So much of hearing God's voice is just slowing down which for most of us involves simplifying our lives. One way to isolate God's voice is just to limit the many other voices speaking to us. Two years ago during Lent I decided that I want to work on simplicity. I did so by ruthlessly attacking clutter and excess in my life. Specifically, I set aside 40 grocery sacks in my closet and every day for 40 days, I filled and got rid of a sack. Many sacks went to the thrift shop in our church, some went to people I knew, and a surprising number were just trash.
I learned a host of discipleship lessons during this discipline. One of the most profound was that everything we own, owns a little bit of us. Each item is calling to us in some way--"Keep me, store me, use me, clean me, etc." Perhaps, that's why Jesus told the disciples to bring so little with them on missionary journeys. Every item you have can be a demanding distraction. So, one simple way to begin to clear the air to hear God's voice is to simply purge junk in your life.
I encourage you to reflect on just how often you find yourself pondering what you need to do with stuff in your life. How much time and space in your life is consumed by stuff? How and what could you realistically eliminate? Blessings from The Practical Disciple
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Isolating God's Voice
I had in a prior post written about having a basic daily devotional time with God. There is a lot of value in doing this in terms of honing your awareness of God's voice in your daily life. When I say voice, I mean it in a broad sense of God expressing Himself through any number of ways. This could be a synchronicity, a person sharing a right word at a right time, a hymn or song on the radio, a strong intuition, a dream, vision, or insight through the Word, etc.
What I have noticed is that when we step apart from our daily activity and seek to observe God's activity in our life, then we learn to discern God's activity from other activity. Imagine if I were to bring you to a symphony and asked you to tell me when you heard the French Horn. If you didn't have much classical instrument background you might be able to rightly pick it's voice out here and there. But lets pretend that I send you home with a couple of cd's of French Horn parts to listen to. You sit down each evening for a few minutes listening. The next time I bring you to the symphony, not only do you hear the French Horn, but you can track it with a high degree of success throughout the symphony. A daily devotional time, particularly with time in the Word, serves as that experience of isolating the 'voice'. It develops your ear so that you can hear God's voice in the clamoring noise of other voices.
Learning to be still before God through a similar practice of quieting your mind and sitting with a passage from scripture can also really help you hear God's voice. If nothing else it helps you filter out unwanted verbage of the world.
Blessings from The Practical Disciple
What I have noticed is that when we step apart from our daily activity and seek to observe God's activity in our life, then we learn to discern God's activity from other activity. Imagine if I were to bring you to a symphony and asked you to tell me when you heard the French Horn. If you didn't have much classical instrument background you might be able to rightly pick it's voice out here and there. But lets pretend that I send you home with a couple of cd's of French Horn parts to listen to. You sit down each evening for a few minutes listening. The next time I bring you to the symphony, not only do you hear the French Horn, but you can track it with a high degree of success throughout the symphony. A daily devotional time, particularly with time in the Word, serves as that experience of isolating the 'voice'. It develops your ear so that you can hear God's voice in the clamoring noise of other voices.
Learning to be still before God through a similar practice of quieting your mind and sitting with a passage from scripture can also really help you hear God's voice. If nothing else it helps you filter out unwanted verbage of the world.
Blessings from The Practical Disciple
More on God-incidents
My most recent post drew a couple of comments and a few direct contacts regarding God-incidents. It obviously struck a chord with some folks, so it seems worthy of more attention. My prior post was about responding to God-incidents. I feel the need to back up and address recognizing God incidents.
When I say God incident I am referring to those revelatory moments when we recognize what could be considered random events as actually God's activity in our lives. We can actively hone our awareness of these moments. The first step in recognizing something is knowing what you are looking for specifically. That may sound simplistic, but how often do we put things before God that are so broad and generic that even if God responds, we may not be able to recognize the answer. We say something like "God what do you want me to do with my life?" or "God help me find a spouse?" Learning to be more specific in our conversation with God is one helpful key in moving toward greater discernment. Get more specific with questions like, "God could you give me some indication of whether or not I need to stay in my current job?" or even, "God indicate or open some doors for me to move through, if it is your desire for me to shift away from what I am doing now."
A second key to this whole discernment process is being very open to whatever response God may give you. I call this holding a pray in an open hand. What I mean by an open hand is that you don't cling to an expected response. You lift upto God your desire or question, but you don't cling to some fore drawn conclusion. When we lift up very specific requests, I find that some times we already know what we want as God's response, so we are only looking for our expectation. God seems to frequently exceed my expectation or at least respond in some oblique way I never anticipated. Trust is necessary. To me the perfect biblical example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane. He comes before God with a very specific request--"Let this cup pass from me." But he holds it in a open hand, "Not my will be done, but thine."
Third, we actively intentional look for God's response. How many times have you prayed for God's guidance, but not bothered to then just sit and listen for a response from God? I must confess that too often I will ask for guidance and then just move right on to the next things in my prayer list. Learn to pause and listen. By listen I mean let go of other thoughts tugging at you. Pay attention to the images, memories, events, and/or people that come to mind as you quietly set with God and the concern of your heart. Do those things seem significant to your prayer. If so, how are they significant. Also, learn to look back on a day or week and say, "How do I think God has responded to my prayer?"
These are invaluable skills to help hone your awareness. I will share more in my next blog post so stayed tuned. Thank you, The Practical Disciple, John Arnold
When I say God incident I am referring to those revelatory moments when we recognize what could be considered random events as actually God's activity in our lives. We can actively hone our awareness of these moments. The first step in recognizing something is knowing what you are looking for specifically. That may sound simplistic, but how often do we put things before God that are so broad and generic that even if God responds, we may not be able to recognize the answer. We say something like "God what do you want me to do with my life?" or "God help me find a spouse?" Learning to be more specific in our conversation with God is one helpful key in moving toward greater discernment. Get more specific with questions like, "God could you give me some indication of whether or not I need to stay in my current job?" or even, "God indicate or open some doors for me to move through, if it is your desire for me to shift away from what I am doing now."
A second key to this whole discernment process is being very open to whatever response God may give you. I call this holding a pray in an open hand. What I mean by an open hand is that you don't cling to an expected response. You lift upto God your desire or question, but you don't cling to some fore drawn conclusion. When we lift up very specific requests, I find that some times we already know what we want as God's response, so we are only looking for our expectation. God seems to frequently exceed my expectation or at least respond in some oblique way I never anticipated. Trust is necessary. To me the perfect biblical example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane. He comes before God with a very specific request--"Let this cup pass from me." But he holds it in a open hand, "Not my will be done, but thine."
