An Offering of Prayer

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2)

Last Wednesday, a pastor friend spoke at our weekly Lenten Soup Suppers. He asked people to get into the posture they often use when they pray. Some people bowed their heads. Some pretended to be driving. Some were at a loss, maybe unsure of what they look like when they pray.

I took the posture of typing at my keyboard. For me, my daily devotions are my prayers. As I write the words of Scripture, I say them to myself. I go back to them and reflect on their meaning in my life. Sometimes I say them aloud and imagine God is speaking directly to me (which He is). Doing devotions helps me quiet my mind and leave the cares of the world behind, even if only for a few moments. It’s the best way for me to be still and know that God is with me.

William Barclay writes --

“Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.”

Let your prayers, no matter what form they take, be an offering to God and God will no doubt find this pleasing and acceptable.