Practical Prayer Solutions

Kelly >> Hello and welcome to the Beyond Ordinary Women podcast. I’m Kelly Arabie and today I’m talking with Kay Daigle. The podcast that we’re doing today is Practical Prayer Solutions. Kay, I’m so excited that you reached out to me about this topic when we talked about the two podcasts that we would be recording this month. Bible Study and prayer were two things that I was really excited to talk with you about.

So I’m glad that we’re going to be talking about prayer today. I can honestly say that’s not always the case. Maybe earlier in my life I can remember one of the first women’s retreats I helped plan. The topic was on prayer. And when that was announced, it kind of went over like a lead balloon. It was perhaps not the most the topic that everybody was excited about.

And I say that regretfully, I have learned a lot in my spiritual life in the area of prayer. And I know that there’s a lot that you have experience with and have to say to that as well. Tell me a little bit about why you wanted to record today.

Kay >> Well, I’m excited about this recording too, Kelly. In January. the women in charge of the Bible study that I’ve been part of in our church asked me if I would, they actually asked me in the fall, but they asked me if in January I would do a four part series, just more of a lecture format, on prayer.

And they just really left it up to me as to what to do. And so I had a plan for that. But I also realized that there are impediments to prayer. Things that stop us from praying, or we’re not comfortable with it, or whatever. So that very first week I passed out blank cards to all the women who were there, and I asked them to write down what was the hardest thing for them about prayer. And these practical solutions are the answers that we discussed over those four weeks.

And I was really amazed at the variety of problems they came up with. But these were the main four. These were the ones that the most people commented on. And I thought that perhaps this would be helpful to our larger audience as well, because it really seemed to be meaningful to some of the women in the group.

Kelly >> So what are some of those impediments to prayer?

Kay >> Well, the first one that I covered (and this was even before I had the cards, because I needed to go ahead and talk about something), is something that people had told me over and over. I’d already been hearing it, and that is distractions. We start praying, and then we’re distracted by other things, and we get our minds off it and often never go back to prayer—or just cut it short, whatever.

And I think there are a lot of ways we can deal with that, but it really depends on our personalities as what works best for us. So I’m just going to lay out a number of things that either I or other people have found helpful.
And just for the audience out there, I just want to say you find what works for you. You may need to go through some of these options before you find the right thing. Or you might need to have a combination of some of these suggestions. Whatever works for you is great.

And obviously, I think most people know this, it’s best if you can find a quiet place in your home and pray regularly there. And I know that’s difficult when you have small children at home. But if you can get up early, if you can choose your time, if you can ask your husband to help you with the kids after dinner so you can have a prayer time, I mean, whatever you have to do to do that. And some people even have a prayer closet that they have just made into a prayer room where they note prayers on the wall and all those kinds of things.

I’ve never been able to do that. I have too much junk in all my closets and I cannot possibly empty a whole closet out for me to go in and pray. Of course, this time in my life, I don’t really need that anyway. I don’t really have anybody here with me most of the time. But if you do go into whatever room it is, whether you’ve just gone into your bedroom and you have a chair in there that’s comfortable and you use it, it’s just best to leave everything outside that would distract you, and that includes your devices particularly.

And I know that’s hard, but it really wasn’t that long ago before we didn’t have those devices that are with us all the time. And so if you can just take some time away from them, leave them outside, turn off the notifications and the ringer except for emergency calls. So that way if it’s the school or your husband or your mother, whoever would be an emergency call, you can set that up on your phone. But that’s really important. Otherwise, you’re just going to get notifications all the time. You’re just going to be interrupted.

But one of the things that really helped me the most probably in my journey in prayer was when I learned to write out my prayers. And I just have a journal and I write down exactly what my prayer is, dear Lord or Father in Heaven, whatever I say, and then I write every word down that I’m thinking and it keeps me focused more than anything else that I’ve ever done.

It also helped me that if I really was distracted by a thought or an idea, I knew exactly where to go back to in my prayer, because all I had to do was look down at my journal. I could see where I had finished praying, what I had not yet prayed for. And it was a very simple way to do that.

It’s real easy to just pick up then where you were. And if you do have an interruption or you do have a thought and you think I better take care of this. That’s what we usually think, “Oh, if I don’t do this now, I’m going to forget to do it. I have to do it today.”