Third, we actively intentional look for God's response. How many times have you prayed for God's guidance, but not bothered to then just sit and listen for a response from God? I must confess that too often I will ask for guidance and then just move right on to the next things in my prayer list. Learn to pause and listen. By listen I mean let go of other thoughts tugging at you. Pay attention to the images, memories, events, and/or people that come to mind as you quietly set with God and the concern of your heart. Do those things seem significant to your prayer. If so, how are they significant. Also, learn to look back on a day or week and say, "How do I think God has responded to my prayer?"
These are invaluable skills to help hone your awareness. I will share more in my next blog post so stayed tuned. Thank you, The Practical Disciple, John Arnold
Monday, June 16, 2008
Responding to God-Incidence
Some events occur and the coincidence of it is so unbelievable that it takes greater faith to consider it a coincidence than it does to believe that it is a God incident. I once was trying to find someone's apartment who had an emergency need. My prayer was to find this person quickly and without a conflict with his father who was drunk and in the home. I had never been to his apartment. When a friend of mine and I went to retrieve our friend who was in trouble, we could not find the apartment number he had given us. I began to feel that perhaps my prayers were unheard. I rapidly decided that we shouldn't waste time looking for the apartment. We should just ask someone where it was. My friend who was driving ran upto a random apartment. He came out with our friend. We had coincidentally gone to an apartment he had fled to. The apartment number we had written down did not exist. Coincidence? I don't think so.
How should we respond when a God-incidence occurs?--A chance phone call or acquaintance comes at just the right time of our need, our funds run dry and a check for just the right amount appears unanticipated, etc. I often think of Romans 1:21 "Though they knew God, they neither honored God or gave thanks so he gave them over to futile thinking and the darkness of their minds." I have learned that my immediate response to a God-incidence needs to be to recognize it as a gift from God and give thanks. Give credit where credit is due.
The second thing that I seek to do is to honor God for the gift. We honor God by being obedient. Often times within the event there is some calling. There is a need for us to act. I find that when we are either thankful and/or obedient with what is given, then God seems to unfold the gift even further.
We also can honor a gift by telling others the story of what God has done. Share your story. In the process you may bless someone else. You may become an inspiring God-incident for another person.
Blessings to you as you seek to appreciate and honor all that God does in your life.
How should we respond when a God-incidence occurs?--A chance phone call or acquaintance comes at just the right time of our need, our funds run dry and a check for just the right amount appears unanticipated, etc. I often think of Romans 1:21 "Though they knew God, they neither honored God or gave thanks so he gave them over to futile thinking and the darkness of their minds." I have learned that my immediate response to a God-incidence needs to be to recognize it as a gift from God and give thanks. Give credit where credit is due.
The second thing that I seek to do is to honor God for the gift. We honor God by being obedient. Often times within the event there is some calling. There is a need for us to act. I find that when we are either thankful and/or obedient with what is given, then God seems to unfold the gift even further.
We also can honor a gift by telling others the story of what God has done. Share your story. In the process you may bless someone else. You may become an inspiring God-incident for another person.
Blessings to you as you seek to appreciate and honor all that God does in your life.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Prayer--Finding the Right Words, or Use No Words
This past week I visited a church and asked the congregation about difficulties they have praying. As usually the first answer offered up regarding an inability to focus. Another answer though came up which is not uncommon. Someone mentioned that they have a difficult time finding the right words. First off, I am not so certain there are "right" words to be found. Lovely and profound words lacking in heart or conviction, I rather suspect are like burnt offering offerings without obedience in the Old Testament.
Speaking from the heart with the best honesty you can muster is the best we can hope for. If you examine the Lord's Prayer that Jesus offered, you will noticed that it is neither lengthy are overly eloquent. I always strive to choose my finest words, but trust that sincerity gives them greater weight with God than perhaps any other characteristic.
If you really want to expand your prayer vocabulary, I strongly recommend getting a book of prayers to use devotionally. A classic old favorite of mine is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. The book is roughly a month of morning and evening prayers with a blank opposing page for each where you can write your own prayers. I have filled out a couple of these. The language is a bit archaic, but the depth and breadth of prayer which Baillie offers is rather immense. If take mimic the content that he covers in his prayers but in your own personal style. I think you will find that the scope of what you think about in regards to prayer will broaden and deepen.
If you can't find John Baillie's book, I would still recommend finding a devotional resource that will prompt you to think more broadly when you pray. Either way, seek sincerity and honesty in what you lift before God. If you want to challenge yourself even further, consider praying without words. Take some time to just mentally form as full an image as you possibly can of what you are praying about and lift it upto God. Picture in your mind the full outcome if your prayer were to be answered as you hope. For instance, some times when I preach I pray for the congregation in this way. I don't just imagine them sitting there and soaking in a sermon and being wonderfully connecting. Instead, I picture them at home or work applying whatever I addressed. So, if I preach on forgiveness, I hold up to God an image of people going home and calling someone they are disenfanchised with or offering an apology. If I preach about service, then I picture them moved to help someone else. You get the picture (no pun intended).
Praying in pictures has a couple effects upon you as the prayer. First, it makes you really slow down and consider practical what your prayer would mean. Second, praying in pictures usually causes me to spend much more time on individual prayers than usually. Lastly, while I can't necessarily prove or quantify it, I have a strong sense that when i do this my prayers are frankly far more effective.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. With gratitude for any who read my blog, The Practical Disciple.
Speaking from the heart with the best honesty you can muster is the best we can hope for. If you examine the Lord's Prayer that Jesus offered, you will noticed that it is neither lengthy are overly eloquent. I always strive to choose my finest words, but trust that sincerity gives them greater weight with God than perhaps any other characteristic.
If you really want to expand your prayer vocabulary, I strongly recommend getting a book of prayers to use devotionally. A classic old favorite of mine is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. The book is roughly a month of morning and evening prayers with a blank opposing page for each where you can write your own prayers. I have filled out a couple of these. The language is a bit archaic, but the depth and breadth of prayer which Baillie offers is rather immense. If take mimic the content that he covers in his prayers but in your own personal style. I think you will find that the scope of what you think about in regards to prayer will broaden and deepen.
