To pray looking for understanding

What does it look like to have turned our backs on God and then came back to Him? I am sure we would be humble and not proud.

But the time will come when the people of Israel will once again turn to the Lord their God and to a descendant of David their king. Then they will fear the Lord and will receive his good gifts. – Hosea 3:5 GNT

I am sure that I would have found myself in this situation by depending more on myself than on Him. So my first step in coming back to God is to not do that any more and my second step is to depend on Him.

Depending on Him means I have to deal with my fear that He will not come through for me or that He is even capable of being in control. I might be honest and even admit that He does not know what is best for me. So what or maybe how do I come to a place where I can depend on God?

It would seem that the most action/command recommended in the New Testament is the call to prayer. Prayer in its very essence is what shows that I depend on God. Prayer is the communication in the building/renewing of my relationship with God.

Learning about God does not quite cut it when it comes to having a relationship. Nothing gives me more insight into God than begin quiet and praying. It is in this place where I encounter God.

So here is what my simple prayer sounds like.

Your instructions are always just;
    give me understanding, and I shall live. – Psalms 119:144 GNT

It is a great prayer to getting me back to God. It gets me going into a place of discovery with Him. So whether I am starting my life or my life is ending, my passion is the same. I am in a place, opening myself up to God to move in me. I can do this because of grace – understanding comes as a gift from God.

I do believe the Word of God has a place here, a prominent place, but it does not depend on me, rather on God enlightening me to what He wants me to see.

Many will recognize in Owen’s discussion of the beatific vision many of the basic ideas on spiritual experience later developed by Jonathan Edwards. Edwards believed that the difference between a Christian regenerated by the Holy Spirit and a merely religious and moral person is that the Christian experiences “a change made in the views of his mind, and the relish of his heart whereby he apprehends a beauty, glory, and supreme good in God’s nature as it is in itself” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 2, Religious Affections, ed. John E. Smith, [New Haven: Yale, 1959], 241). Elsewhere he describes the change like this: “’Tis the soul’s relish of the supreme excellency of the divine nature, inclining the heart to God as the chief good” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 21, Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith, ed. Sang Hyun Lee, [New Haven: Yale, 2002], 173). The two things Edwards discerns in genuine spiritual experience are: (1) a whole-person change (both views of the mind and the “relish” of the heart) (2) in which God becomes no longer a means to an end to other goods, but now becomes the supreme good. Edwards puts this in other ways—previously God was useful to us but now he is beautiful to us, satisfying for who he is in himself. God’s glory and happiness now become your glory and happiness. Behind both Owen and Edwards, of course, stands Augustine, with his teaching that sin is disordered love, and only if the heart’s greatest joy is changed, and God is loved supremely, will other virtues begin to develop and the character be renewed. – Timothy Keller

Scripture and prayer create a sound heart

The combination of scripture and prayer are what God uses to guide us in His grace as we live in this world and wait to be with Jesus. When I stop engaging in them, I can find myself straying into areas that take me away from my hope in Him. I love these prayer points that keep me centred.

You created me, and you keep me safe;
    give me understanding, so that I may learn your laws. – Psalm 119:73 GNT

Let your constant love comfort me,
    as you have promised me, your servant. – Psalm 119:76 GNT

May the proud be ashamed for falsely accusing me;

    as for me, I will meditate on your instructions.

May those who honor you come to me—

    all those who know your commands.

May I perfectly obey your commandments

    and be spared the shame of defeat. – Psalm 119:78-80 GNT

Your commandments are all trustworthy;
    people persecute me with lies—help me! – Psalm 119:86 GNT

The wicked are waiting to kill me,
    but I will meditate on your laws. – Psalm 119:95 GNT

The scripture opens a way to my recovery to the image of who God is and the capacity of what He wants to do in my life and the favour He wants to give me. That is where my prayer is centred – give me understanding that I might learn to do His will. It is where my prayer springs from a humble desire of being enabled.

Even when I might be found deficient in my health, I want to ask God for His merciful kindness to comfort me. That faith, patience and prayer will be the way for the Holy Spirit to do His work in my life.

Above all, I pray for a sound heart in the things that matter to God.

“At first sight it seems strange for Paul to pray that Christ may dwell in the hearts of believers. Did he not already live within them? In answer, it is noted that the focus of this request is not on the initial indwelling of Christ but on his continual presence . . . to establish believers on a firm foundation of love” – Lloyd-Jones

Pre-pray

I found this term used today to describe Psalm 119:65 —

You have kept your promise, Lord,
    and you are good to me, your servant.

I use the term pre-discipleship when it comes to discipling others and so it caught my attention. It would seem that pre-praying is moving forward and getting ahead in prayer by allowing the things of this world to be presented to Jesus and then taking the time to have fellowship with Him. The intent was that I would start by presenting all the cares of the world that are taking up space in my mind and once I am empty of those, I spend all my time with Him in conversation. It is here that God’s promises become real and here where I would excel in my thankfulness. In this place it is believed that blessings would flow. Although I like the term, I will have to ponder it some more as I prefer to leave the things of this world in His hands anyway and start the day immediately in fellowship with Him.

