My personal prayer challenge

We've been talking about the power of prayer and learning to pray in a way that provokes God to do miraculous things in our lives. We've looked at the story of the Israelites and their miracle at Jericho. We've discussed the power that comes from specific, intentional prayers.

All this discussion on prayer has not been coincidental. God knew when I started reading the book, "The Circle Maker," by Mark Batterson, that I was going to need an intense study and a new perspective on prayer.

I am personally going through a really rough time in my life. It's challenging -- there are no easy answers -- and it is a situation that requires me to walk through it without a lot of input from other people. Tough situations call for prayer. Circumstances that require you to make choices that are neither black or white demand prayer. Listening and discerning God's voice in the midst of a personal storm can be a struggle. However, I know God can bend down and whisper into our hearts if we would only have that heart bowed in prayer.

Praying through a problem is all about intensity. It's not quantitative - it's qualitative. Praying with intensity is not about words - it's gut-wrenching groans and heartbreaking tears. Praying through doesn't just bend God's ear -- it touches the heart of our Heavenly Father.

There are higher heights and deeper depths in prayer, and God wants to take us there. He wants to take you places you have never been before. There are new dialects. There are new dimensions. But if you want God to do something new in your life, you can't do the same old thing.

Get radical in your prayers. Get intense with your conversation with God. Throw yourself on the throne, gripping the feet of our God and refuse to let go until you get peace. Pursue Him. Pursue His answers for your life. There is peace found there... there is power found there... there is life found there.

Some tips on shaking up your prayer life:
1) Walk and pray
2) Pray out loud
3) Play worship music while praying -- mix singing in with your prayers
4) Get physical - move, raise your hands, bow on the ground, etc.
5) Write your prayers out in a journal, or on the computer
6) Gather a couple of friends and pray together
7) Shake off the worry of if you are doing it right or not... just do it
8) Cry, scream, sing, sob, laugh, dance....whatever you feel in your spirit...respond.