If you can't find John Baillie's book, I would still recommend finding a devotional resource that will prompt you to think more broadly when you pray. Either way, seek sincerity and honesty in what you lift before God. If you want to challenge yourself even further, consider praying without words. Take some time to just mentally form as full an image as you possibly can of what you are praying about and lift it upto God. Picture in your mind the full outcome if your prayer were to be answered as you hope. For instance, some times when I preach I pray for the congregation in this way. I don't just imagine them sitting there and soaking in a sermon and being wonderfully connecting. Instead, I picture them at home or work applying whatever I addressed. So, if I preach on forgiveness, I hold up to God an image of people going home and calling someone they are disenfanchised with or offering an apology. If I preach about service, then I picture them moved to help someone else. You get the picture (no pun intended).
Praying in pictures has a couple effects upon you as the prayer. First, it makes you really slow down and consider practical what your prayer would mean. Second, praying in pictures usually causes me to spend much more time on individual prayers than usually. Lastly, while I can't necessarily prove or quantify it, I have a strong sense that when i do this my prayers are frankly far more effective.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. With gratitude for any who read my blog, The Practical Disciple.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Prayer, Anger and Forgiveness
Life in the not too distant past has given me opportunity to grow in forgiveness. That's a pleasant way of saying that I have fought tooth and nail to release resentment. One learning in this process is that there comes a point in our pain when we must stop living out of the problem and start living into the solution. What do I mean by this?
Early in my hurt, my prayer focus was predominantly asking God to help me forgive. I was asking God over and over to help me let go of the anger. I was trying to pray my way out of the problem. Not entirely a bad thing. But praying your way out of the problem is only half of the solution.
When I came to a place where I let go of those prayers and began praying for the well-being of the one who harmed me, then I truly began to let go and replace hurt with health. As long as you are praying around your anger, then the energy of your life is still absorbed in thoughts and feelings about the anger. However, when you come to a place of praying for God's best for your enemy, when you prayer for their health and happiness, then the energy in your life is focused on compassion. Too bring myself to this place, I had to reflect on a saying that is tried and true, "hurting people, hurt people." Reminding myself of this common pattern allowed me to look with eyes of compassion on the one whom had harmed me.
There is an important disclaimer that I need to add. Praying for God's best is not merely a substitute for asking God to help you let go of anger. Both are necessary. We must be honest before God about the hurt and anger that we are feeling. We cannot leap past it. It is part of the process of grieving the hurt that we have felt. The key is fully feeling the hurt and yet not allowing ourselves to become stuck. Forgiveness involves a flow from the problem into the solution. The movement from anger to grace is sometimes a long slow journey. However, the alternative of remaining stuck is far more life depleting than the risk of forgivenes.
Blessings to you as you seek to forgive, love and care for those whom have hurt you.
Early in my hurt, my prayer focus was predominantly asking God to help me forgive. I was asking God over and over to help me let go of the anger. I was trying to pray my way out of the problem. Not entirely a bad thing. But praying your way out of the problem is only half of the solution.
When I came to a place where I let go of those prayers and began praying for the well-being of the one who harmed me, then I truly began to let go and replace hurt with health. As long as you are praying around your anger, then the energy of your life is still absorbed in thoughts and feelings about the anger. However, when you come to a place of praying for God's best for your enemy, when you prayer for their health and happiness, then the energy in your life is focused on compassion. Too bring myself to this place, I had to reflect on a saying that is tried and true, "hurting people, hurt people." Reminding myself of this common pattern allowed me to look with eyes of compassion on the one whom had harmed me.
There is an important disclaimer that I need to add. Praying for God's best is not merely a substitute for asking God to help you let go of anger. Both are necessary. We must be honest before God about the hurt and anger that we are feeling. We cannot leap past it. It is part of the process of grieving the hurt that we have felt. The key is fully feeling the hurt and yet not allowing ourselves to become stuck. Forgiveness involves a flow from the problem into the solution. The movement from anger to grace is sometimes a long slow journey. However, the alternative of remaining stuck is far more life depleting than the risk of forgivenes.
Blessings to you as you seek to forgive, love and care for those whom have hurt you.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Follow-up on Space For God
Just last night I spoke to someone about how their boyfriend keeps a Bible on a music stand in his room. Everything around it can be clutter and chaos, but the music stand holds its own orderly space with an open Bible. It is his space for God. One thing I was struck by, was how much this was a silent witness to her of his faith. Having a space both physically and temporally can be an unspoken witness of the priority of God in your life.
A number of years ago, I worked in a church in Oklahoma city and utilized a prayer room as my space for God. I was the associate director of a summer youth program. I would come early frequently and go into the prayer closet for a morning time with God. I was struck by how respectful people were of that time. Several times I would come out of that closet and find a youth patiently waiting to talk to me. People respect someone who is accomplishing what they wish they had the discipline to do. Many people desire a richer, fuller prayer life. Your space for God, whether it be physical or a space of time can be very inspiring to others in a quiet way. Just one other great reason to get intentional and set apart a time and space.
Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple
A number of years ago, I worked in a church in Oklahoma city and utilized a prayer room as my space for God. I was the associate director of a summer youth program. I would come early frequently and go into the prayer closet for a morning time with God. I was struck by how respectful people were of that time. Several times I would come out of that closet and find a youth patiently waiting to talk to me. People respect someone who is accomplishing what they wish they had the discipline to do. Many people desire a richer, fuller prayer life. Your space for God, whether it be physical or a space of time can be very inspiring to others in a quiet way. Just one other great reason to get intentional and set apart a time and space.
Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple
Monday, April 21, 2008
Space for God
Someone recently asked me during Lent how I managed to get prayer done at home. They were wondering how to avoid distractions. I have a spouse, 2 children, and an extremely spastic dog. It was a valid question. I avoid distraction in three ways typically--
1) Plan my prayer for a time when everyone is gone.
2) Pray after everyone gets in bed.
3) Leave and pray somewhere else.
I highly encourage you to both make a space in your home for encountering God and find a space you can flee to for sanctuary. Your space at home can be as simple as a chair in the corner with your Bible resting next to it and a perhaps a candle. In our first home, I had an actual prayer closet. It was not more than three feet by four feet. It housed a chair and a small shelf for a candle and Bible.
Outside of my home, I have two spaces for God that I go to regularly. One is what I call my "secret spot" or "sit spot." This spot is in nature. I go there every Monday for an hour or two at a minimum. I sit beneath a Sweet Gum tree, face north and gaze over a small pond. It is both a place of prayer and study. I have a routine or ceremony of prayer that I do each time that I go. I also take time to observe, meditate, wander and explore. Those Monday times are frequently my Sabbath.
My second space for God away from home is the chapel of a nearby hospital. Hospital chapels are great places to prayer. You can access them 24 hours a day, seldom anyone else comes in, they are extremely quiet, and no one would ever think to look for you there. Mine conveniently won't allow a cell phone signal. Most are small, sparse, reverent places of tasteful beauty. Check one out near you.
