Marc's Minute #5
The bi-weekly quick "K.I.T." equipping you with Knowledge for your Head, Inspiration for your Heart, and Tools for your Hands {9/16/23}
Feature Focus
My special guest, Simon, joins me to continue our podcast series on Voice. How are young adults finding their voice, how has the school system and church affected that journey, and does God have a voice? We get another perspective on these questions in this episode.
Listen to the whole episode!
Keep It Simple Strategy
If you are meeting with friends, in small groups, or just working on your own faith journey, then check out this week’s simple and reproducible practice tip that you can try anytime. Remember, you can always find many more FREE materials at Grace In Motion.
Today’s strategy is SENTENCE PRAYERS. Keep in mind the whole point of these strategies is to offer simple, easily reproducible ways that someone can create meaningful, spiritual connections. We don’t want to water down our faith experiences, but we do want to recognize that they don’t have to be complicated events that require professional religious officials to facilitate them.
One thing I have observed over the years is a huge reluctance by most people to pray in front of others out of fear. People often don’t feel they will pray correctly or they will sound silly. This is unfortunate, but completely understandable given our traditional church structures and practices. This strategy is one more way to counteract the apprehension, keep it very simple, and still have meaningful prayer (even if it only takes seconds to do).
The strategy is to simply pray one sentence. Here are some helpful prompts:
God, give me more _____ today. (Fill in the blank with a fruit of the Spirit or character trait, such as joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, or grace.)
Lord, I feel _____ right now because….
God, one person I hope you bless today is _____.
Lord, thank you for my _____. (Examples: Thank you for my wife. Thank you for my job. Thank you for my lungs. Thank you for my co-worker’s great idea for our company. Thank you for my air conditioning.)
It literally only takes a moment, but it is not without profound meaning because it still requires personal reflection.
Recommended Resource
My recommended resource is related to my previous Marc’s Minute “Feature Focus” on God’s Will. It is a FREE book available from Frank Viola, called Rethinking the Will of God. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is short, easy to read, and absolutely FREE!
What’s Up?
PRAYERS FOR EVERYDAY LIFE
Just for fun, I will occasionally be sharing “Prayers for Everyday Life.” These are brief thoughts and prayers of a modified spoken word variety. I am doing this mostly because I need to exercise the muscle of risk-taking with creativity, and it helps me express thoughts and feelings in a different way. I welcome your comments and invite anyone to share their own “prayers for everyday life.”
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Is there a directive for people to pray in the presence of others? Can one just pray silently or out loud when alone?