As I sought to learn how to pray I found I had 5 main obstacles to prayer. They were as follows.
1) Too narrow a definition and understanding of prayer.
2) Distractions which caused my mind to wander from prayer.
3) Temptations which I turned to instead of God in prayer.
4) Satan's paralyzing attacks of intimidation, accusation and projections and the resulting anxiety.
5) My scrambled, disconnected interior life or soul - I had disconnected from my emotions so I was unable to discern what was going on within. Hence it was hard to open up and find words for what I was feeling and why.
I didn't know about all of these obstacles to start with but have become aware of them over time as God revealed them to me through various Christian traditions and my brothers and my sisters in Christ past and present who were much more advanced in the way of prayer than me.
Anyway I am going to give you a summarized conclusion and then write about some of the milestones/Aha! moments along the way in my journey. By the way I have experiences with God more often now but my relationship with God is not dependent on them. They are gifts of grace for which I am thankful but I don't try to cling to them because I have the Giver who is always present with me. However, I may not feel that presence. But it doesn't matter because I know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are here.
Basically, it has been the written/memorized prayers that have revolutionized my prayer life and that God is using to address all of the obstacles above.
Have I arrived? No, definitely not. As the old saying goes, the more you know, the more you know you don't know.
Do I still pray in my own words? Yes, in fact, I can pray much more easily and effectively now because the written/memorized prayers keep me in touch with God long enough to work out my internal knots and they prime the pump so to speak. And actually, I don't think of them as the words of others. They have become my words and they often express what is going on inside, what I am feeling, my hopes, my fears, my aspirations and so on much better than my own words and more in line with God's will.
What about intercessory prayers for others? You all are getting prayed for much more than you used to.
And best of all, God has become more of a present living reality to me and in my life and less of an abstraction.
So if this sounds interesting to you, stay tuned...
Did you know that Jesus thirsts for you and that God desires our prayer times with Him much more than we do?
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Prayer is not as easy as we think - For Christ also suffered for sins once ... that he might lead you to God. 1 Peter 3:18
We are exhorted in the Scriptures to pray unceasingly and in everything. And we see many examples of people who prayed continuously. Jesus, Daniel and his friends, the Apostle Paul, David (Look at all his psalms), John, Acts 6 mentions that the apostles were devoting themselves to prayer along with the ministry of the word. Everywhere you look in the Bible people are either praying or being exhorted to pray. Why? Because our relationship with God consists of prayer and we can support each other in our everyday life battles and advance the kingdom of God in prayer.
But let us ask ourselves, how is our prayer life with God, really? I am not trying make anyone or myself feel guilty, let's just be honest. That's really the only way to begin to change is to embrace the truth. About 25+ years ago, I had to ask myself that question because my spirituality or lack thereof wasn't cutting it. Oh, I knew my Bible chapter and verse and my doctrine and theology and I had asked Jesus into my life when I was 20. But I wasn't really talking to God very much and I wasn't really depending on Him that much to handle life. We weren't doing life together. And I couldn't seem to make myself pray. I mean why pray when you can worry!
So I started searching, investigating the various Christian movements, denominations, revivals and so on throughout church history. I was looking for the key that would make Howard pray. When I started I think I was looking for an experience with God that would zap me, revolutionize my prayer life and set me on fire. What I discovered was a way of prayer rather than a spiritual experience. Spiritual experiences are wonderful things but either you have them or you don't and they don't seem to change most people for very long in most cases. Just look in the Scriptures and church history, if you don't believe me. Just look honestly at our own lives.
Back to the way of prayer I discovered and it's not new by the way, it's been around for millennia. Are you ready? They are called written or memorized prayers. They are called psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And yes, the prayerful reading of Scripture is prayer, God speaking to us. And yes, even the liturgies in churches are prayers. And yes, the Sacraments are prayers and guess what we can live a life of prayer. And there is more, much more.
What's wrong with extemporaneous prayers aka praying in our own words? Absolutely nothing. In fact, we better be praying those too. But if you are like me, I am pretty unimaginative and I am tongue-tied and wound up inside, a bundle of inexpressible feelings. So if I could last 5 minutes, I was doing good! Oh yeah! Not enough! I was going down!
Besides there is one more thing we need to realize is that we have a spiritual mortal enemy of our souls who doesn't want us praying and he and his minions do whatever they can to disrupt our prayers.
Is that a ham and cheese sandwich in the refrigerator that I hear calling my name? I wonder what is on the morning news? Oh man, I am dreading what I have to face today. They are called distractions and temptations and they don't always originate with us.
