Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Listen to my words, Lord,
    consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help,
    my King and my God,
    for to you I pray.
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly.

• Psalm 5:1-3

“Retire from the world each day to some private spot, even if it be only the bedroom (for a while I retreated to the furnace room for want of a better place). Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God’s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward Voice till you learn to recognize it. Stop trying to compete with others. Give yourself to God, and then be what and who you are without regard to what others think. Reduce your interests to a few. Don’t try to know what will be of no service to you. Avoid the digest type of mind—short bits of unrelated facts, cute stories and bright sayings. Learn to pray inwardly every moment. After a while you can do this even while you work. Practice candor, childlike honesty, humility. Pray for a single eye. Read less, but read more of what is important to your inner life. Call home your roving thoughts. Gaze on Christ with the eyes of your soul. Practice spiritual concentration.”

• A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Rev. Tozer provides many practical ideas that can improve your prayer life, for if you take God with you throughout the day, you will talk to Him.

As Rev. Tozer ends this piece, he says for us to practice spiritual concentration.  I feel that to be my greatest weakness.  Can we keep our eyes on Jesus?  If we do, we stay in prayer continuously.  And as we do that, all the other details that he suggests start to fall into place.

But another key is what Rev. Tozer talks of when he mentions listening to the inner Voice.  If we recognize that Voice, we know early on when we have lost that spiritual concentration and we can get back on track.

And why have spiritual concentration?  So that we might glorify God all the more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.