Each December I let the hustle and bustle of the holiday season steal my joy. Not this year! This year I am celebrating Christmas with a new idea every day.

Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. When I talk about prayer, I mean talking to God. I am not talking about saying The Lord’s Prayer or a standard, memorized prayer. I have to confess that I have taken my definition of prayer for granted. My definition of prayer is talking to God – just as I am talking to you through the words on this page and through my video on the home page. I have come to understand that “my” definition is not the same as others. Here’s a story to explain what I mean.

I held a wonderful position as Vice President of Marketing for a Christian organization. We had developed a state-of-the-art Internet and retail shopping program that when people signed up through their church and made a purchase a percentage of every sale would go back to support their church. I had a two person team that worked for me. There were some issues going on within the company and the three of us didn’t feel right about where things were headed. In an effort to do something about it, we decided to get together to pray.

One of my team members was a Baptist minister and the other was of the Catholic faith. When we got together to pray my Catholic friend asked how we would pray. All she knew was the Lord’s Prayer. The minister and I looked at each other and said, “We’ll start.” So, he began to pray asking for guidance and offering up our concerns about the situation. Then I began to pray and offered up additional requests or duplicating with emphasis the on key points from the prior prayer. The door opened and the next thing we heard was crying. Our Catholic friend had left the room to grab some tissues. She walked back in and said, “I’ve never prayed like that. That was beautiful.”

My prayer life turned around after a sermon that our pastor gave called, “The Secret to Successful Prayer.” Sign up for my free weekly Ezine, The Guided Life, and I will send you a copy of this sermon and the first cut from my meditation CD for free. (Prayer is talking, meditation is listening to God.) Sign up to the right of this page and I will send these tthree powerful resources to you.

Some people think that prayer is such a little thing. It’s not. If you don’t know what to do for someone or how to help someone pray for them. Prayer is powerful. God hears our prayers.

Our world can be pretty scary. There is war, violence, hunger and heartache happening at this present moment. Pray for friends, family, loved ones, our country, our military men and women and our world. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulder. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6