More later, folks.
But let us ask ourselves, how is our prayer life with God, really? I am not trying make anyone or myself feel guilty, let's just be honest. That's really the only way to begin to change is to embrace the truth. About 25+ years ago, I had to ask myself that question because my spirituality or lack thereof wasn't cutting it. Oh, I knew my Bible chapter and verse and my doctrine and theology and I had asked Jesus into my life when I was 20. But I wasn't really talking to God very much and I wasn't really depending on Him that much to handle life. We weren't doing life together. And I couldn't seem to make myself pray. I mean why pray when you can worry!
So I started searching, investigating the various Christian movements, denominations, revivals and so on throughout church history. I was looking for the key that would make Howard pray. When I started I think I was looking for an experience with God that would zap me, revolutionize my prayer life and set me on fire. What I discovered was a way of prayer rather than a spiritual experience. Spiritual experiences are wonderful things but either you have them or you don't and they don't seem to change most people for very long in most cases. Just look in the Scriptures and church history, if you don't believe me. Just look honestly at our own lives.
Back to the way of prayer I discovered and it's not new by the way, it's been around for millennia. Are you ready? They are called written or memorized prayers. They are called psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And yes, the prayerful reading of Scripture is prayer, God speaking to us. And yes, even the liturgies in churches are prayers. And yes, the Sacraments are prayers and guess what we can live a life of prayer. And there is more, much more.
What's wrong with extemporaneous prayers aka praying in our own words? Absolutely nothing. In fact, we better be praying those too. But if you are like me, I am pretty unimaginative and I am tongue-tied and wound up inside, a bundle of inexpressible feelings. So if I could last 5 minutes, I was doing good! Oh yeah! Not enough! I was going down!
Besides there is one more thing we need to realize is that we have a spiritual mortal enemy of our souls who doesn't want us praying and he and his minions do whatever they can to disrupt our prayers.
Is that a ham and cheese sandwich in the refrigerator that I hear calling my name? I wonder what is on the morning news? Oh man, I am dreading what I have to face today. They are called distractions and temptations and they don't always originate with us.
More later, folks.
Prayer - For Christ also suffered for sins once ... that he might lead you to God. 1 Peter 3:18
Jesus came and accomplished all He did on earth, including His death, in order to lead us to God. As He says in the following passage,
John 14
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4 Where [I] am going you know the way.” 5Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (NABRE - New American Bible Revised Edition)
Jesus says that He has gone to prepare a place for us in the His Father's house
and that we know the way. He is the way. So we need to follow Him to find our way to the Father's house. And how did Jesus stay in touch and in tune with His Father while on earth? Through prayer. In the Gospels we find Him praying frequently. Some passages just say He went off to pray while other passages record His prayers to His Father.
Reading 2 from last Sunday says of Jesus in Hebrews 5.
John 14
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4 Where [I] am going you know the way.” 5Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (NABRE - New American Bible Revised Edition)
Jesus says that He has gone to prepare a place for us in the His Father's house
and that we know the way. He is the way. So we need to follow Him to find our way to the Father's house. And how did Jesus stay in touch and in tune with His Father while on earth? Through prayer. In the Gospels we find Him praying frequently. Some passages just say He went off to pray while other passages record His prayers to His Father.
Reading 2 from last Sunday says of Jesus in Hebrews 5.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence.
8 And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered:
9 And being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation.
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Jesus went to His Abba, His Father in prayer and that is what He wants us to do.
And that is what was missing in my life and what I couldn't make myself do with any regularity. And I was running around looking for a daddy who could help me face the scary things of life, trying to fill the void with all kinds of substitutes, even though I believed in God and was a Bible-believing evangelical Christian. And the main reason I was doing this is because prayer is our relationship with the God, the Holy Trinity. As it says in the opening paragraph 2558 of Part Four Christian Prayer in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
“Great is the mystery of the faith!” The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two). so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.
And I have found and am finding this to be true in my journey with and to God. And God has provided the way into a life of prayer, which is the relationship with Him. God becomes real, rather than ethereal and theoretical, through prayer. And I needed prayers that kept me in prayer and opened me up to God and Him up to me. Jesus gave his disciples and us the Lord's Prayer, or the Our Father in Catholic lingo as one example of basic prayer.
More later... May God bless you and draw you ever deeper into His heart of love.
More later... May God bless you and draw you ever deeper into His heart of love.
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