I’ve been in pleading-prayer a lot lately. You know the kind. “Lord, PLEASE, please, pleasepleasepleasePLEASE!!” This is the type of prayer that you pray when you need a house to sell, to retain your sanity through a move, and most of all when you think of depositing your teenage children amongst 1,000 strangers on the first day of school.

When I say pleading, think of the posture that we teach our children to pray: eyes squinched shut, hands clasped at the face or chest, head bowed. I don’t criticize this posture, and for small children especially, I think the posture is beneficial for eliminating distractions — and keeps them from playing with their silverware through dinnertime prayers.

Slowly, through different input, God has changed my pleading-posture… and my pleading words over this summer. [Read more...]