We thank you our heavenly father for the joy of being alive in you.  We pray that you’ll come as the Holy Spirit, to cleanse our hearts and minds, to fill us with a power of discernment but also with the willingness to respond to that which you are calling us to.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

A little boy was asked by his pastor if he said his prayers every night.  “No sir,” the fellow answered honestly.  “Not every night.  Some nights I don’t want anything.”  That makes the point doesn’t it?  Many of us do not pray consistently, nor does our praying have much ongoing meaning, because our understanding and practice of prayer is limited.  Not only is it limited in many cases, our understanding and practice of prayer is misinformed.  To be less kind than that, but very specific, many Chr…