Happy Friday! Happy Weekend! I am on the road taking the slow way back to Nashville so a quick FreerangeFriday Prayer Practice today. I led this practice in my workshop this past week at the It’s All About Love: A Festival for the Jesus Movement in Baltimore. More on that next Friday!
This practice is great when you are standing in line at the store, or waiting to pick someone up at the airport, or when you are waiting anywhere! You might also try this first thing in the morning or before you eat lunch as a way to focus your prayers. It’s also a great practice to do with your family at the table and then have everyone put the phones away so you can have a real conversation. You can begin small groups or even church worship services with this practice and then invite everyone to put their phones away for the hour and be present!
All you need is a phone with a texting feature!
Praying with Your Cell Phone:
Set your cell phone timer to 2 minutes. If you are leading this with a group, even if it’s a small group, let them know they will be praying for two minutes, in silence.
Before you start the practice, open your texting app.
You are NOT GOING TO TEXT ANYONE. You are going to PRAY THROUGH THE LIST of people who have texted you recently.
Take a deep breath. Breathe in God’s love and Peace.
You could say:” Jesus show us how to pray for these friends, what they are needing today,’ but I usually just invite people to pray through their texts list and allow the Holy Spirit to lead.
PRAY through your text list for two minutes.
When the timer goes off after two minutes, consider what you noticed as you prayed.
How did the Holy Spirit invite you to pray?
Who was in your list?
What were some of the needs you saw?
Who or what were you thankful for?
Who might you connect with later to encourage them or just say hello in real time?
If you are doing this as a group or a family, you can ask these questions out loud and then let people share who want to do so.
This practice is really simple and great way to use your phone as a prayer tool.
You can also pray this way through the headlines in your news feed or even the old school paper newspaper. Set a timer for 2-3 minutes and pray through the headlines. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you. What does Jesus show you? What does the Holy Spirit highlight about the news? It’s much better for your soul to pray through the headlines rather than letting them stress you out!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I Thessalonians 5:16-18
I’d love to hear how you use this practice yourself or as a group. Have a great weekend!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com