Often as I read Scripture, I find myself praying several verses for myself or for others. Speaking your prayers instead of just thinking them allows you to address one issue at a time and can help stem this torrent of anxious thoughts by bringing them before the throne of grace one by one. If your heart is heavy with the pressures of life, your thought life may be an ongoing flood of anxiety. It has been said that the average person thinks at about 1,300 words per minute but can only speak about 50 words per minute. Praying out loud also causes us to slow down. The act of speaking forces us to articulate our thoughts, anxieties, and requests more clearly. One of the quickest ways to eliminate distractions in prayer is to pray out loud. When we read His Word before we pray, our hearts are prepared to respond in prayer to what He has already shown us. Through the Scriptures, God speaks to us. Listening intently to God’s Word is a major part of prayer. Reading the Bible provides spiritual nourishment and is the best preparation for communion with the Lord. Thus there is far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had time previously for meditation. Now prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season therefore when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us. I saw that the most important thing was to give myself to the reading of God’s Word, and to meditation on it. Then he made a simple discovery that helped him eliminate distractions during prayer. George Mueller, a great man of prayer, wrote that he would often spend up to a half hour suffering from wandering thoughts before he really began to pray. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. 6:6 in The Message captures the essence of shutting the door: Shutting the door insulates me from the world and enables me to focus on the Lord.Įugene Peterson’s translation of Mt. I am not in a hurry, but have made a commitment to slow down and allow myself to experience His peace and rest. When I shut the door, I recognize the high privilege and blessing of intimacy with my Lord. This is an act of the will, a decision to be quiet, to listen, and to be sensitive to the Spirit and His presence. I set my heart’s attention on the living God. When I spend time in this secret place with the God of the universe, I close the door on everything that would disturb or hinder me. But shutting the door means more than barricading myself in my bedroom. I must find a quiet place, free from distractions and interruptions. "Shutting the door" is one of the most important keys to undistracted prayer. Jesus gave His disciples specific instructions on how to pray: "But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you" ( Mt. What can be done to overcome the flesh in prayer? What can we do to stay attentive during communion with the Lord? Here are a few suggestions to consider. When He arose from prayer and found them sleeping, He said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak" ( Mt. When Jesus took them to the garden, He asked them to keep watch with Him. The disciples also struggled to stay vigilant in prayer. Faber, a 19th-century hymn writer, wrote about his struggle with such "unmannerly distractions." ![]() But saints throughout the ages have wrestled with wandering thoughts during prayer. We might be tempted to think that such distractions are simply symptoms of the frenzied times we live in. Then, having been sidetracked by the temporal, it seems even harder to concentrate on the eternal. But, inevitably, my mind dredges up urgent requests, inconsequential facts, or mundane tasks that seem to demand my immediate attention. Have you ever struggled to stay focused while you pray? I often begin to pray with great expectations of unhurried, undistracted time before God. How To Stay Focused When You Talk To God.
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