I lead a small Bible study and prayer group at my church. Yesterday morning one of our members was having a true crisis and did not know where to turn or what to do. Our usual format is to come together to study a Gospel story and then in silence individually pray the story to God, allowing Him to enter into our imaginations. But I felt strongly as this sister in Christ shared the depth of her pain that we needed to do something different. I felt the Holy Spirit remind me about the Society of Friends (Quaker) meetings where the group goes into silent prayer before making a decision…

My best friend has the spiritual gift of prophecy. I may need to explain that a bit: Christian prophecy is not just foretelling the future, although God can grant that if He wishes. It has much more to do with seeing the power of God at work in the world, envisioning the spiritual battles that rage all around us, and with communicating the miraculous power and message of God to His people. One of the lessons that I teach around Christian goal setting centers around Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I believe that our desires are our deepest…

Listening/imaging prayer are important. Don’t forget what God tells you–write it down. One of the most important things you can do for your imaging prayer is to record it. If you already keep a journal then add your prayer experiences to it. If you have not kept a journal before, then this is the perfect time to start one. Your journal can take many forms: it can be a bound, blank book, or loose-leaf pages gathered into a binder, or a spiral-bound notebook, or a computer file. Use whatever tool is most comfortable for you. Don’t be concerned with handwriting (unless you absolutely cannot read your own) or spelling or…