Instead of that you need to keep a piece of paper near you and write down what it is you’ve got to do when you get up. And it’ll just take you a minute, and then you can go back to your prayer. And if it keeps coming to you (I read this in a book and I thought it was really wise), if you still just can’t get it out of your mind, maybe it’s something God is telling you to pray for. Instead of going off and doing something about it maybe we need to be praying about it first, and then God can lead you in a better way when you get up. So I think that’s really helpful about it.

Another idea—I think I tried this years ago and it just didn’t work for me—but some people pray aloud because that helps them focus as well. Instead of just thinking the thoughts that you’re praying, you pray aloud.

So those are just some practical ideas for dealing with distractions, because I think we all deal with distractions. That’s an impediment to prayer that we all face, I believe.

Kelly >> Yeah, a distraction is a serious component of what we face right now, just with our minds, whether you’re talking prayer or solitude or silence, it’s being able to silence those and give you the capacity to interact with God, really to talk with him is very important. And it sounds like journaling has been a big part of your process as well.

Kay >> It has and I do think that that’s all very true. I think that for me, outside distractions are not my problem. It’s these distractions in my mind that are the problem, my mind’s going all the time. And to really sit down and really focus on the Lord and what I want to pray is, is difficult.

And so those things have helped me.

Kelly >> Yeah. And I know I’m an external processor or a verbal processor as well. So I am one who tends to pray out loud. I go into a room and close the door. I’m no longer at home alone all the time. And so it’s a little more challenging, but I like to be able to find space where I can verbalize my thoughts, and that helps conversation as well with God, with me.

What are some other distractions or struggles that people have encountered in prayer?

Kay >> Well, there were a number of women, this one surprised me a little bit more, but there were a number of women who just said their prayers had become boring. They prayed the same thing every day. They’re just repetitive. And frankly, they’re bored in prayer.

And I think that the best counteractive to that is using God’s word as your catalyst for prayer. That you’re reading something every day in the Scripture, and you’re letting that Scripture help point you to something that God would have you pray. It can be a verse that makes you respond personally. Possibly you repent over something, or you realize there’s an action here I should take or something you just need to talk to God about—something going on in your heart or mind that the verse brings up. Sometimes it causes you to repent for the whole church.

I mean, that happens to me often. I read something, I think, well, this isn’t just me. The whole church should be repenting of these problems. Or it may just be that you need a change in attitude because of what you read. And that really helps me. I mean, every day my prayers are different. I’m not praying for the same thing because I’m reading something different.

For the last few years I’ve been reading at least a Psalm a day. Last year I read three Psalms a day. This year I’m just reading one. And the Psalms are really a good place to start this. If you’ve never responded in prayer to something that you’ve read in the Scripture, just an immediate prayer, the Psalms are a good place to start. And I thought I would give everybody an example that I used when I did this in January. In Psalm 19 verse 14, it says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

So I actually went through that psalm a couple of times before I really felt like there was one that the Lord was speaking to me about. And once I landed on that verse, I read it a couple of times. Sometimes I’ll read it in a different translation just to get it. And I’ve been using a Psalm book, it’s got the psalm, and then it’s got a journaling page.

Kelly >> I love that. Yes,

Kay >> So that works out really, really well because I just read a psalm a day and then I write on the opposite page what my prayer is. So this was my prayer from that verse. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

So just wrote the verse. I said, “Oh Lord, I feel so short of this. Forgive me in your mercy. Help me to remember all this day to listen, be slow to speak. May my words to my grieving friend be comforting.”

So I started with just really repenting of not incorporating this verse in my life all the time. And then I asked God to help me and applied it to a specific friend that was grieving that I was going to see that day. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. I feel like if you’re responding to the Bible, and you’re going through the Bible, whether it’s one particular book, the Psalms or something like that and responding, your prayers are not going to be boring and they’re not going to be that repetitive.

Kelly >> You mentioned books and I can think of one that you gave me a couple of years ago. What are some that you enjoy reading that perhaps also stimulate your prayers?

Kay >> There’s a couple of good.

Kelly >> I’m thinking of the John Bailee.

Kay >> Yes. I really love that book.

Kelly >> Diary of Private Prayer. Is that what it’s called?

Kay >> John Bailee’s A Diary of Private Prayer. And then just about a year ago, I found this one that I’m trying to trying to look at the name, The Valley of Vision, which is Puritan prayers.

Kelly >> Right. That’s a good one.

Kay >> That’s another really good one. So places like that are really good. I’ve used the Book of Common Prayer before. It has a lot of really good prayers in it as well.

