Five steps to grow to love prayer are:

1. Be still and listen. Expect him to speak. We expect the unexpected. What is on God’s heart as we come humbly to Him with our empty plates, our stomachs rumbling again? We learn to discern the words of God from the mumbo jumbo that our inexperienced ears hear by opening His Message to us, the Bible.

2. Love our bibles. How? I used to hate reading my bible, though I felt guilty as I had been a Christian for decades. Now, I love my Bible and treasure it more than any other thing. How to learn to love our Bibles will be discussed in a future post.

3. Worship and thanksgiving clean out our ears. Prayer does this too. Most of the gunk that weighs us down seems to rest in our ears. When we clean out the gunk, our whole selves can lift like a helium balloon up to the loving Father.

Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising; my raised hands are my evening prayers. The Message

Then we can simply open the door when Jesus knocks. We are in a state of rest, not striving

4. Remind Jesus what He has been saying and ask for more. What is on His heart as He tries to wake us, spiritually? These are the things that he has been saying to us. Similarly, we remind Him of our empty plates, our growling bellies, and of our need for Him to fill our plates with His promises.

5. Surrender to His plan for our life. What is God saying that we get to obey? What flower will grow on our plants as a result of this obedience, is the question of hope that keeps us running back to Him. Prayer brings life.

God, just like Froot Loops that don’t satisfy us two hours after we have eaten them (No offense Big Food but your food really stinks), God you have oatmeal for us to eat. The really good stuff. The stuff that keeps us satiated for hours. Change our taste, Lord. Help us to love to eat that which is good.

Teach us to pray.

May we seek and search until we have found that precious jewel that is You.

God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. The Message

Help us to recognize the difference between junk food and healing food. We pray.

“But there is nothing more dreadfully unimpressive than extemporary prayer which leaps about on the surfaces of things, a disorderly dance of empty words, going we know not whither,–a mob of words carrying no blood, bearing no secret of the soul, a whirl of insignificant expressions, behind which there is no vital pulse, no silent cry from lone and desolate depths.” The Preacher His Life and Work