It is interesting to compare Owen’s three steps of meditation to those of the traditional Catholic and Benedictine practice of lectio divina, or “divine reading,” as described by Thelma Hall in Too Deep for Words: Rediscovering Lectio Divina (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988). The four steps of lectio divina are reading, meditating, prayer, and contemplation. (1) Reading the Scripture in lectio divina means slow, meditative perusal of a Biblical passage. In lectio it is not recommended that you try to theologically analyze the text for doctrinal meanings. Instead you should wait on the Holy Spirit to show you something within the text especially for you. Wait for something to draw your interest and grab your attention and note it. You are looking for something that seems very relevant for “me, now” in my current situation. Once you have done this, move on to (2) Meditation. Hall suggests two kinds of meditation. One is using the imagination, putting yourself into the biblical scene (if it is a narrative) and thinking of what it would have been like to see the actions and hear the words yourself. If Jesus is in the passage, imagine him looking into your eyes and saying the words to you. The second approach is to take the actual words and repeat them to yourself, pondering the meaning of each word or phrase. Hall says that meditation in any form is basically a cognitive and intellectual activity. But the goal of meditation, regardless of the method is to start to feel God’s love. Once you begin to feel your heart warmed with this love, you should move into (3) Prayer. A metaphor of fire is used at this point, taken from Teresa of Avila. When meditation leads to a small fire of feeling and love, don’t keep meditating—that is like throwing more wood on the fire, and too much fuel can smother the fire. Instead, now we should begin to just pray, just talking to God the way you would talk to a loved one. Nurture the love-fire with small pieces of “fuel”—a glance at a Scripture now and then—and just begin to pray, by longing for union with the one we love. This leads, finally, to (4) Contemplation. This Hall defines as “interior silence.” Any kind of thinking of thoughts, analysis, and reasoning, is basically being “in charge” and not surrendering to God. She recommends books about “centering prayer” to help us achieve, not thinking any thoughts “about” him, but experiencing direct, wordless, adoring awareness of him and his presence.

The similarities and differences between Owen/Luther’s approach and this description of lectio divina are easy to see. The Protestant thinkers agree that the Bible must be meditated on in order to engage the affections as a means to respond and pray to God with the whole person. They too want us to deliberately work the biblical truth into the heart until it “catches fire” and they believe the Holy Spirit can directly apply the inscripturated Word to our lives. But Owen and Luther do not advise that we ignore the theology of the text and look for a “personal word.” Luther actually proposes regular meditation on the Apostles’ Creed. Owen and Luther want us to think out the implications and applications of our doctrine and theology until the Holy Spirit makes the truths real in our affections. Second, Luther and Owen would not expect or advise that we only or mainly aim to know God’s love. Of course the knowledge of his love and grace in Christ must constantly be present, otherwise we would have no confidence that we could approach him at all. We pray only “in Jesus’ name.” But his power, holiness, majesty, sovereignty, or his wisdom could be the dominant theme of the biblical text rather than his love and therefore what we encounter that day. Finally, Owen and Luther would not say we are trying to get beyond thinking or thoughts into pure awareness. They assumed that the Scripture is the way God is actively present in the world and our lives and would not, again, pit thinking and feeling against each other as the contemplative tradition seems to do. Having registered all these criticisms, it is worth noting that the essential order of things Hall lays out—reading the Scripture (fixing the mind), meditating (inclining the heart), and prayer (enjoying God’s presence)—are roughly similar to both Owen and Luther’s directions. – Timothy Keller

When prayer used to be a duty – now I confess and pray to be revived

Boardwalk through the dunes, Amrum, Germany

I remember when Sundays were play days, where church was a meaningless building at the end of our street, the Bible was a book I never read and prayer was something we did at meal times.

I was a child back then. I sometimes wonder how it would feel to engage with Jesus for the first time as a young adult or older. How would it feel after years of rejecting Him, coming to Him now in prayer? Would I feel that He might actually reject me because of how many times I rejected Him? Could I even expect the right to receive His favour having scorned His grace a hundred times and did everything possible to go the opposite direction He would be calling me to follow? Now, for some magical reason, I am on my knees – would that matter anymore?

What alternative is there? I know today that there is not only hope, but certainty that Jesus is willing to receive all those He has called. I am also sure that even though my mind may think that He will reject me, my heart knows He will not. I would be quite certain that if I prayed to Him, He would not refuse to hear my prayer.

Jesus is my only alternative. When I think of the leper’s response to finding food at the edge of the enemy camp, I think about what it takes to get any of us to this place of surrender and then to find the joy I was missing all along.

When the four men reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank what was there, grabbed the silver, gold, and clothing they found, and went off and hid them; then they returned, entered another tent, and did the same thing. – 2 Kings 7:8 GNT

In fact, even when I step away from faith, I only replace it with a form of legalism and that, in turns, turns me away from faith with more deliberation.

