What is Working for Me

Renewal is contagious. That is good news and bad news. The good news is that once a few people are renewed in their love for Jesus then they infect others. The bad news is that renewal often depends on the leader. If the pastor or leader of a ministry is dry and going through the motions then the contagion of renewal stops like fire encountering water. In the past several months my prayer life had become routine and ritualistic. I did not stop praying but it was a chore. Sort of like reading a text book that you know you have a test on so you read it. I needed personal renewal.

Not long after that I happened to be in a second hand store. While my wife was looking at the clothes in the children's section I went to the book section. I found a little book entitled, "Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship" by Kenneth Boa. It was only 99 cents so I picked it up. It sat on my shelf for a few weeks gathering dust. When the new year began I decided to give it a try. Each day has several biblical readings that are put in prayer form that you use as a starting point for prayer. Since starting this book my prayer time has done a 180 degree turn. I now look forward to praying each morning and the time is extended without my realizing it.

The book is great but the book is not what renewed my prayer life. I needed to get away from the routine I had developed for myself and begin a new routine. The book helped me do that. What works for me when I am in need of personal renewal is to change my routine. Here is a prayer from the book:

May I not worry about my life, what I will eat or what I will drink; or about my body, what I will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. The birds of the air do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet You, my heavenly Father feed them. Am I not much more valuable than they? Can I add a single hour to my life by worrying? And why do I worry about clothes? I will consider how the lilies of the field grow; they neither labor or spin, yet not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. But if You so clothe the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will You not much more clothe me? So may I not worry saying "What shall I eat" or "What shall I wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and You, my heavenly Father, know that I need them. But may I seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, and all these things will be added to me (Matthew 6:25-33;Luke 12:22-31).

Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.

That is what is working for me now.