Glad to Hear from Us

God, Guidance, Prayer 0

If God is with us every moment, then we can ask for direction at all times. There will never be a moment in which our prayer is unheard, although we may hurry onward, not taking time for an answer. To know God takes a beat. We must reach out and allow the time to feel that what we have reached out to has reached out back to us. Most of us are too hurried to know God. And yet we act as if God is too hurried to know us….

If God is always there and always available, then we are the ones who lag behind. Perhaps we do what I do and tag base with God only in the morning, forgetting about God the rest of the day, just going from thing to thing without taking God into account. Is it possible that in light of this, God gets lonely? Is it possible that God misses us? I think it is possible. I think that God is always glad to hear from us.

— Julia Cameron, Faith and Will, p. 8

Every Moment

God, Guidance, Prayer 0

If God is with us every moment, then we can ask for direction at all times. There will never be a moment in which our prayer is unheard, although we may hurry onward, not taking time for the answer. To know God takes a beat. We must reach out and allow the time to feel that what we have reached out to has reached out back to us. Most of us are too hurried to know God. And yet we act as if God is too hurried to know us.

— Julia Cameron, Faith and Will, p.8

Showing Up

Growth, Prayer, Writing 0

As with physical exercise, much of the benefit of prayer comes as a result of consistency, the simple act of showing up. The writer Nancy Mairs says she attends church in the same spirit in which a writer goes to her desk every morning, so that if an idea comes along she’ll be there to receive it. I approach prayer in the same way. Many days I would be hard-pressed to describe a direct benefit. I keep on, though, whether it feels like I am profiting or not. I show up in hopes of getting to know God better, and perhaps hearing from God in ways accessible only through quiet and solitude.

— Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? quoted in Grace Notes, p. 39

Being Time

Life, Peace, Prayer 0

I’ve long since stopped feeling guilty about taking being time; it’s something we all need for our spiritual health, and often we don’t take enough of it….

When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening. I will never understand the silent dying of the green pie-apple tree if I do not slow down and listen to what the Spirit is telling me, telling me of the death of trees, the death of planets, of people, and what all these deaths mean in the light of the love of the Creator who brought them all into being; who brought me into being; and you.

— Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water, p. 12-13

Repentance and Rest

God, Life, Prayer 0

The Lord spoke through Isaiah when he said, “In repentance and rest is your salvation” (30:15).  I love how those two words go together — repentance and rest.  When we repent, we can rest in the Lord.  We can’t rest peacefully in God’s presence if we haven’t repented, and so the continual process of repentance is key to staying close to Him in our daily lives….

A. W. Tozer wrote, “Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”  Ouch!  He saw that we often pray that we will obey — we pray for patience, for compassion, or that we would be free from covetousness — yet we do not take the actions necessary to actually abide by Christ’s teachings in those areas.

— Brooke Boon, Holy Yoga, p. 43-47

Perseverance

Prayer 0

Yet, we are called to persevere, to persist in our prayers for the unsaved, and the helpless.  Perseverance keeps going, even in the face of continued disappointments, setbacks, trials.  Perseverance persists, not by power, nor by might, but by the Spirit of God.  Are you still persevering, or are you about to give up, because you cannot see an answer, and it seems as if your Lazarus promise is dead, or nothing appears to be happening each time you look?  “Go back,” says Elijah to his servant, and to you.  Keep looking, keep asking, keep persisting, and God has promised that in due time you will receive a reward if you do not get weary and give up!
Theresa, a Stander, www.rejoiceministries.org

Breaking the Vicious Cycle

Forgiveness, Prayer 0

As long as the only cry heard among us is for vengeance, there can be no reconciliation.  If our hearts are so narrow as to see only how others have hurt and offended us, we cannot see how we have offended God and so find no need to seek forgiveness.  If we are always calculating in our hearts how much this one or that one has violated our rights, by the very nature of things we will not be able to pray this prayer.

In the affairs of human beings there is a vicious circle of retaliation:  you gore my ox, and I’ll gore your ox; you hurt me, and I’ll hurt you in return.  Now the giving of forgiveness is so essential because it breaks this law of retribution.  We are offended, and, instead of offending in return, we forgive.  (Be assured that we are able to do this only because of the supreme act of forgiveness at Golgotha, which once and for all broke the back of the cycle of retaliation.)  When we do, when we forgive, it unleashes a flood of forgiving graces from heaven and among human beings.

— Richard J. Foster, Prayer, p. 187