Week 1 - Prayer

Takeaway - Pray big enough prayers that if they were answered the world around you (and you) would look considerably more like heaven than earth.

What's Working

Prayer. Sometime back in the middle of 2022 I heard Tyler Staton, pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland Oregon teach on the "Lord's Prayer". I can't remember everything he said, but I do remember this, and I'm paraphrasing. "If God answered every prayer you prayed - how would your life and the world look different?"

This idea on prayer resurfaced about the same time I was finishing "Be Your Future Self Now" by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. As the title alludes the net-out from the book is to envision your future self and start being that person today. I've always found it hard to know exactly what I really want - the deepest desires, not the strongest desires. But, I'm pretty sure my deep desire is to live a life that has more output of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

I'm praying this prayer and about a half-dozen other prayers every day. If they were all answered the world around me would look pretty different and I would look pretty different. To use language from the "Lord's Prayer" there would be more "kingdom of Heaven" here on earth.