Lastly, the single most important feature of any space for God that you select will be convenience. If it takes you more than 5 minutes to get there, then consider a different spot. If you life is so frenzied that you can't find peace in your own home, then you probably don't have a luxury of time. The more convenient your spaces for God are the more likely you are to use them. My sit spot is right at five minutes from my home and I have a routine of going there at least weekly. The hospital chapel is perhaps three minutes at most and it is along my drive to and from work.
Seriously consider how you can physically make a space for God. We have whole rooms dedicated to sleeping, eating, preparing food, bathing and entertainment in our homes. Where does God fit? If you don't know then create something. Once again, simplicity and convenience are critical aspects of this important choice.
Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple as you seek to make space for God in your life.
1) Plan my prayer for a time when everyone is gone.
2) Pray after everyone gets in bed.
3) Leave and pray somewhere else.
I highly encourage you to both make a space in your home for encountering God and find a space you can flee to for sanctuary. Your space at home can be as simple as a chair in the corner with your Bible resting next to it and a perhaps a candle. In our first home, I had an actual prayer closet. It was not more than three feet by four feet. It housed a chair and a small shelf for a candle and Bible.
Outside of my home, I have two spaces for God that I go to regularly. One is what I call my "secret spot" or "sit spot." This spot is in nature. I go there every Monday for an hour or two at a minimum. I sit beneath a Sweet Gum tree, face north and gaze over a small pond. It is both a place of prayer and study. I have a routine or ceremony of prayer that I do each time that I go. I also take time to observe, meditate, wander and explore. Those Monday times are frequently my Sabbath.
My second space for God away from home is the chapel of a nearby hospital. Hospital chapels are great places to prayer. You can access them 24 hours a day, seldom anyone else comes in, they are extremely quiet, and no one would ever think to look for you there. Mine conveniently won't allow a cell phone signal. Most are small, sparse, reverent places of tasteful beauty. Check one out near you.
Lastly, the single most important feature of any space for God that you select will be convenience. If it takes you more than 5 minutes to get there, then consider a different spot. If you life is so frenzied that you can't find peace in your own home, then you probably don't have a luxury of time. The more convenient your spaces for God are the more likely you are to use them. My sit spot is right at five minutes from my home and I have a routine of going there at least weekly. The hospital chapel is perhaps three minutes at most and it is along my drive to and from work.
Seriously consider how you can physically make a space for God. We have whole rooms dedicated to sleeping, eating, preparing food, bathing and entertainment in our homes. Where does God fit? If you don't know then create something. Once again, simplicity and convenience are critical aspects of this important choice.
Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple as you seek to make space for God in your life.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Centering Prayer Basics
In a prior post I spoke about the value of learning to become still before God. The simplest prayer form that I have encountered for learning to do this is an old monastic prayer form called Centering Prayer. I first encountered centering prayer as a college student on a retreat at a trappist monastery during holy week. A Trappist monk Basil Pennington was there and each day he took time to center with us and talk to us about prayer. It was a rather formative experience. In short centering pray is as follows:
1) Select a word that has significant meaning for your relationship with God. It can be a favored name or expression for God such as, Jesus, Spirit, God, Yahweh, Lord, etc. or a word that helps you think of God such as, love or peace.
2) Get physically comfortable and still in a place where you will be neither interrupted or distracted.
3) Whenever your mind begins to wander gently return your attention to God by saying your centering word in your mind. Use the word only when you need to. Do not repeat it endlessly like and eastern mantra. Let go of any thoughts or feelings that try to push into your mind and simply set quietly before God.
4) After 20 minutes or so, conclude your time of centering with a short prayer of thanks or perhaps the Lord's prayer to transition your mind back out of your prayer time.
You can anticipate several normal responses initially. Most people struggle at first with maintain physical stillness. They fidget and re-position. They are annoyingly distracted by physical sensations like their nose itching or their hair touching their ear. This is not at all unusual and the solution is the same regardless of the distraction, simply and gently return you attention to your word.
As you become more comfortable with centering prayer, you will rapidly find that the physical discomforts and distractions become less of an issue. Internal thoughts will become more the problem. Day residue thoughts such as, thinking about a conversation or unfinished task will presence themselve with annoying persistence. Ideas will begin to flow or you may find yourself working through a problem. You will very likely find yourself thinking about how much time has past or wondering if you are doing what you are suppose to be doing. Just as you dismissed physical distractions with turning your attention to your word, so too can you dismiss the internal thought patterns.
You may find emotions welling up inside you after observing a centering practice regularly. I have had an overwhelming sense of fear before and others find themselves laughing or crying. It is as if the silence unmasks deeply held feelings. The Holy Spirit begins to touch deeper and deeper aspects of who you are in the silence. Once again, turn your attention to your centering word and return to an inner silence before God.
I recommend for anyone starting out that they spend approximately 20 minutes in prayer. Definitely not less. Most people need at first a good 15 minutes just to quiet their minds. I also recommend that most people practice centering prayer at least once a day for several weeks before giving up on it as a practice. You should give it at least 30 days practice before evaluating its value. I find that most people need a week or more of practice just to relax into the practice and get over thinking about what they are doing as they are doing it. Recently, I returned to practicing 20 minutes of centering prayer as part of praying one hour a day for 40 days. I prayed for ten days before I got to a place of being able to sit for twenty minutes without consulting my watch. So, give yourself time to adjust to this practice.
I would love to hear about your experiences and your questions. Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple.
1) Select a word that has significant meaning for your relationship with God. It can be a favored name or expression for God such as, Jesus, Spirit, God, Yahweh, Lord, etc. or a word that helps you think of God such as, love or peace.
2) Get physically comfortable and still in a place where you will be neither interrupted or distracted.
3) Whenever your mind begins to wander gently return your attention to God by saying your centering word in your mind. Use the word only when you need to. Do not repeat it endlessly like and eastern mantra. Let go of any thoughts or feelings that try to push into your mind and simply set quietly before God.
4) After 20 minutes or so, conclude your time of centering with a short prayer of thanks or perhaps the Lord's prayer to transition your mind back out of your prayer time.
You can anticipate several normal responses initially. Most people struggle at first with maintain physical stillness. They fidget and re-position. They are annoyingly distracted by physical sensations like their nose itching or their hair touching their ear. This is not at all unusual and the solution is the same regardless of the distraction, simply and gently return you attention to your word.
