Prayer University
Welcome to Prayer University! Whatever your discovery level in the power and practice of prayer, the teachings offered are here to help.
PRAYER 101 - Teaches the basic that prayer is more than the necessary daily conversation with God – it is the recognition of His very presence with you in every circumstance. As your prayer life expands, you discover prayer is worship, getting our lives aligned with His will, making us aware of His provision and adding to our personal development.
EMPOWERED THROUGH PRAYER - Go further and deeper than ever in your practice of effective, persistent prayer through Prayer University, with lessons created especially to empower you to pray for America and her leaders during this vital time in the nation’s history.
Written exclusively for you by your prayer team writers, we are pleased to offer this continuing prayer education to you – and look forward to receiving your comments.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Like David, deepen your relationship with God through writing poetry
First of a 2-part teaching series
by Connie Peters
Every Christian struggles with the practicalities of a prayer life. What do you do during prayer time? What posture do you take? What do you say? How do you fit prayer into a busy day? How do you keep your mind from wandering? How do you stay awake?
King David used poetry to pray. That’s what psalms are. Today the word “poetry” tends to turn the non-poetic off. They may envision long sessions in high school lit counting syllables or interpreting poems in ways that surely the poet by no means intended. Or they may have read some ancient or modern poetry that make no sense to them.
Poetry is a compact form of writing using at least one of many poetic elements and, like footwear, comes in an abundance of styles. Poetry can give you a dynamic new way to pray.
For his poetic style, David used free verse, mostly. He probably didn’t rhyme or calculate meter (patterns in syllable count) but he did use figures of speech and succinct wording. He also used acrostics where the first letter of each line made a word. Psalm 119 is such a psalm.
David, the original country singer, didn’t hold anything back. When he poured out his heart to God, he sang about the good, the bad and the ugly with lines like, “I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish in heart.” (Psalm 38:8 NIV)
You may feel uncomfortable or even sacrilegious being so honest with your Heavenly Father, but by inviting Him into your messy thinking, He is able to clean it up.
You can see a common progression in many of David’s psalms. He starts out with the problem, expounds on the details, meditates on who God is and offers Him praise and thanksgiving, as he did in Psalm 3.
Many times an amazing thing happened. David stopped speaking to God and God began speaking to David. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)
Does this still happen today? Believers in Christ have the Holy Spirit within them and can develop sensitivity to His voice. Writing your own psalms or poetry is a wonderful way to get to know the Savior and feel His love for you.
In 1983, I began writing professionally. I avoided poetry, considering it fluff, but during times of stress or inspiration, I’d write a poem. When I read my poems at critique groups or conferences, though I didn’t think of myself as a poet, I saw how poetry moved people. I didn’t even like most poems, but I realized, also like footwear, not everyone likes the same style.
In 2004, I made writing poems a daily habit. I saw many advantages of writing poetry in prayer: expressing feelings clearly, staying more alert, and recognizing His answers more readily by having something tangible to refer to. And as the Lord did when David prayed, He spoke in my own writing.
There are many ways to use poetry in prayer. Writing acrostics is one of my favorites; it keeps me focused and is more than just a, “Lord, bless so and so prayer.” For example:
J esus, pour out Your blessings on Jim and his family every day and in every way.
I ntervene in their cares and concerns. Meet their needs. Guide and protect them.
M ay Jim lead the Presidential Prayer Team with Your wisdom and compassion.
Sometimes I share the acrostic with the person I pray for, but most of the time I don’t. I also pray for America and its issues this way.
When I use poetry in prayer, I don’t worry about some things poets usually worry about: Does this sound right? Is this really a poem? Am I using the exact word I need? Sometimes, I do go back and tweak them, but mostly I just write off the top of my head and don’t worry about the mechanics. The more you write acrostics, the easier they get and you don’t think so much about the form.
You can deepen your relationship with God by writing poetry. Discover a few more simple ways in the next article.
Connie Peters is a writer for the Vantage Point daily devotional series. She is a professional poet and writer (28 years) and caregiver (11 years). Married with two children, Connie and her husband Loren host two adults with developmental disabilities and live in Cortez, CO.
