“Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”
~ Psalm 5:1-3 (ESV)
The other day as I was working through my 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the quote stuck in my head:
“Prayer offered in early morning is decisive for the day”
You see, most of my prayers I write in my journal at night before going to bed. I offer a couple quick prayers in the morning; but they are rushed and not written out. The last couple of days I have headed David’s advice from the Psalms, and Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on prayer.
It seems like that my days are a little less hectic when I sit down with my prayer journal in the morning; I think it has to do with the mind-set once we had a prayer time in the morning. I hope that I can keep this up going forward.
My pastor gave us a visual aid the other day about prayer, quoting Martin Luther (my mind sometimes tends to start wandering while praying, don’t know why):
“Think of a dog who sits in front of a slap of meat; he stares at the meat without blinking. Put the same energy into you prayer life, as much as a dog stares at the meat in front of him.”
Honestly, this has helped me to stay focus when I don’t write into my journal 🙂 …
Prayer is powerful and I am thankful that we can approach the throne of God without hesitation. He hears our prayers and will answer them in His time.
What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving your link to your Thankful Thursday blog below.
Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: a prayer offered in the morning will set your mind right with God.
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Girl,
I’m praying for Japan this day. Oh, Lord Jesus come quickly and heal our land. Hugging you my friend. Thank you for hosting. Happy TT.
Iris – after reading your post, I wrote about prayer also. I’m so thankful that we can go to the throne of grace and He hears our prayers.
Blessings,
Joan
This is wonderful Iris. I am coming to understand just a little bit more about the depth and power of prayer. It is truly a miraculous blessing.
Great visual to think of the dog/meat. Thanks for sharing.
Have a lovely day, thanks for the encouragement today on prayer.
Hugs,
Bethany
I, too, have been trying to be even more focused on prayer, thanks for sharing the visual of the dog!
Ive grown dependent upon my prayers with God. Its in His Presence that I find hope and comfort. Thanks for a great encouragement to pursue prayer. ((hugs))
What a wonderful suggestion as a way to find focus on the Lord and throughout the day.
Thank you for sharing.
Hello, it has been a long time I havent got back joining here in Thankful Thursday. I love your deep thoughts about how powerful prayer is and how beautiful it will change our lives. I want to do it more often too.
A good insight for this morning. I liked the thought you shared from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I am glad I found your site!
very inspiring entry iris. love it! mine is up! happy TT!
Even though I pray off and on during the day, morning is such a special time for me.
And, Japan is also in my prayers today, too. May God be with all those precious people and bring comfort to them.
Beautiful words about prayer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a hero of mine–I will have to check out the 40-Day Journey. Have a blessed week!
Love that picture from Martin Luther! It’s funny, but so true! When we pray with focused energy and attention our prayers are straight from our heart. It’s easy to get distracted…I’ll remember that hungry dog =).
I’m so thankful today for my blogging friends!
Living for Him, Joan
I love the quote from Martin Luther on focus Iris… Wonderful analogy there! Thank you for another thoughtful “Thankful Thursday”!
Have a Blessed Day!
Hi Iris
I agree with you 100%… you have to start your day off with God and let Him take charge of it just the way He wants it to be.
Isn’t it amazing how much easier it is to handle whatever life throws at us when we’ve nourished ourselves with a healthy breakfast of Jesus?
Thank you for the opportunity to link up.
Love & Blessings
I’m new to the blogging world. Hope I am doing this right. Thanks for your help.
it’s very very useful, thanks for your thursdays prayer..~
Great visual to think of the dog/meat. Thanks for sharing.
love love love your tips.