Glorious, gorgeous prayer.

We call our prayer meetings Seeking God, but I think it would be more appropriate to dub them 'wrestling'. I love them. Men and women coming together to shout out in prayer, to groan the raw expressions of the heart - ultimately, to wrestle for answers. I love the fact that it's not a time where a long, monotonous prayer is spoken, with muttered 'amen's' filling the air after it like a tacky fade-out in a song; then followed by the silence where one is 'introspectively considering the theme at hand' (while in reality counting the seconds til 9pm).

They're noisy. They're loud. They're painful, and awkward, and messy, and heartfelt, and above all - never boring! Please don't get me wrong - there are times when we can't help but fall silent in awe before the throne of God, robbed of speech in the face of such intimacy, such glorious grace. Sometimes we cannot voice our side of the conversation. So if I'm in a meeting where a hush falls on the room, where people are on their knees in God's presence, why should I think that battle isn't being done just as passionately and with as much heartache as when we're yelling?

I used to think that prayer was boring. Now I can't get enough of it. Sometimes we can lie in the dark waiting in dread for the alarm to tear through the quiet air, knowing that soon will come the time to squeeze in a bit of our 'devotions' to God, even though we're exhausted, and drained, and haven't had enough sleep, and it's only Monday. But if you're in love, you would probably lie there thinking about that person, yearning to spend more time with them, to catch a glimpse of their face and their ways. You feel refreshed and young and jittery just thinking about talking to them.

Well, why not Him? Okay, so I can't claim that getting up early is a high. It isn't. I hate it, to be honest. I like my bed, my cosy duvet, my toasty toes, my fluffy(ish) pillow, my fresh sheets (actually, with due consideration, I've got to confess I love my bed). And yet, my slightly sleepy side of the conversation will always be supplemented by what He has to say, whether through His word, or the peace He gives me for the day.

And the best thing is that it doesn't stop there. Prayer is 24/7, which is particularly useful, because I get into such scrapes with life that I need it!

'Give us this day our daily bread', Matthew 6:11

Yes please!

G'night,