Kelly >> And I’ve enjoyed recently finding Every Moment Holy. They have a volume one, volume two and volume three now. They’re liturgies that are prayers that are also helpful. I enjoy those as well. And sometimes an app can be helpful. I know there are many nowadays. I enjoy Lectio 365 which has a daily prayer and verbalized prayers and then silence for you to pray on your own. And so it’s kind of an interactive experience. One for the daytime and one for nighttime. So that’s another helpful prompt as well.

Kay >> Yeah, I like that. I like a little daily prayer. The people who are real distracted, however, by their devices, probably need to buy a book and use it because if you get on your computer then you’re very likely to be distracted.

Kelly >> It’s true.

Kay >> It would be hard for somebody.

Another thing I would say about varying your prayers is I always found the acronym PRAY to be one of the best prayer prompts. You Praise, you Repent, you Ask and you Yield. Those are really four different, totally different kinds of prayer. And so if you incorporate all four of those in your prayers each day and vary it with scriptures and with what’s going on in your life, all those kinds of things, your prayers will be more varied.

They won’t be the same all the time. Sometimes when I read a psalm, my main prayer is just praise because so many of the psalms are about praise. That’s a good way for me to start my day anyway— just praising the Lord, remembering how great and wonderful he is and all that he’s done for me.

I think that the emphasis on repenting is important. I think in our day we don’t tend to focus on sin very much. And it’s not that I’m suggesting we dwell on it, but I think we should be constantly looking at our inner lives and who we are, what’s really going on in our thoughts and our motives helps.

Kelly >> Reflection.

Kay >> Absolutely. Yes.

Kelly >> So say a few things about prayer requests. How does one navigate prayer requests personally or groups? I’m not sure or both.

Kay >> Yeah. I think this is really important. A lot of people ask me about this, and that was another sort of surprise when I received these cards. I didn’t know people were having that much trouble with prayer requests. And some of the questions were things like, “How long do I pray for this? . . . How do navigate all these prayer requests; I don’t know what to do.”

So as far as how long you pray for something, it’s not like there’s a rule here. You aren’t being graded. Just ask God to show you, to guide you and give you peace about when you pray for somebody and when you don’t. Many of my prayers that I pray for people are just when they come to my mind and not even necessarily in my prayer time, just people who have mentioned things to me that God brings to my mind, and I think I need to pray for that person.

If you’re in person with somebody and they ask you to pray for them, I think it’s really helpful to pray immediately, especially if you’re like me and you might forget by the time you get home. Just take time if it’s possible, take time and pray immediately for that person.

We did that in my Bible study the other day. A woman really just shared on one of the questions. It was just a personal type question. She went on with this challenge in her life, which was really very, very major. And so we just stopped, and I prayed for her because everybody heard the requests. We all wanted to do something, and we needed to pray right then while she was there with us. And I think it was real meaningful to her that we would pray for her.

As far as people who’ve given you requests, maybe they’ve emailed you a request, they’ve called you with a request, whatever, and how often you pray again, I think a lot of it is just how much God brings them to your mind.

And I think you pray as long for people as God nudges you to pray or until the person who requested prayer tells you it’s been answered or tells you you don’t need to pray anymore, things have changed. If the person hasn’t updated you in a long time, pray about taking it off your list and see if God gives you peace about that. Or you can contact the person and ask for an update to try to figure out what to do.

But I think you just need to let God lead on those things. He knows when and if somebody needs prayer, and you don’t need to feel guilty if you have not heard from somebody in two years and you’ve been praying about something and you have no idea what’s going on. God sees time in a different way than we do anyway. You’ve prayed for that person and you don’t need to necessarily feel like you’ve got to keep these people on your list forever.

Kelly >> Release is important and benevolent detachment is a real concept and it’s beautiful to be able to know that God brings people in your life for a time, and he also releases in time. So I think that’s very helpful.

Let’s talk a little bit about organizing your prayer requests. Do you have some thoughts on that?

Kay >> Yes. I also had questions about this as far as prayer requests were concerned. They’re like—how do I keep track of all these people who want me to pray for them? And again, this is one of those things that may not work for you particularly. It’s going to be different for each person. So just take what you will from these ideas.

The first thing that you might try to do is organize them just by topics or groups of people and pray for each topic or group on a specific day. Like I have a prayer team for me and the day I pray for them is Monday. I don’t have a lot of things I do by day, but that is just a reminder, it’s Monday, I need to pray specifically for this group. You might pray for your pastor, your church on Sunday. Since Sunday is the day that you normally go to church, it would be a great day. You could probably remember to pray for them on Sunday.

