Toscalisa

Hello. It's been quite some time since I've posted here. There's a concern I have, and it has to do with prayer. I would like to grow in how I spend my time with God. For the longest time, my prayers have been pretty scripted. Basically, before going to bed, I would say: "Father, thanks for everything, please help anyone who needs it, in Jesus' name amen." But that's just...well, I figured it might be a good idea for me to branch out from that. So, as far as 'thanks for everything', I've been trying to list some things I'm thankful for. As for 'please help anyone who needs it', I've been trying to list some people and what issues they might need help with. For instance, if a friend's child is having a medical procedure, I'll specifically pray for that to go well. But when I'm listing things to be thankful for, or people who need prayer and the issues I'm praying for, I tend to worry I'll miss something. For instance, I might pray for so many people with issues I'm praying about, and then end before praying for someone else that needs it. Or I might thank God for so many things, but leave something out that I should be thanking Him for. This, coupled with the fact that sometimes I'll lose my train of thought. I'll be praying, then my thoughts wander a bit, then I'll realize my thoughts have wandered and I'll have to figure out where I was in my prayer. Or sometimes I'll end a prayer, and just as I'm doing so remember something else I was going to pray about, so backtrack, or fear I might have forgotten something, and once I say what I think I'd forgotten, I realize I actually had included it. Sometimes I'll repeat things to make sure I've included it (this may have to do with the fact that I tend to be OCD). Basically, when I try to branch out from my aforementioned 'scripted' prayer, it gets rather disorganized. Now, often I'll pray throughout the day, if something comes up, like I'll hear something on the news that needs praying about, or I'll hear a siren outside and I'll pray that whatever emergency the siren is headed towards turns out okay, things like that. That tends to be quick, yet specific, not disorganized. It's when I go to actually spend time with God, talking to Him, that my thoughts get disorganized, or I'll worry I'm failing to include something that needs included, etc. Does anyone have any advice on how I might improve in regards to prayer?

Good rule. I will admit, some forwards are kinda cute and/or interesting. Though it's rare I'll send even those. It's the ones that try to guilt someone into action that I find particularly irksome.

Well said. I know that some of these people are well meaning, but it tends to trivialize God and that is my real objection. Trivialize...thank you. I think that's the word I was looking for earlier. I completely agree.

Exactly.

Works, unless the person sending the forward is in your address book. Or will it circular file an email from someone in your address book, if they're also sending to/originally received it from someone not listed?

I see this thread is a touch old, but... A few months ago, I got a similar email. I'm trying to think back, I think it may have been a sort of "Praying for you" email. I don't remember exactly but I think that may have been the gist. Anyway, forward it to as many people as possible (don't remember if there was a number) as well as the person who sent it to you. If you are a Christian, you will stand up for Christ and if you send this on, that is evidence that you do not fear standing up for Christ. It lets the implication hang that if you don't forward it on, you must be afraid of what others will think of you if they know about your faith. And if that's the case, you *must* not *really* be a Christian. I will admit, before I deleted the email, I had pause. What will the person who forwarded it to me think about whether or not I'm a Christian if they do not receive a forward back from me? Does my failure to send it on indicate lack of faith? After a couple minutes, I hit delete. Here are some thoughts: 1. I can pray for someone without sending them a forward. 2. If I want to indicate to someone that they are in my prayers, I can send them a nice personalized note, rather than a forward. 3. Cute (or not-so-cute) emails do not indicate the level of one's faith. Hey, an unbeliever can send the forward along. And, in my case, a believer can hit delete. Whether or not one forwards an email does not indicate their level of faith (though perhaps an unbeliever won't be so likely to pass along a Christian forward, it could happen, if for no other reason than perhaps to make themselves look good). 4. There are annoying forwards on varying topics -- I submit that we might even be...I'm not sure what the right term is... I guess what I'm trying to say is we don't want God to be just another subject of "another one of those annoying email forwards". I have more respect for God than to throw Him out there as an annoying forward. Similar to what I said in point #2, if I want to talk about my faith/talk about God to someone, I can do so in my own words in a personalized email. Which I think would be better received by most than a forward.

Thanks everybody. I just found a three year plan. It basically gives an outline of the plan. It alternates between OT and NT. So you read an OT book, or part of an OT book, then you do all or part of an NT book. If you read one chapter a day, it works out to being through it in three years. I asked God to give me desire to read His Word. And I am letting God set the pace. If I can do one chapter a day for three years, great. If I can do more than a chapter a day and maybe get finished sooner, great. I'll admit, I'd like to get through it ASAP, but I'll need to remind myself that God knows best at what pace I'm capable of, and do it as He leads, and not force myself to go beyond it. Forcing myself ahead tends to turn my brain into a fried egg. And, brains are much better at understanding and comprehending than fried eggs are. lol

I'm hoping you all can help me with something. One thing that has bothered me for a while is that I've never yet managed to get through the whole Bible. A while back (maybe a year ago?) I found one of those "Bible in a year" plans on the internet. So I started, right at Genesis. I'm not sure at what point, perhaps it was when it was going through "[enter name of person here] had [list children here] and lived [enter number of years here]. And then he died." I think it was the repetitiveness of it that started this problem, but suddenly it became something I was forcing myself to do. And if I missed a day? I'd try to make it up the next day. What if I was out of town for a weekend (due to visual impairment I read the Bible on the computer, so would need a computer)? Well then, I'd assign myself the task of "making up" what I'd missed upon my return. And at one point, regretfully, I just kinda gave up. I really never even got through Genesis. That wasn't the first time, but whenever I would try read the Bible in a year, it would sort of seem overwhelming. And it's disturbing that I would find God's Word overwhelming to get through. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the fact that I would try to force myself to do it. I have read bits and pieces of Scripture, I've recently read the entire books of James and 1 John. And other passages that I might happen to come across. But with something as important as God's Word, one should get through the entire thing as soon as possible, not just bits and pieces. So...does anyone have any ideas as to how I might get to reading the whole Bible and actually stick to it?