When I first became a Christian, after or while reading through the book of John, I used the little pamphlet put out by The Navigators (NavPress) called 7 Minutes With God. This got me started on having a “quiet time” or what I now call devotional time or spiritual disciplines (what a scary word) which has stayed with me for over 25 years now.

While looking for this online, I found some adaptations and decided to write my own. If you like it, I would be thrilled if you use it for yourself or to give to others.
Nine Minutes With God (PDF File)

If you have any suggestions for ways to improve it, please let me know. This is meant to be printed and I purposely used a rather large typeface for the older folks.

How to Pray for the Soul
By John Piper

I like this article and took out a Scriptural synopsis for myself. I thought I might as well post it here.

Psalm 119:36 teaches us to pray, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain.”

Psalm 119:18 teaches us to pray, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.”

Ephesians 1:18 teaches us to pray “That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”

Psalm 86:11 teaches us to pray, “O Lord, I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.”

Psalm 90:14 teaches us to pray, “O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

Ephesians 3:16 teaches us to pray, “That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Colossians 1:10 teaches us to pray, “That [we] will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord… bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

All this I pray “in Jesus’ name,” because God gives these things to my soul only because Jesus died for me and removed the wrath of God so that the Father might “freely give me all things” (Romans 8:32).

IOUS

• Inclination to his Word and not to money or fame or power (Psalm 119:36)
• Open our eyes to see wonderful things when we read his Word (Psalm 119:18)
• United [heart{s}] in the fear of God rather than fragmented over a dozen concerns (Psalm 86:11)
• Satisfied in his steadfast love (Psalm 90:14)

I was thinking about this story in one of the gospels:

Luke 11:5-9 HCSB
He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ 7 Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Is God someone who is unwilling to rise and answer us? I believe this passage is only speaking to how we should pray, not God’s character.

After the nation of Israel was crushed and people thought they could rely on themselves or other nations instead of God:

Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Happy are all who wait patiently for Him.

God, enable me to die to all my personal opinions, preferences, tastes and self-will. Teach me by your Spirit to die to the world and my need for approval and die to the fear of its censure, but rather, to fear only You, seeking my approval from you alone. Deliver me from my biased and self-centeredness and focus my heart and mind as I come before you in prayer.

Lord, I am willing
To receive what you give;
To lack what you withhold;
To relinquish what you take;
To suffer what you inflict;
To be what you require.

Prayer List, by John Hendryx

This is a great page if you need ideas for prayer or would like to see a good framework for more formal daily prayer.

Since my back surgery nearly three months ago, my faith has really been tested. For a few weeks after surgery I couldn’t trust God for anything. I was worrying about everything. It was getting out of control. No matter what anxiety disorders I have been diagnosed with (two), I’m still responsible for sin and that’s what worry is.

While reading the book Unburdened: The Secret to Letting God Carry the Things That Weigh You Down by Chris Tiegreen, I made a commitment to work on worrying less. This means I have to both strive to worry less and ask God to strengthen me so I can trust him more. I need to pray more in general and go to God right away when worrisome thoughts come up. Because of our human nature, most of us will have a tendency to worry at least a little and most of us can’t fix the problem on our own. I suppose that means I need to realize how weak and poor spiritually I am too.

Since then I’ve improved a little. It’s been tested a few times and I didn’t do very well, but better than if I wouldn’t have made the commitment. This is what I’d expect. It may be a lifelong struggle but there is enough room for improvement that I hope I can improve all the time in the large scheme of things.

In the book, Chris Tiegreen writes about not just not worrying but replacing thoughts with things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-3; Philippians 4:8). This partial prayer below reminded me of that and everything related to the commitment. (See Puritan Prayers) I’ve included links to two other blog posts related to worry and anxiety below.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself.

–Contentment from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett

Also see:

• The Superfluous Shoot
• Do You Ever Struggle Trusting God?

Ephesians 3:17-19 REB
With deep roots and firm foundations may you, in company with all God’s people, be strong to grasp what is the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge. So may you be filled with the very fullness of God.