Everything that God has created is good; nothing is to be rejected, but everything is to be received with a prayer of thanks, because the word of God and the prayer make it acceptable to God. – 1 Timothy 4:4-5 GNT

This brings me back to prayer before a meal. It should happen but not in a ritualistic or superstitious way.

I lie defeated in the dust;
    revive me, as you have promised.
I confessed all I have done, and you answered me;
    teach me your ways.
Help me to understand your laws,
    and I will meditate on your wonderful teachings.[a]
I am overcome by sorrow;
    strengthen me, as you have promised.
Keep me from going the wrong way,
    and in your goodness teach me your law. – Psalm 119:25-29 GNT

So what changes me – what moves me from duty to passion? I think God’s Word does. It is there that I find out what to pray for – and in this case that is for me to be revived. The idea is that I may have life and have it more abundantly. The idea is that there is really nothing physically wrong with me but rather an oppression or depression that was bearing down on me.

It is amazing though to see what happens in my soul when my passion in loving God comes across rather cool. I may be able to utter a thank you but scarcely a full prayer – hardly even a sigh.

What a joy to pray to be revived from this! I almost feel like I am so very intelligent to pray such a prayer. I am thankful for His word and for the promises therein that I believe in.

Albeit the Lord suffer his own to lie so long low in their heavy condition of spirit, that they may seem dead; yet by faith in his word he keepeth in them so much life as doth furnish unto them prayer to God for comfort: “Quicken thou me according to thy word.” – David Dickson.

The word removes deadness of conscience and hardness. Is not this word a hammer to soften the heart, and is not this the immortal seed by which we are begotten again? Therefore David, finding his conscience in a dead frame, prayed, “My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word.” The word is the first thing by which conscience is purified and set right. John Sheffield, in “A Good Conscience the Strongest Hold,” 1650.

One way to get comfort is to plead the promise of God in prayer, “Chirographa tua injiciebat tibi Domine,” show him his handwriting; God is tender of his word. These arguments in prayer, are not to work upon God, but ourselves. – Thomas Manton

I have found confession to still be the key to getting into God’s word.

Luther’s advice on how to meditate and then how to paraphrase and personalize the Lord’s Prayer can be applied to any part of Scripture. Praying the Psalms and other parts of the Bible back to God is a very ancient and time-tested Christian practice. But seldom has it been outlined and presented in a more accessible way than Luther does here. We also have in Luther’s “A Simple Way to Pray” an implicit approval of praying prayers written for you by others. While some, like John Bunyan, were completely against using scripted prayers, Luther’s Small Catechism offers some written prayers to be prayed in families before going to work and school in the morning and going to bed at night. Calvin provided the same thing. Luther had no problem with the use of scripted prayers, as long as we internally personalized the prayer as we pray—otherwise it would be but “idle chatter and prattle.” See “Daily Prayers” in Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986), 30–32

Pray for open eyes and stay humble

I am drawn to Elisha’s cool demeanor and calm responses.

“Don’t be afraid,” Elisha answered. “We have more on our side than they have on theirs.” – 2 Kings 6:16 GNT

Then, to encourage the one with him, he prayed that his eyes would be open to see the unseen spiritual world. I am also encouraged for I see the all-sufficiency of God can meet any crises I face and prayer is my means of connecting with Him. Pray and not panic.

Daniel experienced something similar – while praying, the curtain dropped and he saw the invisible spiritual kingdom – the One to whom he had been speaking to in prayer.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the year I was standing on the bank of the mighty Tigris River. I looked up and saw someone who was wearing linen clothes and a belt of fine gold. His body shone like a jewel. His face was as bright as a flash of lightning, and his eyes blazed like fire. His arms and legs shone like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a great crowd. – Daniel 10:4-6 GNT

This is what could happen when I pray and I am not too sure I would ever expect it.

Then he said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future. This is a vision about the future.” – Daniel 10:12-14 GNT

What an encouragement to me to pray and never give up believing for a response.

I believe that God answers my prayer as soon as I begin to pray. I believe He hears them and responds to them and that humbles me.

Calvin too believed it was crucial to engage the heart and mind in prayer, and like Luther, he counsels to do it with disciplined meditation on the meaning of the Word and what is being said. He writes: “A fault that seems less serious but is also not tolerable is that of others who, having been imbued with this one principle—that God must be appeased by devotions—mumble prayers without meditation. Now the godly must particularly beware of presenting themselves before God to request anything unless they yearn for it with sincere affection of heart, and at the same time desire to obtain it from him. Indeed, even though in those things which we seek only to God’s glory we do not seem at first glance to be providing for our own need, yet it is fitting that they be sought with no less ardor and eagerness. When, for example, we pray that ‘his name be sanctified’ [Matt 6:9; Luke 11:2], we should, so to speak, eagerly hunger and thirst after that sanctification.” – Timothy Keller