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PRAYER 101 LESSONS
Motivate Yourself to Pray
Four things you need to know to motivate yourself to pray:
Lesson 1 – Prayer is loving communication with God
Lesson 2 – You Speak; He Speaks
Lesson 3 – God listens and responds
Lesson 4 – Lack of prayer causes problems
Sovereignty of God in Prayers
Five-part series examining the sovereignty of God and how it relates to your prayers for the nation and its leaders.
Lesson 1 – The Sovereignty of God defined
Lesson 2 – How Prayer connects Earth and Heaven
Lesson 3 – Your Prayer help wage the battle
Lesson 4 – Praying for the lost
Lesson 5 – Praying for the salvation of others
Understanding Who God Is:
Four Characteristics of God Related to Prayer
Lesson 1 – His omnipotence – He is all-powerful
Lesson 2 - His omniscience – He is all-knowing
Lesson 3 – His omnipresence – He is all-present
Lesson 4 – He is love – all the time
The ACTS Model of Prayer
Helpful tool of the ACTS model of prayer (adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication):
Lesson 1 – Adoration
Lesson 2 – Confession
Lesson 3 – Thanksgiving
Lesson 4 – Supplication
What Jesus Revealed Concerning Prayer
Five important concepts Jesus’ actions and teachings reveal concerning prayer and the Christian’s relationship with God:
Lesson 1 – What Christ says about prayer
Lesson 2 – How the Holy Spirit guides and comforts you
Lesson 3 – Why and How Jesus Prayed
Lesson 4 – The power of confession and forgiveness
Lesson 5 – Lessons and benefits of the Lord’s prayer
Creative Ways to Pray as a Family
Lesson 1 - Kids Included
Lesson 2 - Dynamic Duo
Worship in Prayer
Lesson 1 - Worship defined – and how it motivates prayer
Lesson 2 - Meeting With Your Creator – Prayer changes you more than you know
I really felt drawn to read my e-mail at 8:00am. This is early for me. I feel as though God led me to Presidential Pray Team as I have not read anything from you all in awhile. This article on Poetry has interested me. I read the whole article. Also the articles on the right side about Prayer 101 lessions. I believe I will be visiting this site on a daily basis. Thank you and I thank the Lord for leading me to you today.
Sincerely, Nina
Thank you for your ministry, Connie. You and I have much in common. As He has led you to minister to others through poetry, so He has me. May God bless your family, and continue to encourage others through your writing. Some years ago God laid on my heart a prayer ministry called Watchmen Of The King Intercessor Mentoring Fellowship. It is one-on-one and non-funded. Do keep in touch.
My wife and I are retired missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, having worked in Mali and Burkina Faso, W. Africa, for nearly 44 years. I am currently writing seven books, all of them related in one way or another to God’s faithfulness. Two of them contain my poetry. As with you, poems are often used to minister to others as I pray and reflect on God’s working in my life, or in the lives of those I am counseling.
Here is one of my poems to encourage you as you face challenges in your walk with the Lord.
HIS PROVISION IN MY BOAT
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Holy, Triune God, speak.
My boat is so small.
But YOU are so great
And YOU are in my boat.
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Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
Holding my provision for me.
Nothing else really matters in life
Knowing YOU are in my boat.
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The sea may churn.
Waves may rise.
But with YOU in my boat
All goes well.
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Hallelujah, Praise YOUR name.
Jehovah Jirah – the Lord provides.
YOU are in my boat
And all is well.
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rdo
The GIft of on-going communication between God and His precious children whom He created and He dearly loves is what moves us from point a to point b in our daily life. I’m praying for all of you every day and I am grateful for your on going prayers.
Thanks for your words re writing to God. I am an avid writer, not professionally, but it helps keep me focused. God introduced the idea of going thru the abcs and describing Him. I was having difficulty sleeping. Mentally listing His names, attributes, deeds, etc., has given me sweet & restful sleep during times of testing for others & myself. So precious is He! Thanks for your confirmations. May He continue to bless in & thru your life, Connie. Charlene
I have tried to post a prayer for our country and leaders, but I could not. Therefore except this prayer for guidence of out country. Thank you Doris E Parker.