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“My most important breakthrough in learning to pray was to redefine prayer.”

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book, Dare to Drop the Pose (p. 85). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Do you like to pray?  This book is about being honest with yourself and others so do you like to prayer?

Craig says, “In my mind, prayer was kneeling, hands clasped, in a church, or before a meal, or at bedtime. To me, prayer was always formal and stuffy. I had put prayer in a box. God deconstructed my box, and only then did prayer make complete sense to me.”

He says, “The simplest definition of prayer is communicating with God.

“That’s it. Did you miss it? Let me say it again. Prayer is simply communicating with God. That one uncomplicated thought began to revolutionize my whole prayer life.

“What is communication? It’s transferring a thought, feeling, emotion, or idea to another person. So prayer is giving God my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas, by whatever means works. It doesn’t have to be formal. It doesn’t have to be long and dry. It’s simply communicating.

“And communication doesn’t even need words. If you were driving a car toward me and I held up my hand, palm open toward you, you’d know that I was asking you to stop. (And if you didn’t, I’d be in trouble.) Then if I moved my hand a slightly different way, you’d know I was motioning you to go. If I pointed to the left or right, you would know which direction to turn. (Some drivers communicate quite powerfully with just one finger, but that’s a subject we won’t address in this book.)”

He goes on, “My point is that we communicate every day without words. If prayer is communicating, then, sure, words work fine, but so do a hundred other methods. If you’ve been stuck in a prayer rut, break out of it. If you’ve been living on little or no prayer, that can change. Start by thinking about prayer differently: more simply, more intimately. Prayer is deep communication between two people—you and the One who made you and loves you.”

So, would you start communicating, really communicating with him?  Would you?

Yes, yes!

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