Praying in Your Comfort Zone

Last night I had intended to go to pray with the Street/Prayer pastors, but I got to a page turning moment in the book I was reading and talked myself out of going – I had had a hard week at work, the last time I went they all prayed so quietly that I couldn’t hear them anyway, I could just as easily pray at home…you’ve heard them all before! God didn’t press me on it, just reminded me that I had got off to a good start with the ten day global prayer event and it was a shame that I was falling at the second fence. I turned another page in my book and vaguely promised I would make up the time!

Much later that night – it could have been early hours in the morning I finally finished the last page of the book, dropped it on the floor, switched off the light and snuggled into my snoring husband.

Then God said, “I let you finish your book – now get up and pray!”

I wouldn’t say that I was averse to the idea but I pointed out that there were so many other people I knew that prayed much better than I did and I rattled off a few names.

God didn’t say, “I know that!” I don’t think He even entertained saying it, though I might have if I had been Him.

“I like to hear you pray,” was His answer.

How irresistible is that? So I disentangled myself from the duvet, kicked about under the bed to find my slippers and picked up my dressing gown and glasses and headed down stairs. He told me to leave the watch on the bed-side table – I didn’t need to keep looking at the minutes ticking by and wonder when I could go back to bed.

We worked our way through the list of prayer suggestions. It seemed quite surreal praying for Christians to join together to pray – when I was sat all alone in the early hours of the morning! There were a couple of other things not related to the global prayer list that God put on my heart to pray about – personal things for friends and family. We just got talking about a wide range of things.

I returned to bed glad that I had got up and joined God in prayer. I thought I had done a good job. I didn’t get all emotional, or loud, or declarational, or even noticeably passionate. I just sat on the sofa, curled up, talking – and yet, I felt that God and I had connected. There are times when I suppose we pray outside of our comfort zones – this wasn’t one of them, but it was no less effective.