Tweeting Prayer?

Seriously? What can Twitter and prayer possibly have in common, right? At least two of you are already asking,”So Twitter is what, exactly?” 

According to tweeternet.com, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, “What are you doing?” by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called “tweets”, to your friends.

Whew, okay, What were we talking about? Oh yeah, prayer! Let’s check out some great texts.

pray continually;  1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV

Well, that’s short and to the point.  Need to think a bit about that “continually” concept.

Seven times a day I praise you
   for your righteous laws. Psalm 119:164

Okay, seven is less than “continually”, right?

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Daniel 6:10

I read online earlier today about a guy who set up future tweets so that he would get one every hour on the hour during the day, prompting him to pray from the Book of Common Prayer. Does that seem stiff and artificial to you? Maybe so, but I applaud his initiative in making prayer a significant part of his day. How many times a day do you pray? One, three, seven, continually, or…none?

Is it important to you to talk to the Father, the Son, the Spirit often? Yes? But do you often find yourself reaching the end of the day without doing so?

We remind ourselves to do all kinds of things-pick up the dry cleaning, get milk, remember our anniversary, things that are important to us. Is prayer important enough to remind ourselves about it?

Does God consider our prayers of lesser value if they are delivered in 140 characters or less? If they come after a prompt from a Post-It or a tweet on a phone?

As a father, I can tell you that I want to hear from my girls any which way. Short or long, timed or spontaneous, I just want to hear their voices and share their day. Does my Heavenly Father love me any less than that?

So, whether you are a tweeter, a blogger, a Post-It poster, or a Sharpie on the palm writer, do what you have to do to keep prayer a regular part of your day.

And as you do that, you will grow closer to the One to Whom you speak, closer to living your days in continual connection, closer to letting Him choose your words and actions to please Him and reflect Him.