I pray for my small group the day that we meet specifically and usually other days too. But that’s just an example of how you can kind of let your calendar help you remember groups. Missionaries, you could have them on certain days. Whatever kinds of group you’re part of people in your family, of course, you’ll probably pray for daily, but other groups you could organize them that way.

Another idea is for people for whom you want to pray consistently. You want that to be consistent. And I actually got some of these ideas as I was reading books on prayer as I was working toward this seminar that I did, and I really liked it. And I have incorporated some of these ideas in my own life now.

I now have notecards where I write down for people that you pray for every day. You can have a card for each person. Like I have a card for my children, my son-in-law and daughter-in-law, my grandchildren, my husband, my sister, people like them in the family that I want to pray for very consistently. I have a card, and on the card I’ve written a verse that God has led me at least once to pray for that person.

And sometimes it may be more than one verse. If we want to pray for the deeper things of life, finding verses that talk about us growing in our faith, talk about becoming more like Christ, talk about those kinds of things that are spiritual things.

Kelly >> Right.

Kay >> If we write those verses down and pray those consistently, we’re praying for spiritual requests. We’re not just praying for temporal request things, things for today. We’re praying long term in somebody’s life.

Kelly >> Right.

Kay >> So that’s the reason I write the verse down. And for some people, I have two or three verses that I’ll pray. And you can do that on a notecard, you can do it in a notebook. I do that with my small group. I have a name at the top of each page and each week I write down what their requests are.

And again, you could do this on the computer as long as you print the list out and don’t take the computer with you, if it’s going to distract you. And so that’s just kind of up to you.

Or I’ve got one note card that is for people who are struggling health-wise, and I sort of have it divided by different types of things like sickness and surgery. I also have grief on there. Pain, I have separately, I have a number of friends who are dealing with just pain that they can’t get rid of.

Kelly >> Yeah.

Kay >> Those kinds of things. I think the cards are real helpful. I think a notebook works really well. Just someplace that you’re going to remember to consistently pray, not just for the thing next week that they’re going to that they wanted you to pray for, but also pray for spiritual growth, spiritual help in their lives.

Kelly >> Yes. One year I was given a prayer journal that was broken up chronologically by month. There was a section for January, February, March, April, so forth. And they were identical. They were sections for me to pray for family members and a section to write out those. It was just highly structured and organized. And it was really, really helpful.

I found that it helped my prayer life quite a bit that year in my conversations with people and in my conversations with God. And so the next year I created my own. I took a spiral notebook and created those same categories by month. And that was helpful to follow as well. I just I think having a structure is beneficial, having a place to be able to write down requests and prayers. I know for those of us who enjoy writing, that’s been very important.

And I think writing scripture is really helpful. I think it does something in your brain that’s beneficial for you in both your spiritual life and physically. So I like that as well.

Talk to us a little bit about praying out loud with other people. What has been your experience with that?

Kay >> Well, of course, this was one of the big ones. It’s like probably half the women said this is what they feared the most about prayer is they don’t want to pray in front of anybody.

Kelly >> Fear, OK.

Kay >> Yeah. And yet Jesus calls us to pray together. I mean, we’re called to pray together. He says we’re two or more together and I’m in your midst. I mean, there is something special about praying as one with a group of people. And there’s something special about hearing people pray for you. That’s another part of it. It’s such a supportive thing for us to hear other people praying for your request.

So I think one of the main things about praying aloud with other people is honestly, we just have to get over ourselves. We’re so focused on me, am I going to say the right thing? And I can’t pray like she does. That’s all really about us when prayer is supposed to be about God and the other people that we’re praying for, not about us.

Kelly >> Right.

Kay >> As I told the women in January, do we really think that all the people in our group are sitting there thinking, “Well she gets an F today. . . That’s the worse prayer I’ve ever heard . . . I just can’t believe she prayed like that . . . That was just terrible.”

I mean, you aren’t sitting there grading other people on their prayers and why do we think, we know we’re not doing it, but for some reason, we think everybody’s doing that when we pray. That ours are just so bad.

I think another thing to know is that praying simply is very helpful.

Kelly >> Yes.

