Elizabeth George - A Young Womans Guide to Prayer: Talking with God About Everything

All Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to give proper credit for all stories, poems, and quotations. If for any reason proper credit has not been given, please notify the author or publisher and proper notation will be given on future printing.

Italicized text in Scripture quotations indicate author emphasis.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photos iStockphoto/murnamoo; cedrov/Fotolia

A YOUNG WOMANS GUIDE TO PRAYER

Copyright 2005, 2012 by Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-4499-1 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4500-4 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

As always, thank you to my dear husband, Jim George, M.Div., Th.M., for your able assistance, guidance, suggestions, and loving encouragement on this project.

T alking to God about the issues of your life is importantand prayer is the key! But if youre like most womenold or young!you can use a little help with your prayer-life. Thats why Ive written this practical bookto help you make your desire to pray regularly a reality.

The journey to a dynamic and authentic prayer-life is an exciting adventure! First, youll find out what God says about prayer in the Bible. Its awesome! Youll also enjoy stories from the hearts and lives of Bible characters. These people learned to prayloved to prayand witnessed the mighty effects of prayer and its impact on their relationship with God. Along with insights from my own prayer journey, I share inspiring examples of others who have answered Gods call to prayer. Youll discover tips for revolutionizing your own personal prayer-life, including

12 practical ways to become a woman of prayer Youll discover what to doand what not to do. And youll understand why prayer can be so difficult to do!

My Checklists for Prayer Each chapter gives three immediate prayer-steps you can taketoday!to make your dream of becoming a woman of prayer come true.

Would You Like to Know More? If you want to put the icing on the cake of prayer, you can grow even more by interacting with a few additional scriptures and questions. They are tailor-made just for you!

Things I Dont Want to Forget Every chapter has exciting life-changing suggestions for your everyday lifeif you dont forget them! So to help you remember what speaks most to your heart, Ive added a special page at the end of each chapter for you to journal or record your thoughts and takeaway truths. Your written personal insights will become a testimony of your spiritual growth, a cherished keepsake you can refer to in the days, months, and even years ahead.

My Prayer Calendar Ive also put a reproducible prayer calendar at the back of this book. It will help you see how youre becoming a woman of prayer. Be sure you make a photocopy because youll want to use it year after yearand share it with your friends!

Dear praying friend, as you grow in prayer, and as prayer becomes more and more a part of your life, youll find God becoming your closest friend. And youll find He can help you with everything thats important in your life right now and alwaysyour family, your friends, your school, and your dreams for the future.

So journey on! Read and study this book alone, or go through it with a friend, a mentor, or in a group. Whichever way you choose, youll be blessed. Why? Because prayer is the highest activity of which the human spirit is capable. Through prayer you

worship Godand express your love for Him,

bring your needs before Godand see how He answers, and

talk one-on-one with the God of the universe about your life.

My precious new friend, I am praying for you right now as you answer Gods callto pray!

In His great and amazing love,

Your friend and sister in Christ,

P rayer.

Just say the word and I begin to yearn and squirm at the same time. As a woman after Gods own heart, I yearn to pray. My soul longs for it. My spirit craves communion with my heavenly Father. My heart sings with the words of King David found in the Old Testament:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.My soul thirsts for you; my body longs for you (Psalm 42:1; 63:1).

And yet I also squirm at the thought of prayer. Why? Because even though prayer is a blessing, approaching our holy, holy, holy God is also an awesome thing. Then there is the search for time to get alone with God to talk with Him.

Were not talking to a brick wall when we praywere talking to Someone who really listens.

What a battle! I know that I need to prayand I want to pray! And yet the work and the discipline praying calls for is quite real! Do you, my dear new friend, share these same mixed feelings? Then lets decide to answer Gods call to us to be women of prayerno matter what! Lets embark on a journey together to learn more about prayer. Lets seek to live our lives on bended knee.

On any journey, a first step must always be taken. What will your first step be? I remember my first step into seriously learning how to pray. It was on Mothers Day, May 8, 1983. My daughter Katherine (age 13) gave me the gift of a tiny wordless book. It was purpleand I still have it because its a real keepsake to me. Its special, first of all, because my daughter gave it to me! (That really touches a mothers heart! Trust me on this one.)

Anyway, Katherine had the idea for the gift and arranged with Jim (my husband and Kaths dad) to do extra work chores to earn the money to purchase it for me. Then the two of them went off together to shop for just the right present for Mom. The little treasure was then inscribed by Katherine on the bookplate in her careful handwriting, lovingly gift wrapped, and proudly given to me on that Sunday morning so many years ago.

Oh, believe me, I screamed! I squealed! I did everything but turn cartwheels to express my thanks to my sweet daughter. But then I faced a problemwhat to do with a wordless book. For several months I let the small book lie on the coffee table so my dear Katherine would know how much I truly appreciated it. Then one day, not knowing exactly what to do with it, I moved it into the bookcaseand it was gone forever.

until September 12, four months later. That day was my tenth birthday in the Lord. As I sat alone before God, I looked back over my first ten years as Gods child. Of course, that led to a time of thanking Him for His mercy, His grace, His care, His guidance, His wisdom, my salvation through Christ.

On and on my prayers of appreciation to God gushed. Then after dabbing my eyes with a tissue, I turned my thoughts forward and I prayed, Lord, as I start a new decade with You, is there anything missing from my Christian life that I should focus on for the next ten years?