Thoughts on Prayer and Jack Bauer

Last night as my wife and I were doing our weekly ritual of sitting together and watching "24," I realized for the first time that Jack Bauer really CAN do ANYTHING he pleases. Even more so, last night there were glimpses of greatness coming out of him that viewers have never seen before. While down in the basement, getting ready to be executed by the Russian, he proceeds to rip a belt off of another dead man and lasso the gun away from the Russian man. Folks, he must have learned that from the greatest man to ever walk the planet earth....Indiana Jones.

I have a theory: Jack Bauer is a distant relative of Indiana Jones who received his training from MacGyver. That's the only explanation for his AWESOMENESS.

On a different note. In a recent conversation with a friend at our college service this past Sunday, she asked a question that many of us are afraid to ask; "Where do I begin in my prayer life?" What that says to me is that she has a desire to want to pray, she just doesn't know where to start! Praise the Lord! Many of us won't even come to that point, but rather find ourselves neglecting that intimate time with God.

If you are struggling with where to begin in your prayer life, you're not alone. 6 years ago, I was floundering around trying to look the part of being a believer. Trust me, I had the look down perfect. However, I soon realized that I was missing something. It was intimacy with the Father. I wanted to know God more than just the 3 minutes a week I spent praying over food and every Sunday when asked to pray in church. That intimacy was found when I began spending time in prayer with God. I want to share with you where I began in my prayer life.

I was encouraged after seeking advice on how to pray to begin simply with praying back to God
what is already written about him in the Word itself. I began a 1 year trek of praying through the Psalms. What that looked like for me was taking 1-2 Psalms a day and reading through it carefully. I would then pray back to God what the Psalmist was declaring about God in that particular Psalm. Trust me, somehow I always found myself identifying with the Psalmist. We all have struggles, the ups and the downs, and so did the Psalmists.

Start there. Pray back to God what has already been written about him. This is a great starting point for your prayer life. Find your closet. Find comfort in it. Rest in it. Meet Him there.

"Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness
of the Lord endures forever. Praise the LORD!"

Psalm 117