781449761981
• ISBN10: 1449761984
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-22
• Publisher: Westbow Press

Excerpts

I was amazed at how much God wanted to say once I started listening. It must grieve His heart when we 'pray' and all we do is talk, talk, talk, talk - never stopping to see if He has something to say. All of my long lists of prayers had merely been words. I was in charge before, speaking my own words, setting the agenda, deciding what each person that I was 'praying for' needed. We do that kind of praying individually and we do it at the prayer meetings at church. We charge ahead with our words and verbally go through our lists of things we want, things that need to be changed, things that are bothering us, things that God should do so that our ministries are successful. That is what we think of prayer – asking God for something that we want. That is what prayer has been reduced to! But God was showing me a better way. It saddens me to think of the many years that I ignored God's gracious voice and the things I have missed as a result. But God wasn't looking back at my failures, He was pushing me forward to see how much my life could be changed by simply listening to Him and I was ready. My times alone with God took on a totally different appearance. Instead of me telling God what I wanted Him to do, I was listening. I would sing to Him and read the Bible, but mostly I listened. It felt almost illegal. My mind would occasionally return to my lists of prayers and I would be tempted to pull them out and read through them until the Holy Spirit said to me: -When you pray lists of prayers, when will you know you have done enough? If you pray them everyday but then skip a day – what happens on the day you skip? Prayer at MY initiative is effective. I know what needs are pressing – the Big Picture is always at the forefront of MY mind's eye. Only infinite knowledge can know what must be prayed and what gifts must be given to accomplish that prayer. -Trust ME. Prayer lists keep you in control. You feel like you are doing something good – like you have gained MY approval, but You ALREADY HAVE MY approval...