I know this post is a little after the broadcast, but I am listening to this via podcast and so am not as up to date as I might be …

I have a question regarding prayer. I am a believer, and have always worshiped in traditional/conservative congregations.

I am interested in prayer as it seems to be described by those in the charismatic/pentacostal movement. From these people, I hear of prayer being a time of comuning with the Spirit/God, travailing/speaking in tongues, having a deep relationship with the Lord.

To be very open, I would greatly welcome a deeper prayer life, For me, orayer is somewhat “dry” and an obligation – I am very sincere in my heart and beliefs – when I sit to pray, however, I find that it is largely me talking to God ( rather than listening ), and my mind is VERY prone to wander during prayer time. And to forestall the obvious comment “then perhps you should listen more in prayer”, I find that if I try to sit and not “speak, then my mind tends to wander. In summary, I feel I am approaching it on a rather academic and intellectual level, but perhaps missing more of the fundamental, relational, deeper aspects of communing with God.

I am very open/interested in a deeper prayer life, but to be truly honest, we (my wife and I) are a little wary of “speaking in tongues” etc. From a theoretical perspective, I don’t really have an issue with it (although I find it a little strange that speaking words we cannot understand is really meaningful ).

My wife has had some very uncomfortabe experiences with the charasmatic movement and is very reluctant to have anything to do with it. Personally, I am torn – on the one hand, I feel there is perhaps a zeal and passion that is lacking in the more traditinal approaches, but also ( in general) more “hypishness”, emotionalism and lack of grounding in the Word ( from what I know, I think FIRE church has a god balance here, but unfortunately I am in another part of the world entirely ).

I suppose what I am hoping for in this rather long post …. I would really appreciate any practical suggestions people may have regarding prayer life – HOW to go about having better quality/deeper prayer times and a more solid relationship with the Lord.

Appreciate any thoughts you might have.

Michael