The Art of Prayer
The Art of Prayer - excerpts written by Michael D. Warden
Imagine that you and your best friend (or significant other) have decided to spend an entire day together. You meet in the morning and share breakfast, then sit on the porch and chat for awhile before planning your day. You decide that it doesn't matter what activities you do — shopping, hiking, or running errands — because you both know it's being together that's important.
Late in the day, you share another sit-down meal and, with it, long conversation. You share your dreams. You confess your fears. You plan what's next — what's best — for your life, and your friend agrees to hold you to the course. You know the promise is sincere. And you find yourself wondering why the two of you have never had this day before.
Now imagine that the friend with whom you shared your day is God. When you put Him in the place of that dear friend or significant other, what happens to your perception of the day?
The Elusive Dream
For many of us, the daydream quickly turns murky with this change of thought. It's one thing to connect with a friend you can see, hear, and touch, but how can you connect like that with God? Besides, we have very few days of leisure like the one we've imagined. Most days are far busier, and daily distractions make such a connection with God seem all but impossible.
A Vision of Connection
In John 15:4-5, Jesus issues this metaphorical command, "'Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.'"
To "remain in" comes from the Greek verb meno, which means "to stay within" or "dwell within." Jesus is literally telling His disciples (and us) that He wants us to make Him our home and to live within Him all through our lives. It's a deeply intimate metaphor — one that echoes our own longing. We long for the awareness of His presence in the busyness, right there walking with us and talking with us and remaining intimately involved in our lives.
So, if God wants this ongoing, deep connection with us, and we want this ongoing, deep connection with Him, why isn't it happening? One reason may be because we are hobbled by limiting beliefs regarding the role of prayer in our lives. "We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives," writes Richard J. Foster in his book Prayer. "We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity in our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality."
Crafting Your Time
Many of us have been raised to believe that prayer is primarily a means of petition or an expression of worship. We pray to thank God for what He has done and to ask Him for what we want or need, then we say "amen" and go on with our lives. But prayer is much more than a thank-you card or a wish list. It's the means by which we create and nurture an ongoing, deep companionship with our Creator. Prayer is conversation. More than a daily ritual of asking and thanking, it is the spiritual equivalent of the open, honest communication that is so essential to any successful, growing relationship.
Beyond our wrong perceptions about prayer, another cause for the lack of a deep, ongoing connection with God may lie in the way we orchestrate our daily routines. John Piper, author of the provocative book Desiring God, says that the main reason we so rarely experience God's presence in our daily lives in any significant way is because we simply don't plan for it. "We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing's ever ready," Piper writes. "Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don't plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. … If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it."
Of course, scheduling significant blocks of time for prayer each day may not be feasible for most of us. But, for those who truly want that deeper, ongoing connection with God, there are many creative ways to weave prayer into the busyness of our lives. All that's needed, as Piper says, is to include them in our plans.
"Therefore, my simple exhortation is this," writes Piper. "Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. … Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days."
Once we understand that prayer is more about building relationship with God than it is about getting Him to do something for us, the possibilities for incorporating ongoing prayer into our busy lives become almost endless. Like sharing the entire day with our best friend, it doesn't really matter what you're doing. It's being together that's important.
-Written by Michael D. Warden
Blessings all :)
Imagine that you and your best friend (or significant other) have decided to spend an entire day together. You meet in the morning and share breakfast, then sit on the porch and chat for awhile before planning your day. You decide that it doesn't matter what activities you do — shopping, hiking, or running errands — because you both know it's being together that's important.
Late in the day, you share another sit-down meal and, with it, long conversation. You share your dreams. You confess your fears. You plan what's next — what's best — for your life, and your friend agrees to hold you to the course. You know the promise is sincere. And you find yourself wondering why the two of you have never had this day before.
Now imagine that the friend with whom you shared your day is God. When you put Him in the place of that dear friend or significant other, what happens to your perception of the day?
The Elusive Dream
For many of us, the daydream quickly turns murky with this change of thought. It's one thing to connect with a friend you can see, hear, and touch, but how can you connect like that with God? Besides, we have very few days of leisure like the one we've imagined. Most days are far busier, and daily distractions make such a connection with God seem all but impossible.
A Vision of Connection
In John 15:4-5, Jesus issues this metaphorical command, "'Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.'"
To "remain in" comes from the Greek verb meno, which means "to stay within" or "dwell within." Jesus is literally telling His disciples (and us) that He wants us to make Him our home and to live within Him all through our lives. It's a deeply intimate metaphor — one that echoes our own longing. We long for the awareness of His presence in the busyness, right there walking with us and talking with us and remaining intimately involved in our lives.
So, if God wants this ongoing, deep connection with us, and we want this ongoing, deep connection with Him, why isn't it happening? One reason may be because we are hobbled by limiting beliefs regarding the role of prayer in our lives. "We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives," writes Richard J. Foster in his book Prayer. "We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity in our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality."
Crafting Your Time
Many of us have been raised to believe that prayer is primarily a means of petition or an expression of worship. We pray to thank God for what He has done and to ask Him for what we want or need, then we say "amen" and go on with our lives. But prayer is much more than a thank-you card or a wish list. It's the means by which we create and nurture an ongoing, deep companionship with our Creator. Prayer is conversation. More than a daily ritual of asking and thanking, it is the spiritual equivalent of the open, honest communication that is so essential to any successful, growing relationship.
Beyond our wrong perceptions about prayer, another cause for the lack of a deep, ongoing connection with God may lie in the way we orchestrate our daily routines. John Piper, author of the provocative book Desiring God, says that the main reason we so rarely experience God's presence in our daily lives in any significant way is because we simply don't plan for it. "We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing's ever ready," Piper writes. "Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don't plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. … If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it."
Of course, scheduling significant blocks of time for prayer each day may not be feasible for most of us. But, for those who truly want that deeper, ongoing connection with God, there are many creative ways to weave prayer into the busyness of our lives. All that's needed, as Piper says, is to include them in our plans.
"Therefore, my simple exhortation is this," writes Piper. "Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. … Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days."
Once we understand that prayer is more about building relationship with God than it is about getting Him to do something for us, the possibilities for incorporating ongoing prayer into our busy lives become almost endless. Like sharing the entire day with our best friend, it doesn't really matter what you're doing. It's being together that's important.
-Written by Michael D. Warden
Blessings all :)
posted by Our God Reigns | 10/27/2006 06:18:00 AM
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