Kay >> Because then you’re not going to intimidate anybody. If you’re one of those who has this elaborate and wonderful prayer, you’ve just intimidated everybody. So if you’re in a group, I think praying simply together is really helpful. Just speak from your heart, what’s on your heart and how can you pray for this person that needs prayer.

And another thing that people need to do if they’re in a group praying together is to raise their head and speak up, because we’ve sort of been taught to pray like this.

But if you’re in a circle or a larger group of some kind and you pray, your voice goes down instead of out to the group. And so deliberately raise your voice and speak, speak up, not yelling, but just speak up so to make sure everybody can hear you.

And as you pray, as other people pray, if we’re going to be praying in agreement, in oneness, then just in your heart, don’t be thinking of what you’re going to say when you pray. Think about that prayer and in your heart be agreeing with what the person is saying. And you can even just whisper an amen or huum, those kinds of things show agreement. They show that we’re listening and that we’re agreeing with those prayers. So those are some of the things.

Now, some of the horror stories I’ve had in groups that we were praying in is that people spent so much time sharing their request that we never prayed.

Kelly >> Yes.

Kay >> Have you been in a prayer group like that?

Kelly >> Well, I would like to share my experience with prayer group here in a minute, but that was a significant shift in what changed everything for me in praying. And prayer as a conversation. I have one friend who never uses the word prayer. She always uses, “Have you talked to God about that? . . . Are you talking with God? . . . Talk to God about that. . . Conversations with God.” I think prayer feels mysterious or mystical, but it’s conversation with one another and conversation with God, and it’s talking to God and it’s listening to God.

And then I heard my pastor say one time when we had a corporate prayer service in church, Who are you talking to? . . . Are we talking to one another? . . .Are we preaching a sermon with our prayer?. . . But we’re really talking to God. . . What are we saying to God? . . .And what are we hearing from him?

I think listening is key.

Kay >> Yeah, those are really good because I do think that we’re very cognizant of our audience and that’s why we get fearful or that’s why we don’t want to pray, when it really is we’re talking to God. I like that idea of not using the word prayer, but talk to God. I really like that.

What I have done, particularly over the years when I was in charge of women’s Bible studies, I would have them write down their request in their small groups in short, just a couple of sentences. Instead of sharing requests, just write down what you want them to pray specifically. Write it down that way, then pass the card one way or the other, and then go around the group. All anybody has to do is read the card. If they want to add a sentence or two, that’s fine, but they don’t need to add a whole lot. Just pray what the person has requested on the card.

And I have found that that helps people be comfortable praying with other people. It goes a long way in teaching people who aren’t comfortable to pray. And I think it works for just about anybody. I know that I have a friend who is still involved in Bible study that I used to be involved in, and she said that she thinks being able to pray aloud with the women has been one of the best things that they have done all these years, writing down the request and sharing them with one another.

Kelly >> Yeah, I think actually praying with one another and not just sharing requests has been significant for me. Probably about ten years ago, maybe a little longer, we at our church, we started trying to get together in groups to actually pray together. And this one group that I’ve been with recently, we realized we’d been praying together since March of 2014.

So we’ve been praying together twice a month for ten years. This same group of five ladies. And it’s been one of the most positive experiences in my spiritual life I’ve ever had. It’s probably been the thing that I’ve been most consistent with. A Bible study has been seasonal for me, but prayer group has been consistent. And I think one of the things that has made this group work for me is that we’re highly structured and that we pray.

There is consistency. The group meets twice a month, whether there’s five of us or two of us, no matter what we get together and someone prays together. It’s also that there’s this structure of sharing requests and praying for each other. And maybe we’ve evolved in our learning of this. We know sometimes we can be sharing too much, but it’s actually more valuable to pray together.

So we’ve learned that each person goes and spends maybe 5 minutes sharing their request and then we spend 10 minutes praying for the person. Each person has an opportunity to share. And then two other people pray for that person, like you said a minute ago, just right then. And then we move to the next person. The next person shares her requests and sometimes we’ll ask for updates on things we’ve prayed for in the past. But then two people pray for her right then and there.

And so that consistency and that hour and a half of praying together has been so meaningful. We’ve walked with one another through all the things that life can throw at you through births and deaths and marriages and divorces and hard times and great things and job endings and job beginnings.

But just having that rhythm together has been huge. And we’re there for one another. And we also know we can text each other prayer requests. We do text each other prayer requests. But it’s the actually praying together that is the game changer. It’s not just sharing request, it’s praying out loud together.

Kay >> Yeah, I love that. That sounds like a wonderful group, Kelly.

