Peoria Prayer Center

Simple Prayer Prayer is communing and communicating with God. Both communion and conversation are accomplished with our body as well as our words. Which one of us hasn’t experienced the sarcastic “whatever.” Or the “no problem” when asked to do the difficult and problematic. So, what does God see beside our words? When God looks at us praying does He see our heart, our emotions, our desires?  Yes, Father God see all that is in us. Even if our words are weak, unimpressive, God responds to the cry of our heart. Simple prayer is about reducing the words and promoting the cry of the heart. It is about giving you the opportunity to take the focus off what you say and place it on beholding the Lord. As you go through the Lord’s Prayer below, allow your emotions, desires, and thoughts to carry you to the Lord. Find a breathing rhythm that allows you to breathe in deep the Father and then exhale the prayer word. As you breathe in, take all of God that you can. Using your...

If you’re not satisfied with your prayer life, chances are that God is trying to move you on. God is leading you to new things. Not new as in “you are to leave the place you are.” But new as in learning new skills to bridge the gap. A Bridge is an image I am using to help us visualize. I want us to see that prayer takes us places. Prayer is a key to transformation in our advancement in Christ.  But that movement depends on structures and supports. We don’t move on good intentions or assumptions. God build us and He builds in us certain supports that we can depend on. The first support in our bridge is loving God. If we love God, we enjoy our time together. If we don’t love God, if we are not emotionally connected to God, we don’t enjoy Him or prayer. We may pretend we do. We may pray out of duty. But we don’t enjoy it. We are not love slaves to God, only slaves. Obeying God is the result of loving God. Love and obedience are not the same. Love provides the walkway ...

4 Holiday Prayers from Luke  Life is busy, and the demands are many this time of year. While the darkness fills more of our days than light, we make preparation for the light to come. We long for both the appearing of Jesus and the return of the long days of the sun. We know that both, Jesus, and light make a difference in our life. It is a metaphor and it is a reality. Jesus brings to us the beginning of the end of the reign of darkness. The life and light of God have been birthed in our world. We now love and care for Jesus among us. We watch over Him as He grows in our midst. Four short prayers can be extracted from the storyline in Luke chapter 1. Prayers that we who seek the appearing of the Lord in our lives can join in praying. Prayers that occur in the fast pace of life, in the circumstances of giving birth, of travel, and in celebration. I have reduced these prayers down to simple sentences that we can offer to God as we go through our day. They are simple in ex...

As we approach the shortest day of the year, it is good to use this time to remember the coming light. Look for the Light. He is coming. This is a prayer adventure you can use personally or in a group. Use the prayer by Tess Ward on page one to help you generate your own thoughts. If the "short," "long," doesn't connect with you try "dark and light."   Dark and light from Rodney Drury

Secret Saint Prayer   But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6 Join me in giving through secret prayer this Christmas season. I'm asking the Holy Spirit to direct me as I pray for my family and friends. Without letting anyone know, it's ok if they find out, I'm seeking God for healings, salvation, provision and more. I'll post some encouragement, from time to time, on the Peoria Prayer Center blog and Facebook page. But pray in hiddenness with confidence. I suggest you take the first few seasons of prayer and ask Father what to pray for and listen for any insight He might reveal to you. Hold these revelations close to the chest. Be like Mary the mother of Jesus and ponder these things in your heart. This is a busy time of life but here are some places you might find helpful in your quest for secret prayer In the car driving ...

OK, these 10 items are not truly mysteries. They are the common teaching of the Church long forgotten. So I thought I might remind us. Later I hope to post a few more. I also want people to know about a call to prayer for the coming year. This call is a plan I have to help people who are discouraged or shaken by conditions in their life. I want to help people have a more secure foundation so that they can not be easily shaken. That upcoming call to prayer will allow everyone, the most mature and the new person to prayer, to connect with God. We will repair and rebuild the foundation of prayer. And most of us will find it more enjoyable than not. The key elements of this prayer time will be love, listening, petition and obeying. But more on that later. Also, a Bonus on prayer can be found at the bottom of the page, 10 mysteries of prayer from Rodney Drury How can you do this? Pray without ceasing; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 By combining it with this verse. Ther...

What kind of people encounter God In thinking about the people I live among today, I ponder what I might say to them about encountering God. Some are like those in the coffee shop this morning. Believers who have most everything figured out. Whispering about the leadership of their church, the faults of others and the wisdom of their own insight, they break free from their drink to recognize an area minister. The moment of praise and appreciation for what he does is followed by about fifteen minutes of wisdom and insight they have that might help the poor guy. Let’s call these group Personal Perspective . They see the world as one that needs to encounter God through their personal perspective. As I sat there I hoped they would not recognize me. I put my coffee cup on top of the theology book I was reading. I closed the flap on my backpack to conceal my Bible. I wanted to avoid the moment of praise and the discourse of correction my fellow minister was endured.  But ...