As you become more comfortable with centering prayer, you will rapidly find that the physical discomforts and distractions become less of an issue. Internal thoughts will become more the problem. Day residue thoughts such as, thinking about a conversation or unfinished task will presence themselve with annoying persistence. Ideas will begin to flow or you may find yourself working through a problem. You will very likely find yourself thinking about how much time has past or wondering if you are doing what you are suppose to be doing. Just as you dismissed physical distractions with turning your attention to your word, so too can you dismiss the internal thought patterns.
You may find emotions welling up inside you after observing a centering practice regularly. I have had an overwhelming sense of fear before and others find themselves laughing or crying. It is as if the silence unmasks deeply held feelings. The Holy Spirit begins to touch deeper and deeper aspects of who you are in the silence. Once again, turn your attention to your centering word and return to an inner silence before God.
I recommend for anyone starting out that they spend approximately 20 minutes in prayer. Definitely not less. Most people need at first a good 15 minutes just to quiet their minds. I also recommend that most people practice centering prayer at least once a day for several weeks before giving up on it as a practice. You should give it at least 30 days practice before evaluating its value. I find that most people need a week or more of practice just to relax into the practice and get over thinking about what they are doing as they are doing it. Recently, I returned to practicing 20 minutes of centering prayer as part of praying one hour a day for 40 days. I prayed for ten days before I got to a place of being able to sit for twenty minutes without consulting my watch. So, give yourself time to adjust to this practice.
I would love to hear about your experiences and your questions. Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
More on Fatigue
I had a "well duh!" moment the other day. This whole business of fatigue effecting people's ability to focus has brought sharply into view my lack of what I would call 'body holiness'. In short, honoring God through taking good care of the physical being he has given us. We are but stewards of even our bodies. My "well duh" moment was the realization of how much body holiness must actually matter to God. One the premiere commandments, the Sabbath, is God's way of helping us maintain a healthy rhythm of work and rest. Similarly, much of the early law was totally dietary and intended for our physical, mental, and spiritual being. If God takes time to instruct us so much around these issue, obviously they matter deeply to God. Well Duh! Blessings to you.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Focus, Fatigue and Prayer
Nearly a year ago I made my first post on this site and noted that two issues repeatedly are voiced by people regarding prayer: finding the time and being able to focus. Those two issues have been difficult hurdles for me during my Lenten journey. On those days when I have allowed the demands of life to shove my hour of prayer literally to the eleven hour, I have found myself torn between sleep and prayer. At times, I found myself nodding while speaking prayers out loud. I wonder if this is the experience the disciples had in the garden of Gethsemane moments before Jesus fateful arrest. His words to them come to me, "Couldn't you just sit with me one hour?" Apparently I can't always. I would like to say the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I think though the harsh reality is that the spirit is weak many hours earlier when what shouldn't be difficult choices are poorly made. The choice to stay up late watching some mindless movie the night before or the choice to process a few e-mails during a lunch break when I could get a short nap.
I am realizing just how intimately my spiritual and physical lives are one in the same. Last April I spoke about how using a prayer form can help you focus and offered an A.C.T.S. prayer as one simple model. A.C.T.S. stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. It's a great prayer form that can really expand your vocabulary and it can also help you focus...But...the best tool in the world is only marginally helpful if it is wielded by a fatigued operator. During Lent for half of my prayer time I use The Book of Common Worship. It's a clean clear structure for a well rounded time of prayer. It's a great guide but when weariness frequently settled upon me because I found myself still enough in prayer for it to grab me, my attentiveness would stagger. My mind would lumber about in awkward lurches from one thought, to no thought, to prayer and then back again in moments.
I now find myself after several weeks of experiencing this far too often, saying, "God, I love you too much to give you such a compromised gift of my attention." I find my internal dialogue shifting to, "I need to get to bed earlier tonight so I can pray more clearly and enjoy my time with You rather than fight for focus." And when I fail to get to bed early, I earnestly feel that I have failed in some way.
I yearn now for Jesus to be able to raise his head up in the garden and find me fervently in prayer for him and compassionately intertwined with the agony of his spirit, not removed and dozing. I hope for him to be able to look up at me and instead of saying, "Couldn't you stay awake with me for but one hour?", he says with light in his eyes and a fatherly pride in his voice, "Thank you for walking with me in this hour. You are servant with servant's heart." That will not happen though unless I seek first His kingdom.
To be continued...... because guess what. It's about 12:30 a.m. Wouldn't it be ironic if I lost sleep and found myself dragging tomorrow because I stayed up far too late writing about the need to get rest so we can give God our best. Nitey nite and blessings from The Practical Disciple
I am realizing just how intimately my spiritual and physical lives are one in the same. Last April I spoke about how using a prayer form can help you focus and offered an A.C.T.S. prayer as one simple model. A.C.T.S. stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. It's a great prayer form that can really expand your vocabulary and it can also help you focus...But...the best tool in the world is only marginally helpful if it is wielded by a fatigued operator. During Lent for half of my prayer time I use The Book of Common Worship. It's a clean clear structure for a well rounded time of prayer. It's a great guide but when weariness frequently settled upon me because I found myself still enough in prayer for it to grab me, my attentiveness would stagger. My mind would lumber about in awkward lurches from one thought, to no thought, to prayer and then back again in moments.
I now find myself after several weeks of experiencing this far too often, saying, "God, I love you too much to give you such a compromised gift of my attention." I find my internal dialogue shifting to, "I need to get to bed earlier tonight so I can pray more clearly and enjoy my time with You rather than fight for focus." And when I fail to get to bed early, I earnestly feel that I have failed in some way.
I yearn now for Jesus to be able to raise his head up in the garden and find me fervently in prayer for him and compassionately intertwined with the agony of his spirit, not removed and dozing. I hope for him to be able to look up at me and instead of saying, "Couldn't you stay awake with me for but one hour?", he says with light in his eyes and a fatherly pride in his voice, "Thank you for walking with me in this hour. You are servant with servant's heart." That will not happen though unless I seek first His kingdom.
To be continued...... because guess what. It's about 12:30 a.m. Wouldn't it be ironic if I lost sleep and found myself dragging tomorrow because I stayed up far too late writing about the need to get rest so we can give God our best. Nitey nite and blessings from The Practical Disciple
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Prayer Song-lines
I am an instructor for a non-profit school that teaches nature observation, tracking and wilderness skills. One key concern we have for people particularly new to wandering in the woods is making sure that they don't get lost. We teach several 'lost proofing' techniques. Among them is a technique in which you use a song-line to help you remember the landscape. As you walk along you identify land feature and weave a story out of those land features. For instance, you might see a very bent tree that reminds you of a little old man, and then a short distance to the east of it is a series of rocks that look like rabbits running away. So you might begin your song line, "There once was a little old man who one morning chased 5 bunnies into the sun-rise." Then you would just keep adding characters and events to the 'song'. The song becomes a map of sorts to get you back home.
