Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Rituals

"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine needs new wineskins." -- Luke 2:22, NLT

Our prayer times with God ought to resemble, to some degree, a waiter waiting on a customer. We should be asking God, "What would you like?" Since God, the creator of the universe, has created such a vast plethora of color, shape, sight, fragrance, sound, taste, creature, and plant life, why would we think that He would be satisfied with the same prayer ritual from us, day in and day out? I find myself going in and out of prayer seasons -- at times I best connect with Him by prostrating myself on the floor and other times the most intimacy comes through kneeling. I'm not convinced that God prefers our 4-step prayer programs. Even as humans we prefer variety in our relationships. For example, date night with our spouse would get a little old if we did exactly the same thing every time. If you find your prayer time becoming dry, try a different posture, a different venue, or a different method. Put the new wine into a new wineskin. The Holy Spirit will lead you.

No comments: