Another Way to Pray

We often think about prayer as presenting our requests to God.  Of course we know that prayer is communication with God, but too often in practice prayer is us with our heads bowed and hands clasped speaking to God.
There is something called "The Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication" that shows the parts of communication.  Note that there is a sender, a receiver, AND a return message.  It's not a one way street.  Take a look at the picture below to get an idea of what is going on during communication.
Prayer is communication with God.  There is a sender, a channel that a message is sent through, and a receiver.  THEN the receiver answers back.

Are you ALWAYS the sender when you communicate with God?  What channels to you use?

One channel that I encourage people to use is music.  Music is a great way to communicate.  In fact, we see music used throughout the Bible to communicate things.  The Psalms are filled with musical communication.

This Thursday at 7pm we will do our bi-monthly Awakening service at Centennial Park in Eldridge.  I encourage you to be there.  We will use the channel of music to pray together.  We will sing prayers together, speak prayers together, and read prayers together.  I invite you to explore different channels of prayer.  Is it reading, writing, music, painting, sitting quietly, hiking?  I invite you to invite God into all the places you communicate effectively and see how "praying without ceasing" is really as simple as inviting God to be a part of all of your communication.

What are some ways you communicate?  Have you ever used that communication to pray?  What was your experience like?  Share with us in the comments below!