A friend of mine is struggling with a form of prayer that has many pieces to it. He would like to internalize all of the parts so he doesn't need a written guide. He is going to work on creating a song line. In his imagination he will come up with a series of symbols for each of the parts of prayer and will link them together in a story line of sorts. The story line will help keep him focus ed in his prayers and allow him to wander in prayer, but not get lost in distraction. This is a great blending of some of the dynamics of vital prayer that I shared in my previous blog. Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple, John
p.s. Oh by the way. For those of you interested in the outdoors, the school I am an instructor for is The Ozark Tracker Society. You can learn more about it at www.ozarktrackers.org
A friend of mine is struggling with a form of prayer that has many pieces to it. He would like to internalize all of the parts so he doesn't need a written guide. He is going to work on creating a song line. In his imagination he will come up with a series of symbols for each of the parts of prayer and will link them together in a story line of sorts. The story line will help keep him focus ed in his prayers and allow him to wander in prayer, but not get lost in distraction. This is a great blending of some of the dynamics of vital prayer that I shared in my previous blog. Blessings to you from the Practical Disciple, John
p.s. Oh by the way. For those of you interested in the outdoors, the school I am an instructor for is The Ozark Tracker Society. You can learn more about it at www.ozarktrackers.org
Thursday, March 13, 2008
12 Powerful Prayer Aids
So what makes for powerful prayer? How come we pray about somethings and God's seems overwhelming responsive and other things appear all but ignored? There are no easy answers to this, but in order to have a vibrant pray life it helps to understand factors or patterns that seem to turn up the volume on our prayers. Here are 12 dynamics of prayer that I have recognized as playing some role in the authenticity and efficacy of our prayers.
1. Visualize what you pray for using all of your senses
2. When praying for enemies pray for their health and happiness or God's best for them and pray daily for at least two weeks.
3. Be specific with God, but open to however God may answer.
4. Compound Prayer. Do so by praying directly with other people, engaging more people to pray for you about something specific, or set up a vigil of continuous prayer.
5. Learn to be silent and still. In short, lose your mind and come to your senses regularly.
6. Enact your prayer/use symbols. This involves physically rehearsing, the spiritual reality of what is occurring. For example, writing out a confession to God and burning it as a symbolic way of letting go of a sin.
7. Use Triggers. Triggers are events or objects that can serve as prompts to get you to pray. For example, carrying a cross or small object in your pocket and lifting up short prayers for someone each time you bump into it or posting a prayer or prayer list in a prominent place to nudge you to pray.
8. Always give thanks for answered prayers. Gives thanks on your own to God in prayer and give thanks public for what God has done.
9. Identify tasks that our "unconscious competence" tasks that can also be times of prayer. i.e. praying while you fold laundry, knit, do dishes, cook, play music, or do arts. Activities that are rhythmic and slightly physically engaging of body and mind are ideal.
10. Create a form that you follow for your prayer time. Sometimes our method of prayer can be a catalyst to getting us into an open place before God.
11. Have a prayer space. This may be a particular chair you settle into to spend time with God, an outdoor favorite spot or a literal closet.
12. "Pump" prayer when praying for discernment. This involves consciously choosing to cycle between "pushing" and "releasing" or asking and then taking time to listen.
None of these things are some magical formula for successful prayers. They are just techniques that when utilized regularly can dramatically enhance our prayer life. I will begin unpacking some of these over the next few days. Blessing from the Practical Disciple, John
1. Visualize what you pray for using all of your senses
2. When praying for enemies pray for their health and happiness or God's best for them and pray daily for at least two weeks.
3. Be specific with God, but open to however God may answer.
4. Compound Prayer. Do so by praying directly with other people, engaging more people to pray for you about something specific, or set up a vigil of continuous prayer.
5. Learn to be silent and still. In short, lose your mind and come to your senses regularly.
6. Enact your prayer/use symbols. This involves physically rehearsing, the spiritual reality of what is occurring. For example, writing out a confession to God and burning it as a symbolic way of letting go of a sin.
7. Use Triggers. Triggers are events or objects that can serve as prompts to get you to pray. For example, carrying a cross or small object in your pocket and lifting up short prayers for someone each time you bump into it or posting a prayer or prayer list in a prominent place to nudge you to pray.
8. Always give thanks for answered prayers. Gives thanks on your own to God in prayer and give thanks public for what God has done.
9. Identify tasks that our "unconscious competence" tasks that can also be times of prayer. i.e. praying while you fold laundry, knit, do dishes, cook, play music, or do arts. Activities that are rhythmic and slightly physically engaging of body and mind are ideal.
10. Create a form that you follow for your prayer time. Sometimes our method of prayer can be a catalyst to getting us into an open place before God.
11. Have a prayer space. This may be a particular chair you settle into to spend time with God, an outdoor favorite spot or a literal closet.
12. "Pump" prayer when praying for discernment. This involves consciously choosing to cycle between "pushing" and "releasing" or asking and then taking time to listen.
None of these things are some magical formula for successful prayers. They are just techniques that when utilized regularly can dramatically enhance our prayer life. I will begin unpacking some of these over the next few days. Blessing from the Practical Disciple, John
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Build Intimacy with Adoration
Few things build intimacy in a relationship more quickly than telling someone, "I love you" and then letting them know why. This is equally true in our relationship with God. Most people have little or no problem offering thanks to God, but some seem to struggle with just adoring God for who God is. That was certainly my story until a couple of years ago. A shift for me occurred one day when I was reading Psalm 18. It offered me a pattern for adoring God. A pattern that was easy to apply.
First, David simply said to God, "I love You." Stop and think about how very simple that is, but when have you last given God a heart felt, "I love You!"
Then in the Psalm David spends a good bit of time just recognizing God for who God is. You can do this saying things like--"God you are my Rock, my Refuge, and my sure and certain hope. You are my friend, my provider, my Savior. You are everything to me. You are powerful and you are mighty. You are steadfast in your love and forgiving."
A third form of adoration you will find in Psalm 18, is simply recognizing what God has done. In your life it might look something like this--"God you have lifted me up when I was feeling hopeless. You have provided for me at every turn. Sometimes even before I realized my own need. You have given me a great family, a great job, and a wonderful church. God you have..."
