Okay?  What are some of your favorite magazines or journals?  Here are a few of mine:

    Leadership Journal

     Discipleship Journal

    Pray! Magazine

After coming off the life-transforming weekend of the Walk to Emmaus in 1995, God lit my heart with a passion for prayer.  And during those next few years, as I become more involved in the prayer ministry of our church and at Herald of Truth where I worked for nine years, there was one publication that had a tremendous impact on me:  Pray! Magazine.

Last Monday I picked up the latest issue in Highland’s prayer room after our weekly noon prayer session.  It’s another gem.

While working out on the treadmill that evening, I read a delightful article which gave a perspective on prayer from God’s point of view.  While it’s a fictional story, it oozes with Scripture -based thoughts that grip your heart in showing the love of the Father…and how He delights in our prayers.  Here’s an excerpt:

My Child:

 How glad I was to meet you in prayer today.  

Are you aware of My gladness?  You, who are so faithful to intercede, so sincere in your praises and petitions?  I admire your commitment.  Your persistence pleases Me….

When the fall cut you off from the true conversation with Me, I could not, would not, bear the silence.  I paid for praeyr with tech blood of the Son.  I died to recreate My image in you, to restart our conversation, to restore our communion…

 You have something I want very much;  your attention.  Not your work or your words, but your listening ear…The gift of your attention is especially precious to Me because I know that you are finite;  you can’t focus everywehre at once like I can.  You give me your attention in exchange for something;  a yes to Me is a no to something else.  When you choose to listen to Me, it means you place Me over all else that competes for your time, heart, and energy.  …

 I take such pleasure in revealing My thoughts to you and in sharing My plans, in explaining my Word, in reminding you of My precepts, in explaining how how they fit into your life.  These are things I’m eager to do whenever your spirit is quiet and turned toward Me.

Child, I love to talk to you and have you listen when you pray.

 Abba.*

Reading this love letter from God stirs in me a desire to spend more time with Abba Father.  Not just to give him my “wish list,” but rather to bask in His presence and drink deeply of His grace and love.  

Jim

* from “Letters from Abba” by SandyMayle, Pray Magazine, pp. 20-22.  To see more of her writings, see www.sandymayle.com