Now to him who is able through the power which is at work among us to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or conceive, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation for evermore! Amen.

If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.

–Martin Luther

The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

–Martin Luther

To see the context of these quotes, you can read this page along with other great prayer helps by Martin Luther:
LUTHER’S PRACTICAL PROGRAMME TO REVIVE YOUR PRAYER LIFE

God is a personal God who responds. That is one of the great lessons of the psalms; it is one of the grand assumptions of the prayers of Paul.

…

“The degree of our peace of mind is tied to our prayer life (Philippians 4:6-7). This is not because prayer is psychologically soothing, but because we address a prayer-answering God, a personal God, a responding God, a sovereign God whom we can trust with the outcomes of life’s conclusions. And we learn, with time, that if God in this or that instance does not choose to take away the suffering, or utterly remove the evil, he does send grace and power. The result is praise; and that, of course, is itself enjoyable, in exactly the same way that lovers enjoy giving each other compliments.

–D.A. Carson, How Long O Lord?

Psalm 73:26 HCSB
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.

Psalm 119:28
I am weary from grief; strengthen me through Your word.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9
so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messsenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

Here is a great article:
Praying Beyond the Sick List by David Powlison

In the three strands of prayer mentioned a ways down, I seem to overemphasize #2. I find that in group prayer by and large #1 tends to take over.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Also see:
A Sample Prayer Plan

Have you heard people pray for God to put a “hedge of protection” around someone? I was wondering where this came from. All I could find is that Satan said that God had a hedge of protection around Job before all of his troubles. That’s it.

So is this a legitimate thing to pray for? What if God doesn’t want to put a hedge of protection around someone? I suppose you could say the same for healing. We pray for it and God decides if it’s his will. But just this one mention of it? How often does Paul pray this way (which I haven’t looked at yet). It seems to be one of those things where it gets started somewhere and then spreads like wildfire, kind of like saying “just” once a sentence in some evangelical circles when praying. (“We just ask that you would just help our brother to just…”) We really need to stop minimizing our prayers but that’s a different topic.

Joni Eareckson Tada to Undergo Surgery for Breast Cancer

Warning: This is one of those not well written and not very coherent posts.

This reminds me of my seemingly morose motto, “Things can always get worse.”

We tend to think that when something really bad happens to someone, that means something good is around the corner or nothing else really bad will happen. I have been told this many times by individuals, read it in devotionals, etc. etc. I’ve also heard that the Bible says that God will never give us more than we can handle.

Regarding the first point–this isn’t Biblical at all unless one is talking about God working in the trial, which is indeed eternally valuable, comforting, encouraging and edifying. But life isn’t always about finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbows and everything working out fine and living happily ever after.

On the second point, 1 Corinthians 10:13 is talking about temptation, not about anything we ever go through. When we are tempted by Satan or our own sinful desires, God provides a way out. We can run from it (Genesis 39:11-12). But I believe that to say that Job or Paul went through things they could handle is incorrect. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8, “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure”. Being suicidal is beyond our ability to handle. (This happens to Christians too.) Starving to death isn’t something I could handle. However, God does give us the grace to endure to the end without losing our faith.

One of the things I think about with this is to be as prepared as possible. Part of this is praying as Paul did: “May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:11-12 NRSV) That’s a subject of another post.

In addition to writing about what 1 Corinthians 10:13 means and being prepared for suffering, I’d like to talk about how to pray for those suffering.

I’ve mentioned this before–if we only pray for healing, we are doing people a great disservice. God uses these situations for His glory and our good in one way or another. Healing of a physical ailment when we will eventually die anyway (I’m getting morose again aren’t I) is temporary albeit important. Praying for the spiritual is eternal and can affect others eternally also (as can healing). Using Paul’s prayers as a model, we know that what we pray for is God’s will. Physical healing may or may not be His will for who we are praying for but growing in knowledge, strength, working for our good, glorifying God–we can know that all those things are His will for those who love God.

In the last few years I’ve gotten one bad diagnosis after another. The latest is needing a lumbar double fusion with laminectomy/decompression with hardware. It’s been one thing after another for me on many fronts. I would hope that people praying for me aren’t just praying for healing. God has brought me closer to Him than ever before even though my conditions have gotten worse after being prayed over many times. In this rambling post, that’s what I’d like to leave you with.

When a very stressful or traumatic event comes along or when you’re wiped out for whatever reason it can be difficult to even have the strength to pray when that’s what you need to do the most. God knows our weakness and can be our strength for us as mentioned in Psalm 73:26 (NRSV): “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Here are some steps I believe God led me through during one of these times.

• Just “be” in God’s presence as a first step. You may not feel God’s presence–just acknowledge that He’s there, that you’re going to Him and that He knows you and your situation.
  Isaiah 30:15b (NRSV) “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you refused”
  We won’t refuse.
• Pray a written out prayer that you know is God’s will. This way you don’t have to try to come up with words yet. I have Puritan prayers and other prayers formatted and printed in a binder for these occasions or when I just want a change. Also see the Prayer category here.
• Talk to God about what’s going on as opposed to what you would do in your regular devotional/prayer time. Sometimes you can just talk to yourself in front of God. Psalm 62:8 (NRSV) says in part to “pour out your heart before Him” which may or may not be an accurate interpretation but you get the idea.
• Spend a short amount of time reading the Bible like one Psalm.
  Psalm 119:28 (NRSV) “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.” I’ve grown to like Psalm 139 for this. This shows how well God knows us, how all our days were written in God’s book and planned, how He knew how our bodies might fail or react to certain situations etc.

My thinking is not necessarily to do all of these things at once, but progressively as you have the energy and get your wits about you.

I believe it’s good to have various “action plans” like this for when difficult times come up, especially for those of us who are predisposed to have “episodes” because of mental health problems or maybe for people who are in other various difficult situations.

Although we can never easily handle extremely trying situations, it’s good to prepare ourselves as best we can. Praying and growing in trust in God’s character through studying the Bible are the best things we can do. My favorite prayer in this regard is Colossians 1:11-12 (NRSV):

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

“But what kept me going more than anything else was my confidence in the character of God.”

–Ravi Zacharias quoting Charles Cooper in Cries of the Heart

We absolutely must read and study the Bible in order to know God’s character and trust that He is who He says He is.

Related post for when you’re ready to pray:
How Should We Pray When We Suffer? at Resurgence

My Redeemer Is Faithful And True
by Steven Curtis Chapman

As I look back on the road I’ve traveled,
I see so many times He carried me through;
And if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my life,
My Redeemer is faithful and true.
My Redeemer is faithful and true.

CHORUS
My Redeemer is faithful and true.
Everything He has said He will do,
And every morning His mercies are new.
My Redeemer is faithful and true.

My heart rejoices when I read the promise
‘There is a place I am preparing for you.’
I know someday I’ll see my Lord face to face,
‘Cause my Redeemer is faithful and true.
My Redeemer is faithful and true.

And in every situation He has proved His love to me;
When I lack the understanding, He gives more grace to me.

Thought up in the middle of the night: (I hope it’s not too crude for those who have suffered with loved ones)

Slogan for a colorectal cancer hospice program:
“We’ll Take Care of You in the End”*

I have a friend who had a colonoscopy. I read and pray through a Puritan prayer every Sunday night. So I’m reading the one called Devotion and it starts out “God of my end,”. I’ll never be able to take the beginning of that prayer seriously again.

Those prayers are great. I really look forward to that time each Sunday night.

*Shallow Thoughts brought to you by Jeff at Scripture Zealot

I’ve been posting a lot of quotes from A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson. I’d like to post some things a little more substantive. I thought it would be good to list all of Paul’s prayers as Carson has them in the book. I couldn’t easily find a list on the web so I thought I would do it here at the risk of reinventing the wheel.

What he would like us to keep in mind is we need “to find out exactly what it is he asks God for on their [the people he prays for] behalf, and compare the results with what we normally ask for.”

