Our Most Important Work
This quote popped up from out of nowhere on social media –
I am convinced my computer hears what I discuss out loud, but is it now reading hearts, and informing my social media feed, as well?
The last few weeks have been full of longing, and lingering long, with “concerns of the heart.”
Some of those are family concerns…
Some are for friends recently diagnosed with serious health issues…
Others weigh heavy on my heart who are experiencing struggles with their children and their marriage…
And, of course, I am deeply burdened by the indecipherable news at home and around the world…
“Longing” adequately describes the state of my soul; a yearning desire, that often comes without words, because words aren’t adequate.
Yet, the Scriptures tell me that the Spirit of the Lord is able to interpret my unspoken, heartfelt asks.
I’m so thankful.
The “significantly important job” of prayer keeps popping up over and again, and as a result, my reflection this week has been consuming.
I remember reading one of Andrew Murray’s books on prayer in which he said:
We must begin to believe that God, through the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the heavenly world and can bring its power here to earth.
I’d say on a scale of 1-10, the important job of prayer is about a 20.
Yet, I often feel like I fail at stringing words together in prayer.
I love reading prayers from some of the dear folks from bygone days.
I often pick up Prayers, Ancient and Modern; Valley of Vision (a book of Puritan prayers); and sometimes, Every Moment Holy. These have a way of speaking prose-like-prayers that resonate within my soul.
BUT…
Late in 2025, an author I was reading told how he had committed to praying through the Psalms, reading one every day, and praying it back to the Lord.
I liked that idea. The Word of God says that if we ask according to His will, He will answer us. What is more in accordance with His will, than His Word?
What is more in accordance with God’s will than His Word?
Maybe I’m a little bit of an over-achiever, but two things struck me entering 2026 that I would like to work toward as far as personal spiritual disciplines (hold on, this will soon come together).
1) I’m committed to bring the longing of my soul to my Lord on a daily basis that He might move heaven and bring it to earth, especially for the next generation of my family; and, to make this my most important work.
2) In keeping with something I do every three years, I am reading the Bible through (chronologically). So, I purchased a Bible with wide margins on the sides, and as I do my daily reading, I write out short prayers for my “next-genners,” using these daily readings as my prayer guide. I began “praying the Bible through” on January 1, and am watching my Bible turn into a lovely book of “common prayer.”
It’s not magic.
My posture is “open hands and an open heart;” my attitude is expectant to see how the Lord might use my feeble attempts at taking His words, stringing them into prayer.
So far, it has been a delightful practice.
My thinking with this blog is not “look at me;” but more “wanna join me?”
What might happen if we took the longing of our souls and turned it into the most important job of prayer that might actually move heaven and bring God’s power to earth?????
I’d love to see…
O Thou, who are ever the same, grant us so to pass through the coming year with faithful hearts, that we may be able in all things to please Thy loving eyes–Amen.
Mozarabic, A. D. 700
~from Prayers, Ancient and Modern~