A Place of Prayer

Good Day!
Yesterday, I commented that the missionary team of Paul, Silas, and Timothy headed into Europe with the gospel--let's look a little closer. . .Acts 16.12-15 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. (which includes parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, theRepublic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia.) And we stayed there several days. (The ruins of Philippi are near modern Kavalla in northern Greece. It was then a city of Macedonia founded by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. A Roman colony and military centre, governed directly from Rome, Philippi was situated on the Via Egnatian, the highway running east and west linking Rome to Byzantium (Istanbul) On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. (NIV) They expected to find a PLACE OF PRAYER. . . that description really speaks to me. Literally, though, because there was not a quorum--at least 10 adult Jewish men, heads of households in the city--there was no synagogue, so the faithful were to meet under the open sky near a river or sea. And so they did. . . to pray. Our missions team finds them there--at a place of prayer.
✚Do you have a place of prayer? 'A place you go to pray daily--your own sanctuary, so to speak. . . a place where you can meet the Lord and commune with Him. I think having a place (could be an easy chair, the end of your couch, even your car. . .) invites you to come back to it, and helps establish a pleasant routine in our lives.

Now, are you a person of prayer? (like Lydia in our story) "I'd like to be, but I'm afraid I'm just not very good at it," you say to me. Well then, choose your place, and make a plan. For me, the plan is to write my prayers in the pages of a simply-lined notebook. I regularly pray in different formats because then my mind stays focused. The next lines contain "A simple regimen of private prayer," one of my favorite prayer guides. Why not print this out, grab a pen, and "PRAY"?

A simple regimen of private prayer –“hints from George A. Buttrick”- 1892-1980


✟ An ORDERLY QUIETNESS – a silent self-preparation - We should not rush into the Presence.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46.10
✟ An AWARENESS OF GOD’S WIDESPREAD MERCY - Mercy leads to thanksgiving–

Note: This is more than a feeling of gratitude; it is a deliberate awareness that God is the giver of all good things.

Be specific: I thank Thee for. . ._________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Lord, seal this gratitude upon my face, my words, my generous concern for my neighbors, my every outward thought and act.”
✟ A time of CONFESSION TO CLEANSE THE SOUL

Be specific—ask God to reveal to you anything that grieves His heart____________________________________________________________________
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✟ A time of INTERCESSION because genuine love sees faces not a mass____________________________________________________________________
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✟ Prayer is LISTENING as well as speaking, receiving as well as asking, and its deepest mood is friendship held in reverence.
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✟ An opportunity for PETITION - prayer for self
Petition comes last because it needs the safeguard of earlier prayer.
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Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayer. In Your Name, Amen.



This is a Word document that you can print out, copy, and use to journal your prayers.

I am praying for you--that you will make a Place of Prayer, and become a Person of Prayer~

With great devotion,
Christine