Advantages to Living Alone

51% of all Americans are now single.  So I feel justified in addressing this particular group today.

In I Corinthians, Paul says to some early Christians that just as married people should not try to become single, singles should not try to become married if they were single when they came to Christ.  Obviously, this is not meant as anti-marriage, but pro-singleness.

Because I don't have a husband and children to worry about, I can pray at virtually any time I don't have to be somewhere else.  Being single doesn't mean you have to lead a life of self-indulgence like too many people do today.  Being single gives you more time to read your Bible, fast, and pray.

Married people may have more opportunity to be conformed to the image of Jesus, but we have more opportunities to become prayer warriors.  If you live alone, try turning off your TV and spend at least an hour a day in Scripture reading and prayer!

Group Prayer, Anyone? Part 2

For when you are called on to say the prayer out loud, whether in a small group or large, you must take the feelings of others than God and yourself into consideration.  Now isn't the time to try to berate a brother or sister by praying for him or her in front of other people!

Good articulation and projection are important too.  The Lord will know why your head isn't bowed as low as it could be if you're in an auditorium and the microphone isn't working.

My dad likes to tell the story of a church leader who bowed his head low and mumbled when he prayed.  When people complained that they couldn't hear him, he would say, "I wasn't talking to you anyhow." 

If you pray in a group, don't use King James English and big, fancy words to impress people.  Especially if you don't normally talk that way and wind up using flowery words and phrases you can't understand yourself!

Group Prayer, Anyone?

Since today is a Sunday, group prayer seems like a good topic.

With the prayer closet, you only have yourself, God, and the spirit world as your listeners.  With group prayer you have other humans listening in, and adding their own silent prayers to yours.

If you are the listener, you should do your best to follow along and add your own silent thoughts and affirmations to the prayer being spoken.  An occasional "Amen!" or "Yes, Lord," can be added out loud, but excessive amounts of that can be distracting and detract from the prayer being said.  You might ask yourself whether or not (only God and you know) you are adding such phrases to glorify God and edify fellow worshippers or show off how spiritual you are.

I will address the topic of saying a group prayer out loud in the next post.