From Lisa's Desk

Founder, Director and Chief Editor for W.I.S.E Women's Fellowship

When my husband Dan and I first met and were dating we would spend hours on the phone. We were falling in love and couldn't spend enough time together. We would talk, laugh, share our secrets, and sometimes we could even be silent in each other's presence and not be uncomfortable. This was conversation between two people who loved each other very much. We still do love each other very much. But after a few years of marriage, work schedules, ministry demands, and three kids, we had to work harder to keep the communication open. If we weren't careful our conversations could be reduced to, "Honey, could you stop and get milk?" or "What shall I get your mother for her birthday?" We had to choose to make time to keep the romance alive. We had to spend time alone together.
Our relationship and prayer life with Jesus can also find itself past the honeymoon stage. We can get so busy, even about His business; we don't talk to him. We might pray in the shower or on the way to work while driving, but we can also loose the romance we once had when we first fell in love with Jesus.
I think my favorite word picture of prayer is from C. S. Lewis. He says that we Christians too often come to Jesus to get our marching orders. We want to know what he desires to have us do - so we can get started "busy doing" the next thing for him. But Jesus doesn't want us to march at all. He is more interested in asking us to dance. He wants us to spend time with him. He wants us to gaze into each other's eyes. He wants us to talk, and laugh, and share our secrets. He would even enjoy being quiet and just holding one another.
Prayer is a conversation with the One who loves me the most. There is no formula. It should not be a mantra. It is not a means to an end. It is not an opportunity to ask God to bless our plans. It is the opportunity to come into God's Presence and get to know God. This IS the purpose of prayer. It is our chance to grow closer, become like Him, and find out how we can enter into His plans.

1) Read Mark 1:35. What did Jesus do to keep a close
relationship with God the Father?

2) Read Matthew 6:5-15. How is Jesus encouraging the disciples to make their prayers more personal compared with the hypocrites and Gentiles?

3) Read Luke 11:5-12. What comparison (or actually contrast) is Jesus making here?

Join WISE this fall season as we ask Jesus to "Teach Us to Pray."