Ten-second Prayer Principle Praying Powerfully As You Go

Chapter One The Ten-SecondPrayer Principle Tom never thought of himself as a prayer warrior. In fact, he never thought about himself as being much of anything except a regular guy who loved his family, his church, and his country. He had a decent job: he was a middle manager at a local telecommunications company. He had a nice family: loving wife and three relatively well-adjusted and happy kids. He had fun with his family on vacation a couple of times each year. He was actively involved at church too. He taught a Sunday-school class, usually working through a book of the Bible in five, ten, or more weeks. He studied his Bible, although sometimes he knew he relied too much on the curriculum notes the church gave him. He was faithful in all those areas. But Tom had picked up a unique concept about prayer early in his Christian life. He liked it because it gave him a way to pray without getting bogged down in minutiae or struggling to keep his mind from wandering when he tried to pray for longer periods. He had heard it called "praying without ceasing" and "the ten-second prayer," but the fact that it was short and quick made it easy for him to utter many prayers in the course of a day. The thought of praying for ten seconds was appealing to him. It was manageable. It broke things down into bite-size chunks that kept him active in the prayer arena. Ten-second prayers were the only way he could do it. After all, his knees had given out when he played high-school football, and kneeling caused him tremendous pain. He didn't think God was too stuck on that particular posture for praying, since the Bible so rarely specified that anyone prayed on his knees. Getting up earlier in the morning was out of the question for Tom too. If he didn't get his eight hours of sleep, he felt worthless all day. He rarely managed to turn in before eleven at night, so to awaken earlier than seven would be tough. He knew having a quiet time was important, but he'd found ways to get it done other than rising early. He simply chose not to let others' championing the early morning hours bother him. He knew God had made everyone unique, and if he had a different way of doing things, if it kept him growing in his love for God, what did it matter if he didn't do it the way some people said it should be done? Let me take you through part of Tom's day to show you how the ten-second prayer principle works. When the alarm clock shocked him from sleep at7 a.m., Tom eased his aching limbs over the edge of the bed and sat for a moment, rubbing his temples. "Thanks for a good night's sleep, Lord," he murmured, and then staggered toward the bathroom. Ten-second prayer number one. As he stood before the bathroom mirror, he turned on the water and splashed some on his face. It was still cold, so he shivered and said, "Ah, that feels good, Lord. Thanks for cold water and the refreshment it gives me." Ten-second prayer number two. He reached into the shower and turned on the water, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He knew he was no prize, but he smiled, pulled in his tummy, and said, "One of these days I'm going to get a perfect body, right, Lord? So I've got something to look forward to, don't I. Help me keep up with the exercises, OK? Sometimes it isn't easy to get it done." Ten-second prayer number three. He stepped into the shower and let the water cascade over him comfortingly, its warmth radiating deep into his muscles, soothing his aches, washing away the morning's fog. "That feels great, Lord. Thanks for the hot water and that the water heater is holding up. Please help it to hold out through the year: I just don't have the money to replace it or make a major repair...unless you want to send me a windfall." Ten-second prayer number four. As Tom showered, he prayed fLittleton, Mark is the author of 'Ten-second Prayer Principle Praying Powerfully As You Go', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416541912 and ISBN 1416541918.