Quite a few years ago I memorized some of Paul’s prayers like Eph 1:17-19, Eph 3:16-21, etc. That alone reshaped how I pray. As time went on and I payed attention to what Paul prays for, my own prayers became more and more spiritual and less temporal, not that we shouldn’t spend time petitioning for things related to the latter. When I found out about this book I wanted to look into Paul’s prayers further.

Carson used the NIV and I know he endorses the TNIV so that’s what I’ll use here. Some of them are short enough to mouse-over and see the whole thing. For longer ones you can click on “More” in the lower left corner of the tooltip-like popup or look them up however you’d like if you’re interested. Below that is the list without TNIV in the way if you’d like it (which should show up as NLT as of now):

This exercise is extremely beneficial. If you haven’t already I would highly recommend memorizing some of these prayers.

Rom 1:8-10 TNIV
Rom 10:1 TNIV
Rom 12:12 TNIV
Rom 15:5-6 TNIV
Rom 15:13 TNIV
Rom 15:30-33 TNIV
1 Cor 1:4-9 TNIV
1 Cor 16:23 TNIV
2 Cor 1:3-7 TNIV
2 Cor 2:14-16 TNIV
2 Cor 9:12-15 TNIV
2 Cor 12:7-9a TNIV
2 Cor 13:7-9 TNIV
Gal 6:18 TNIV
Eph 1:3ff TNIV
Eph 1:15-23 TNIV
Eph 3:14-21 TNIV
Eph 6:19-20 TNIV
Phil 1:3-6 TNIV
Phil 1:9-11 TNIV
Phil 4:6-7 TNIV
Phil 4:23 TNIV
Col 1:3-14 TNIV
Col 4:2-4 TNIV
1 Thess 1:2-3 TNIV
1 Thess 2:13-16 TNIV
1 Thess 3:9-13 TNIV
1 Thess 5:23-24 TNIV
1 Thess 5:28 TNIV
2 Thess 1:3ff TNIV
2 Thess 1:11-12 TNIV
2 Thess 2:16-17 TNIV
2 Thess 3:2-5 TNIV
2 Thess 3:16 TNIV
1 Tim 1:12 TNIV
1 Tim 2:1ff TNIV
2 Tim 1:3-7 TNIV
2 Tim 1:16-18 TNIV
2 Tim 4:22 TNIV
Titus 3:15b TNIV
Philemon 1:4-7 TNIV
Philemon 1:25 TNIV

Rom 1:8-10
Rom 10:1
Rom 12:12
Rom 15:5-6
Rom 15:13
Rom 15:30-33
1 Cor 1:4-9
1 Cor 16:23
2 Cor 1:3-7
2 Cor 2:14-16
2 Cor 9:12-15
2 Cor 12:7-9a
2 Cor 13:7-9
Gal 6:18
Eph 1:3ff
Eph 1:15-23
Eph 3:14-21
Eph 6:19-20
Phil 1:3-6
Phil 1:9-11
Phil 4:6-7
Phil 4:23
Col 1:3-14
Col 4:2-4
1 Thess 1:2-3
1 Thess 2:13-16
1 Thess 3:9-13
1 Thess 5:23-24
1 Thess 5:28
2 Thess 1:3ff
2 Thess 1:11-12
2 Thess 2:16-17
2 Thess 3:2-5
2 Thess 3:16
1 Tim 1:12
1 Tim 2:1ff
2 Tim 1:3-7
2 Tim 1:16-18
2 Tim 4:22
Titus 3:15b
Philemon 1:4-7
Philemon 1:25

When Jesus asked that the cup (of wrath) be taken from Him, God answered no (Mark 14:35-36). When Paul asked for the thorn to be taken from his side, God answered no (2 Cor. 12:7-9).

But there are more in the life of Paul that I wasn’t aware of or had forgotten.

Romans 15:31 NIV
Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,

Acts 28:17 NIV
Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

Paul also desired to go to Spain. As far as we know, he never got there.

Did they not have enough faith? Were they not “tithing”? Was there sin in their life? Were they not using the right formula? These are more often than not ridiculous questions to ask.