Kelly >> It has really been wonderful. And, you know, I asked some of the ladies what has made this work for you? Why have you kept coming back? What have you really appreciated? And one of the ladies shared, she said, “I love how each of our group can trust us so that sharing very personal requests are possible.” The safety of the group is very important. And over time, you grow in your trust of one another and your safety.

Another lady said community is the number one thing that she has valued out of these praying together groups. “When there’s a heart request I have and that it is so tender I may not even have words around it,” she said, “I pray in feelings and I’m comforted that the Holy Spirit can still communicate and translate my heart to the throne of God.” She said, “When I am known by others and they take my requests to the Lord and I hear them pray over me, I often feel more supported and more seen. It gives me tangible hope that God will hear that he will act that I will survive whatever circumstance I’m in, that the Lord can make it fertile soil for me to thrive whatever the circumstance.”

Another lady said that personally praying in a group has been the most meaningful and powerful when there is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence and when the group is safe. So I think that’s critical.

Another lady said specifically, “When someone uses Scripture, I feel comfort and hope.” So I think praying the scriptures. There’s so many prayers, Old Testament and New Testament prayers and Psalms that can shape our prayers.

Kay >> Absolutely. Well, I think that’s wonderful. That your group has stayed together and developed those feelings of being that safe that they can share anything with one another—real community of prayer. I think that’s what we would all love. I think.

Kelly >> Yeah, it’s you’re bonded together, but really it starts with just doing it. I’ve been in groups that have made it. I have been in groups that haven’t. But the best thing I can say is just do it. Just get together and pray even if you’re praying over, this brings technology back into the picture, but if you’re praying over FaceTime or praying over WhatsApp, you have the ability to be able to connect with someone else wherever you are and pray together. And that’s huge for me personally.

Kay >> Yeah. And if you’re doing it with a group, then I don’t think technology is quite as much of a distraction. I think it’s if you just bring your own stuff there.

Kelly >> Right.

Kay >> And you’re just trying to do something on your own devices that the distractions really come in. And I think FaceTime, I’ve done FaceTime before. I’ve just done an audio group before praying. And those can be very very encouraging, just like a personal meeting to pray.

Kelly >> I know too finding someone. There have been times in my life where things were dark and I found that I couldn’t pray. And that’s just reality and seasons of life. I think every believer will go through dark nights of the soul. Some people may struggle with clinical depression. Some people may feel you’re not struggling with either of those things, but you just think, I can’t pray.

And someone wise told me in one of those times when I said, I just can’t pray, she said, “So find somebody who can and be with them.” That was huge in that particular time in my life when I couldn’t find the words, I was with someone else who could have the words for me and pray with me.

And that time that season passed and that community and fellowship and those words that someone else had for me that I didn’t have for myself was very, very significant.

Kay >> Those are wise words. Those are really wise words because I do think that at least most of us will have those times when I just don’t think I can pray. Thanks for sharing that.

Kelly >> Yeah. Are there any other thoughts that you want to share before we end our time together?

Kay >> I think I’d just say to the women out there that even if you feel like you’re failing at some of this, God wants to hear from you, God wants to talk to you. There’s no grading. Just your prayers are so welcome. He wants to hear your voice and to hear your thoughts. He wants you to share your deepest things with him.

Kelly >> Yes. So I’d like to close with a verse that I found in the Message. It’s from Matthew six, he’s talking about how to pray. And it’s right before Jesus goes into the Lord’s Prayer, the disciples prayer. But he says, “This is your father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. This is your father you’re dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this, loving you, you can pray very simply.”

And I want to leave our audience with that, that they have a father who loves them and who longs to hear from them. So, Kay, would you close us in prayer?

Kay >> Certainly.

Father God, thank you that you invite us into conversation with you. Thank you that you want to hear from us. Even though you already know what’s in our hearts, you want to hear it from us. Thank you that you are always there. Even if we stumble in our prayers, even if we fall away in our prayers for a time, you’re there. You’re waiting for us to come back. You love us so much.

We just give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus name. Amen.

Kelly >> Well, thank you for being part of this conversation on prayer with us. I want you to know that we have other resources on prayer at BeyondOrdinaryWomen.org. If you go to our Resources tab on the dropdown menu and select Podcast/Video Extras, you can search for the title Practical Prayer Solutions and browse for other resources that you might find helpful as well.

We are glad that you have joined us and we will see you next time.