Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

- Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The whole things starts with who God is. Before we're commanded to do anything, we're reminded that God is for us ("our God"), that he's in control ("Lord"), that he's not at war with himself ("the Lord is one").

When we talk about prayer, we're aware that there's a temptation to get all wrapped up in what to do and how to do it. All spiritual disciplines present this temptation: to confuse the means with the end ... a transformed life with God and his people. Moses, knowing how we're tempted, points to God first.

But despite this temptation, Moses doesn't hesitate to get specific with his instruction. He wants the people of God to be surrounded by the words of God. He wants God's word to connect with both their hearts and their hands. He wants God's word to be experienced individually and in community. Moses is creative.

When we think about what we want you to experience in prayer over the course of the next several weeks, we want prayer to connect with both your heart and your hands, to be experienced individually and in community, to be a space where you can creatively engage with our creative God.

So, let's start with an exercise designed to increase your awareness of God's presence throughout your day. Create a prompt that will remind you that God is with you. You can't live a prayer-filled life if you forget that God is with you.

Here are three ideas:

• Write "God is here" on a post-it and put it somewhere where you'll see it today
• Change your ringtone or text tone. When you hear it remember that God is with you.
• Take a pen and lightly write "God is with me" on your hand or arm

Exercises like these can prepare us for amazing experiences of intimacy with God. And ... as a bonus ... you'll get a jump on what Alex is going to share in this weekend's message.

We would love to send you the "Connect Devotional" via email.

To sign up, click here: Send me the Connect Devotional