Vignettes on Prayer by Robert Dean Steel
Today I
begin a new chapter in my life after years of talking about writing on prayer I
decided to put my thoughts down on paper.
What is amazing to me as I write is trying to put into words a practice
that I have been involved in since the day I got saved. I remember when I gave my life to the Lord on
the Thanksgiving Day weekend in Havre Montana in 1974 that was the first time I
prayed new life into my life. That
evening I remember walking around the campus of the Eastern Montana University
and praying. It was the first time I had
an extended prayer time. I did not know
how to pray. I just prayed what was on
my heart at the time. I knew things were
different but never for a moment what this journey would entail. The first lesson I learned that night is that
God does care about the way you pray but that you pray. The second lesson I learned that night is
that is that God wants you to pray from your heart.
Prayer is
communication between you and God. It is
spirit to Spirit communion. Prayer is
deeper than putting your thoughts in an auditory form. It is one on one communion with the God of
the universe. It is personal one on one
time. It is the place where you can be
as real as you can be. You are in with
the one who created you and knows how you tick.
He in fact knows what you are going to say before you say it.
Over the years
I have two forms of prayer time. I call
them my scripted and unscripted prayer times.
Scripted is where I will read prayers I have written or others have
written and I have adapted to my personal prayer times. They are prayers written for specific needs
and occasions. These are powerful
anointed prayers I speak out loud to the spiritual realm and claim in the name
of Jesus. The unscripted are the times
where I have no set agenda. I go with
the intention to pray from my heart. The
incredible thing about unscripted prayer is that I never know what I am going
to say from one sentence to the next. So
every unscripted time is heart to heart communication. It is spirit to Spirit one on one.
Both these
formats have their benefit. I do not
place one above the other. They both
have left me with a powerful feeling of accomplishment. I have heard people say there is no value in
written prayers I totally disagree. The
reason I say that is because I use to feel that way. I use to say where is the spontaneity. Then I started writing my own under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit and shared them with others who remarked, “These
are powerful.” Which of course they were
because I know in myself I am not capable of such prayers. Many of these great prayers can become dull
and lifeless but when said from the heart with vigor and life they ring
powerful and true in the spiritual realm.
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