How often during the day are you aware of God's presence? How often do you pray?
Prayer is so powerful. I still remember when I first prayed to God and accepted him into my life. I felt great. I pray all the time, I talk to God as I would talk to my parents or my friends. I always seen God as my dad, my father. So I would talk to God like he was my dad. I treat God like my best friend. Usually when I am at school I am always praying that I will pass that exam. Or when I am driving I am definitely praying that I wont get into a car accident! (I keep my eyes open when I pray when I drive! lol just clearing that up). Every morning when I wake up I say a quick prayer to God and thank him for a new day! But there are times when I forget to pray. I've noticed that when I am with my non Christian friends, I don't pray before I eat. I know I'm suppose to be an example, but sometimes I just don't do it. Thetas something I need to work on. Now how often during the day am I aware of God's presence... well I know he is always there! Sometimes I don't show it and do my own thing. But nevertheless I know he is always there for me!
People always ask me how to pray. Especially non Christians ask me this, or people that just came to know Christ. Well here's an acronym that I learned a few years back and found it very helpful to know what to say while I am praying. I encourage you guys to use this acronym, its very helpful. When you don't know what to say while praying use it! When I pray I use ACTS. I'm sure some of you have heard this before but here it goes.
A-Adoration - Adore God, give God some praise
C-Confession - Confess your sins to God, set things right with God
T-Thanksgiving - Give thanks to God for all the blessings you have
S-Supplication - Ask God for our needs and the needs for others
Remember its a privilege to pray! When asked to pray, do it! I know you guys get scared. I get scared sometimes when I am asked to pray in a big group. But praying is a privilege. It shouldn't have to be forced out of anyone. When asked to pray, put on a happy smile and do it! God loves to hear our voices, God wants us to talk to him. Pray to him like you would pray at home.
Heres a little something I like to share about the college fellowship. Something I noticed that was really cool. Its really subtle but I still remember it. One time when Alberto was praying out loud (and this was like a few weeks ago we were doing prayer groups, guys with guys and girls with girls), he started the prayer with "Hey big guy". I thought that was really cool. I never started off a prayer with that before. My point being, he was talking to God like he was talking to a normal friend. God is our friend, and our father. He is everything to us! (Well we say that..) so we should talk to him! Think about this.. would you consider someone to be your friend, if they never spoke a word to you? You probably answer no to that. Talk to God, best person to talk to! =)
hey daniel! it's great to hear your thoughts, and your openness is very encouraging. thanks a lot for the reminder of prayer. i know that sometimes going through the day-by-day, it's easy to forget about that stuff, but this is an excellent reminder of who we actually pray to.
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