According to D.A. Carson in A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Priorities from Paul and His Prayers:

Suppose, for argument’s sake, that every time we asked God for anything and ended our prayers with some appropriate formula, such as ‘in Jesus’ name,’ we immediately received what we asked for. …

[T]his is not true religion. This is magic, not worship; it is another power trip, not hearty submission to the lordship of Christ. It is superstition, not a personal relation with the Father God who is wise, good, and patient.

I know I’ve been quoting from him a lot lately. And I have a few more coming.

According to Bryan Chapell in Praying Backwards:

1. Yes
2. No
3. Not Yet
4. Immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20 NIV)

What a wondrous thing
that we have fellowship
with the creator of the heavens and the earth
through the Lord Jesus Christ
who condescended for us
before we could know to ask Him for it

What a wondrous thing
that the creator of the heavens and the earth
is our inheritance and we are His

What a wondrous thing
that the the creator of the heavens and the earth
is holy and just and righteous and perfect

What a wondrous thing
that we know He always works for our good
which makes us more like Him
which glorifies Him
which is always for our good
whatever things may seem

What a wondrous thing
that we have hope for heaven
with new heavens and a new earth
with heavenly bodies
that shed no more tears
because of death or mourning or crying or pain
where He will be our God
and we will be His children
Forever and ever

I’m getting injectionated tomorrow morning. I will have cortisone injections into my facet joints at L/4-L/5 and L/5-S1. These will also be diagnostic as he will be injecting numbing medication so that if it greatly reduces the pain temporarily, we’ll know that’s where the pain or part of it is coming from.

The hardest thing for me is not thinking ahead. Although the surgery for the herniated disc did what it was supposed to do, it seems there are at least a couple of other problems and they’ve gotten worse at a pretty fast rate since surgery. I wonder about what will happen if this doesn’t work at all. Or if it does work, what if it’s the most minor problem etc. Stop it!

I’m not concerned about needles or pain even though the last injections were more pain than I’ve ever felt in my back because of the fluid pressing on my nerves in the epidural space which my doctor said was very unusual. I just love almost always being the odd one. This should be different, but I am often “the 5%” as I like to say. Pray for whatever you would like. You know how it goes. Thank you.

Matthew 6:34
Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I’ve read about and heard from so many people who seem to have a hard time having a ‘quiet time’ (I prefer devotional time) every morning.

Even though morning is a common time for prayer (Psalm 5:3), maybe this isn’t the best way to go about it for those who have difficulty. Some might not be morning people. Some may have to get up very early and deal with little munchkins running amok. Some may have a really hard time concentrating.

For those who have a difficult time with it, there is no rule that you must have a 30 minute quiet time in the morning. For some people, feeling a need to “get right with God” by having a quiet time may be bordering on legalism.

If morning isn’t a good time, maybe it would be good to pray some Scripture before even getting out of bed.

Then it might be good to do Bible reading during lunch if possible.

A more concentrated time of prayer could be done after work.

Bible study could be done certain nights during the week and on the weekends.

Some of these things may not be feasible but you get the idea.

I have an hourly chime on my watch and also on my computer for memorizing Scripture. I briefly go over whatever I’m working on at the time. (This method works better for me than repeating something ten times, once a day.) If I start to get so used to the sound on the computer that I don’t hear it, I change it. This also keeps Scripture going through my head much of the day.

Then it’s good to pray right before bed. It doesn’t need to be a lot. I like the idea of praying three times a day.

If you need some inspiration on Bible reading you can find some quotes here.

Obviously this isn’t for everyone but I wanted to post some thoughts based on experience.

Do you have unconventional ways of exercising spiritual disciplines?

Right now I know that lately I have slipped back a little in my willingness to abandon myself to God.

A good indicator for me is reading the book The Pursuit of God. The first time I read it, I wasn’t ready to fully embrace it. By the second time I read it, I was ready to get with the program as best as this sinner can with God’s grace.

I have the prayers from the end of each chapter printed out. Here is one of them that is especially relevant these days.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, Chapter 2.