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--- jn_en_2019_02_13 [2019/02/13 08:25] – potthast
+++ jn_en_2019_02_13 [2019/02/13 08:46] (current) – potthast
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 ** Two-Way Communication ... **
+Prayer is a two-way communication. You want to speak to God and tell him your points, your feelings,
+your needs, your requests. Indeed, God wants to hear from you. He wants you to pray. Jesus himself
+gives us templates for prayer, which contain several important elements. But you also want to
+listen. You want to listen to God talking to you - usually not by hearing voices. No, God talks in
+different ways.
+God talks through his word, the biblical texts. God talks through songs and through the holy spirit,
+who can talk to our mind and spirit. God can talk to us by drawing our attention to particular words
+within the bible, to particular statements which suddenly clarify some point. The answer is there,
+just out of nowhere, just becoming clear. When biblical statements gain a new clarity, we often
+hear the Lord speaking to us personally.
+Listening to God is very important. It needs practice, to understand the biblical words. Search,
+and you will find! Listen, and you will hear! Open your heart and your mind. The Lord is searching
+you and wants to find you!
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-**  ...**
+** Templates for Prayer ...**
+The bible has a tremendous number of templates for prayer. Sometimes we do not realize it, but
+if you start to open your eyes, the variety and breadth of prayer templates is stunning. There is,
+of course, the our-father prayer of Jesus himself (Matthew 6). But there are various words about
+prayer in the New Testament, in the letters. Paul talks about what to pray and how to pray. He
+encourages the church and each and every individual to pray all the time.
+And there is the book of the psalms. There are 150 prayer templates in this book. The psalms have
+prayers in joy. They have prayers in victory. There are prayers in suffering, prayers when you
+grief. There are prayers in trouble, prayers in battle, prayers after battle. The templates given
+by the psalms are very exciting. They tell us how God wants us to pray. They give us guidance,
+and they provide good practice for us to take and pray ourselves, with the psalms.
+Prayer is good. Prayer is exciting. It is more than an exercise. God, you want me to look to you,
+and to open my heart and my mind. You want me to be with you, in your presence. It is good for me
+(and other humans), when I ask for your will, your heart, your mercy, your truth and your love!
+You are and remain the origin and goal, beginning and the end, and a wonderful center of all what
+is!
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]