I mentioned Tuesday that I led a prayer time on Monday at a denominational conference. I had about 20 minutes with this group of pastors and church leaders. Feel free to try this at home.

We did four things:

• Quiet
• Confess
• Intercede
• Invite

For quiet, I suggested that quieting ourselves involves intentional activity and intentional inactivity. Intentional activity is easy. We turn off cell phones, walk away from computers. We do things that move us toward being quiet. Intentional inactivity is stranger. It is like sitting down when you walk into a friend’s office. If you stay standing, when there is silence, you feel like you have to leave. If you sit down, you can be inactive without it being awkward. Silence feels like thinking or reflecting or just being together.

For confess, I reminded us that confessing is agreeing. In this case, it’s agreeing with the voice of God in our heart that an activity or a thought is wrong. Pastors and other leaders need to agree with God about wrong things we do.

For intercede, I suggested that when we travel, some stones from home stick between the treads of the tires in our cars.  In that same way, struggles and challenges and burdens from home stick between the treads of our hearts. Rather than saying “leave stuff at home”, I invited people to pray for each other, to share their burdens. It would be tragic, I said, to come and go and not share.

For invite, we invited God’s wisdom for the agenda that had been shaped. But it’s also true that much of God’s agenda at a conference like this comes in the hallways, in the unexpected conversations between people who see each other only once a year. So we also asked God to guide those conversations.

–

If you found this post helpful or challenging, subscribe to 300wordsaday.com for daily words about following Jesus.