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My intentions are good: I want to pray, I need to talk to God about a lot of things. Every day I set aside a time when I can talk with God, make my requests known, praise Him, thank Him, and spend some “quiet” time … just God and I.

I begin to pray, “Father, thank you for giving me this time to talk to you, to praise you and to honor you for …” Then my mind starts to wander, and other thoughts start to come into my mind.A noise or a banging door jolts my prayer, but I try to continue, “… Thank you, Lord, for …” All of a sudden someone drops something that makes such a loud clang that it totally takes my mind off spiritual things … and now I am starting to get a little angry that I just can never find the right time when it’s really quiet and I can concentrate on talking to God … to be private with Him.

I feel awful. Another lost opportunity for the moment. Now I must get on with other things on my schedule and try to make up my prayer time elsewhere. What a mess. It’s frustrating … and I start to blame myself for not being more faithful, more spiritual, and more disciplined. I want to pray and I feel like such a failure—weak—for not following through with it each day because of distractions. What can I do?

We’ve all experienced how the distractions of life can get in the way of our prayers. Distractions can keep our thoughts on earthly issues, leaving us in the middle of dry land, frustrated and unable to enjoy the fellowship that Jesus wants us to have with Him.

These distractions can trip us up. They sneak up on us by making their way into our prayer life when we aren’t aware that the “door” is open. Then, before we know it, the uninvited guests appear to overshadow our minds and guide us away from the Lord.

But there is good news! We are not bound forever to the invasions of our minds, and God wants us to be assured that we can be victorious over the distraction battle that comes at us when we try to pray.

There are certain standard items that we want to make a practice of communicating to God during our daily prayer time, each and every time:

MAKE A LIST: This is one sure way we can have all of our prayer and praise needs in front of us, giving less problems with being distracted—
Romans 8:26 Use the attached list to get started, or make your own.

1. Thank God for sending His Son to die for our sins;

2. Thank Jesus for paying the price on the cross and giving us the opportunity (choice) to ask forgiveness for our sins;

3. Praise God for all the bountifulness of blessings that He bestows on us even though we don’t deserve them.

These are things we don’t want to leave out of any prayer time and will always be on your list.

Then we want to continue with our list:

Include: Family, friends, needy ones, illnesses, those who need Christ in their lives, pastors, church leaders, co-workers, enemies, national, state and local leaders. Build your list as the needs are laid on your heart. You can change this list from day to day to keep praying for all the situations and needs in your life.

During the day, always be in an attitude of prayer (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). © Purpose Ministry

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