20 Aug, 2009

Twitter site offers followers line to God

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Want to tweet God?

Tweet God An Israeli university student has opened a Twitter site, twitter.com/thekotel, where prayers can be sent for placement in the crevices of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty.

"I take their prayers, print them out and drive to Jerusalem to put them in the Western Wall," said Alon Nir, a resident of Tel Aviv.

He said he hoped his initiative on the popular Internet social networking service, where users post brief messages known as tweets, would be "beneficial to people all over the world."

Nir promises to deliver the prayers -- each no longer than a tweet's maximum 140 characters -- on a regular basis.

Prayers, which are sent via a direct message link on Nir's Twitter site, cannot be viewed by the public.

At the Western Wall, where he placed some 1,000 rolled-up papers, Nir told Reuters: "People trusted me with their innermost feelings and secret thoughts ... and it's my duty to provide them with what I promised."

Several services deliver prayers sent by email, text message or fax to the wall. Israeli postal authorities say prayers also arrive from overseas by regular mail, some in envelopes addressed "Dear God."

Story and photo taken from: http://www.reuters.com

Romans 8:26,27 (NIV)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

The Holy Spirit is Better Than Twitter

In its basic form prayer is communication with God. Just like talking with friends and family, we can come to God through Christ. We can come either formally or informally. But the good news is that we can come.

Even when we don't know what to say, the Spirit of God helps us. We don't need a twitter account or a family priest.

God just asks us to come to Him and the Holy Spirit will express what is in our hearts and minds.

How comforting is that! We all have been in situations with others when we don't know what to say. We search for just the right words and often feel like we've said too much or not enough. That is ok with God. We have a Counselor who knows us intimately and goes to God for us.

So the moral of the story today is we need to go to God in prayer. We don't have to have it all together, but we do need to pray.

  • Let yourself relax and go to God in prayer today. Don't worry about saying the right things just picture Jesus sitting with you and have a conversation. Allow His presence to to fill the room and trust that He understands you today. Talk about all that is on your mind and end with giving thanks to Him. Let the Spirit of God communicate your mind and heart. That is good enough.
  • Praying for others today will be similar to the above description. Pray for friends, family and/ or situations and ask the Holy Spirit to make this clear to God. Trust that Holy Spirit knows the situation even better than you and allow Him to bring it to the Father.
  • During the day, have easy conversations with God concerning your prayer requests and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to action.
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