Prayer and planning Unless I'm badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God's children don't have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don't want do, but that we don't plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don't just get up one summer morning and say, "hey, let's go today!" You won't have anything ready. You don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned

Prayer and planning But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing is ever ready. We don't know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer.

Prayer and planning The opposite of planning is a rut. If you don't plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run, and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.

You gotta have a plan Set aside a block of time large enough to be meaningful small enough to be manageable Have some tracks to run on (ritual) The discipline of structure precedes the delight of spontaneity

A 40 minute track Clear the deck ( 2-3 min)

When I don’t feel like it Lord Jesus you know my heart. This morning I do not feel like praying. I’m not in a good frame of mind at all and I feel I am only doing this just to tick it off my list. I know that does not impress you. So I want to affirm this morning that if I did not pray at all you would not love me any less. And if I spend this time in prayer like I should, you will not love me any more.

When I don’t feel like it Thank you that my relationship with You is secure and unaffected by a performance of religious ritual. I just dare to believe that even though I'm not in the best frame of mind right now, by the time I am through, I will have been touched by your life. So all my hope is in you and not in my prayers

A 40 minute track Clear the deck ( 2-3 min) Thank and praise ( 5 min) Open with brief prayer for the Spirit’s guidance and illumination ( 2-3 min) Read the assigned passage for that day (8 min) Mark what strikes you as initiating speech and respond accordingly (15 min)

If He Reveals a sin Confess Makes a promise Thanks Faith Intercession Commands an action Strength Courage Reminder

A 40 minute track Clear the deck ( 2-3) Thank and praise ( 5) Open with brief prayer for the Spirit’s guidance and illumination ( 2-3) Read the assigned passage for that day (8) Mark what strikes you as initiating speech and respond accordingly (15) Commit the rest of the day to Him (5)

You gotta have a plan Set aside a block of time Have some tracks to run on Persevere Ask for the Spirit’s help in your weakness

Now is the time for decision and especially for planning. Just as there is no faith that does not act, so there is no act without some plan. Faith grows from the experience of acting on plans and discovering God to be acting with us. You cannot follow Jesus without a plan to serve as the vessel in which the treasure of his life is received. Your plan will be the cross on which you die to your old self and meet him in his life beyond death