It's that simple. "God I love you. You are.... and You have..."
Take some prayer time now and just adore God for who God is and what God has done in your life. Doing so brought a greater closeness and intimacy into my relationship with my Creator than I would have ever anticipated. Others who have tried this simple three-fold path of praise have reported similar results. Blessings to you.
First, David simply said to God, "I love You." Stop and think about how very simple that is, but when have you last given God a heart felt, "I love You!"
Then in the Psalm David spends a good bit of time just recognizing God for who God is. You can do this saying things like--"God you are my Rock, my Refuge, and my sure and certain hope. You are my friend, my provider, my Savior. You are everything to me. You are powerful and you are mighty. You are steadfast in your love and forgiving."
A third form of adoration you will find in Psalm 18, is simply recognizing what God has done. In your life it might look something like this--"God you have lifted me up when I was feeling hopeless. You have provided for me at every turn. Sometimes even before I realized my own need. You have given me a great family, a great job, and a wonderful church. God you have..."
It's that simple. "God I love you. You are.... and You have..."
Take some prayer time now and just adore God for who God is and what God has done in your life. Doing so brought a greater closeness and intimacy into my relationship with my Creator than I would have ever anticipated. Others who have tried this simple three-fold path of praise have reported similar results. Blessings to you.
Friday, March 7, 2008
When there are no words...
It's 12:48 a.m. as I write this. I have no words for prayer. A few hours ago I received an e-mail. A young man name Charlie died yesterday. He was 24. His mother, Peggy, is a friend of mine and a pastor. I pray for the family, but then words seems so hallow and inadequate. The loss, shock and sympathy I feel for my friend leaves me numb. I am bifurcated between pain and peace. Pain for my friend and her family. Pain for the 16 months of battling cancer. Pain for not being able to imagine losing my child. Peace because I know the family. Peace because I know they know God. Peace because Easter is coming. Peace because there is good news. Peace because in the stillness God moves. The Psalmist said, "Be still and Know that I am God." Perhaps, those words were for hours like these. When nearly 1:00 a.m. with news of loss feels like nearly eternity and where 24 years seems not nearly enough.
I light a candle and just sit in silence with God and let his peace quietly flow. 1:00 a.m. is a dark time, a quiet time, a lonely time, but the sun is coming. So I light a candle in the dark and wait in silence. Some times thats what you have to do. The darkness is at hand. The hour is lonely. Light a candle. Dawn is coming. Easter is coming. Wait with a lit candle in the darkness and know that God is God. My candle burns here for Peggy and her family. In a way, perhaps I am a candle in doing so.
In your prayers you can be a candle as well for those who are in the dark. You can be that bit of light pushing back the darkness until the dawn comes. Prayer for and with those in the dark. Light a candle. Be a candle.
Peace to you from within that deep dark that precedes the dawn,
The Practical Disciple, John
I light a candle and just sit in silence with God and let his peace quietly flow. 1:00 a.m. is a dark time, a quiet time, a lonely time, but the sun is coming. So I light a candle in the dark and wait in silence. Some times thats what you have to do. The darkness is at hand. The hour is lonely. Light a candle. Dawn is coming. Easter is coming. Wait with a lit candle in the darkness and know that God is God. My candle burns here for Peggy and her family. In a way, perhaps I am a candle in doing so.
In your prayers you can be a candle as well for those who are in the dark. You can be that bit of light pushing back the darkness until the dawn comes. Prayer for and with those in the dark. Light a candle. Be a candle.
Peace to you from within that deep dark that precedes the dawn,
The Practical Disciple, John
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Growth Progression in Prayer
Today in worship I shared with members of our church the story of one young man's progression of growth in prayer. Below is a very abbreviate description of the progression he experienced.
- Doubt---He began with doubt. Through listening to many stories on answered prayer his curiosity began to peak and he started to recognize God answering prayers.
- Curiosity/Exploration and Work--He then looked for tools and I offered to him an A.C.T.S. prayer as one guide to expand his prayer vocabulary. A.C.T.S. stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. He started practicing the ACTS prayer.
- Hitting Walls--As he started to grow spiritually, it created internal conflict. He experienced a painful period of questioning his faith tradition.
- Service--Once he reconciled the internal conflict he was experiencing, he found himself wanting to teach others to serve and prayer with his newly integrated knowledge.
- Leadership--Overtime he actually learned to exercise leadership in prayer.
- Wisdom--Through the practice of leadership he came to possess not just a depth of knowledge in prayer but the wisdom to rightly discern the need and use of prayer.
- Full integration--He eventually came to have a body felt sense of the spiritual. He could feel when people were praying for him. Or felt unrest when spiritually a situation was out of balance.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Remembering that Prayer is about God
A good friend shared with me a great prayer lesson. He said, "when I focus on God and not praying then it becomes so much easier. " It reminded me of a quote by Abraham Heschel, a jewish Rabbi, who said, "The focus of prayer is not prayer, but God." Sometimes, I forget this. When I started my one hour a day prayer discipline for Lent, I can honestly confess that I was more focused on getting the "task" of prayer done, than God. I think that much of this was symptomatic of the struggle of simply carving out an hour of time for prayer from my day. After I learned to do that I could settle more into prayer and really become focus on God and hearing God's voice.
Now at three weeks of practice, my perception is that I am somewhere in the midst of that transition. When I allow my prayer time to wind up being one hour at the end of the day, it is easy for it to feel like and become a task to be accomplished. That's really a dis-service to God. The danger here is that prayer could easily become a lifeless legalistic behavior. As I gain more insight into how to prevent that, I will share.
In the spirit of practical discipleship though I can't end this without at least one nugget of applicable help to prevent legalism. The first is--Vary your routine enough to keep from getting in a rut. A routine is a two-edged sword. On one side it helps you maintain consistency; yet on the other side you can easily become lulled into just going through motions. Varying your routine periodically will continually bring mindfulness to your actions.
Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple, John Arnold
Now at three weeks of practice, my perception is that I am somewhere in the midst of that transition. When I allow my prayer time to wind up being one hour at the end of the day, it is easy for it to feel like and become a task to be accomplished. That's really a dis-service to God. The danger here is that prayer could easily become a lifeless legalistic behavior. As I gain more insight into how to prevent that, I will share.
In the spirit of practical discipleship though I can't end this without at least one nugget of applicable help to prevent legalism. The first is--Vary your routine enough to keep from getting in a rut. A routine is a two-edged sword. On one side it helps you maintain consistency; yet on the other side you can easily become lulled into just going through motions. Varying your routine periodically will continually bring mindfulness to your actions.
Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple, John Arnold
Monday, February 25, 2008
Praying an Hour a Day --the effects at 2 1/2 weeks
I have been praying an hour a day since Lent began and am noticing some shifts in me. Here they are after two and a half weeks:
First, a growing ability to focus. When I first started praying an hour a day my attention wandered every where. Now I am getting more adept at letting go of distractions and really entering into a time with God. I spend 20 minutes of the hour in centering prayer which is a practice of sitting quietly before God and listening. Initially, I was opening my eyes and peeking at my watch nearly every five minutes. Three days ago I was so into praying that the first time I peeked I was at my 20 minute mark! Yeah God! Thanks for bringing me some peace.
Second, night restlessness is leaving me. I have perennially been unable able to relax at the end of the day. I lay down am restless. I used to have a car that would run on after I turned the engine off. It would make this sick shuddering effort to resist turning off. That's what I feel like at the end of the day, typically. I shudder on by reading, mindlessly channel surfing, or roaming the house trying to find something to do. Prayer has been the tune-up that is alleviating my run-on engine problem. I now come to the end of the day and am ready to go to sleep. It's not that I am more tired. Frankly, I am typically tired. I just don't have layered on the fatigue the same stress causing restlessness. An hour of prayer a day is slowly bring peace into my life and freeing me to sleep.
Third, praying more outside of my hour. I do my hour in thirty minute blocks, but now I pray more frequently in my daily activity. I pray when I am walking around, doing chores, driving my car, or some other task that doesn't require much mental attention. I have always done some of that on the fly praying, but I have really noticed an increase.
Fourth, an expanding prayer vocabulary and concern. During times of free prayer I use to sometimes feel at a loss for words. Sort of an, "Okay, now what?" feeling. More and more situations I can pray about seem to present or presence themselves.
Fifth, a growing desire for and love of prayer. I have to admit that when I began praying for an hour it felt like an insurmountable discipline to maintain daily. Now though I am looking forward to it and find that I am periodically running over. The other day I lost track of time in my 25-30 minute morning prayer routine and wound up praying for 40 minutes. Furthermore, I really missed my discipline when I didn't do it this past Sunday. In case, you are unaware, the 40 days of Lent don't include Sundays. Consequently, I fore go my discipline on Sunday.
Hope you will give praying an hour a day a try.
Peace from The Practical Disciple, John
First, a growing ability to focus. When I first started praying an hour a day my attention wandered every where. Now I am getting more adept at letting go of distractions and really entering into a time with God. I spend 20 minutes of the hour in centering prayer which is a practice of sitting quietly before God and listening. Initially, I was opening my eyes and peeking at my watch nearly every five minutes. Three days ago I was so into praying that the first time I peeked I was at my 20 minute mark! Yeah God! Thanks for bringing me some peace.
Second, night restlessness is leaving me. I have perennially been unable able to relax at the end of the day. I lay down am restless. I used to have a car that would run on after I turned the engine off. It would make this sick shuddering effort to resist turning off. That's what I feel like at the end of the day, typically. I shudder on by reading, mindlessly channel surfing, or roaming the house trying to find something to do. Prayer has been the tune-up that is alleviating my run-on engine problem. I now come to the end of the day and am ready to go to sleep. It's not that I am more tired. Frankly, I am typically tired. I just don't have layered on the fatigue the same stress causing restlessness. An hour of prayer a day is slowly bring peace into my life and freeing me to sleep.
Third, praying more outside of my hour. I do my hour in thirty minute blocks, but now I pray more frequently in my daily activity. I pray when I am walking around, doing chores, driving my car, or some other task that doesn't require much mental attention. I have always done some of that on the fly praying, but I have really noticed an increase.
Fourth, an expanding prayer vocabulary and concern. During times of free prayer I use to sometimes feel at a loss for words. Sort of an, "Okay, now what?" feeling. More and more situations I can pray about seem to present or presence themselves.
Fifth, a growing desire for and love of prayer. I have to admit that when I began praying for an hour it felt like an insurmountable discipline to maintain daily. Now though I am looking forward to it and find that I am periodically running over. The other day I lost track of time in my 25-30 minute morning prayer routine and wound up praying for 40 minutes. Furthermore, I really missed my discipline when I didn't do it this past Sunday. In case, you are unaware, the 40 days of Lent don't include Sundays. Consequently, I fore go my discipline on Sunday.
Hope you will give praying an hour a day a try.
Peace from The Practical Disciple, John
Praying an Hour a Day During Lent--Difficult but Doable
I love Lent and always try to take on a commitment that is going to have a transformative effect on me. This year I adopted praying one hour a day. This one hour at first was excruciatingly difficult to carve out. I have 2 kids, a spouse, a job, and volunteer a lot of hours. I am finding out though how to do it. For those of you interested in doing an hour a day or just expanding your prayer here are some lessons I have learned thus far:
1) Break it up. I pray a half hour early in the day. And then a half hour in the evening after everyone has gone to bed.
2) Have a plan and/or guide. For the first half hour I use a historic resource, the Book of Common Prayer. Basically, the morning prayer rite in that resource is a mini-worship service. It includes prayers, scriptures to reflect on, music, and more. The bottom line it gives me an orderly, concrete way to spend the half hour and this really helps me stay focused. My thoughts tend to leap about like drunken monkeys in my head, but having an order seems to pacify the monkeys or at least hold them at bay. The second half hour I spend in roughly 10 minutes of free prayer and 20 minutes of silently sitting before God in centering prayer. Centering prayer is an old monastic tradition.
3) Withdraw if necessary. Let's face it--staying focused is hard enough without the phone ringing, kid's yelling or the television blabbing in the background. Found a spot you can go to when your home is not an option. I pray at home in down times when either everyone is gone or asleep. For those times when I can't I drive a few minutes to a hospital nearby and use it's chapel. The cool thing about the chapel is that it's open 24/7 since it is in a hospital. Virtually noone ever comes in. I also have a sit spot in nature I go to to get away. Where can you go and not be interrupted.
4) Make it the priority. Two weeks into this exprayeriment I started to journal about the need to make prayer a higher priority. I stopped though because I had this epiphany that for me to be faithful to this for 40 days, it had to not be a priority competing with other but the priority. So, now it has become my highest priority and everything else must follow. This shift in attitude has really helped.
5) Never make an exception. No matter how tired I am, sick I feel, late it is, or whatever other lame rationalization I can cook up to avoid it, I spend my hour with God anyways.
Check out my next post to find out how spending an hour a day in prayer is effecting me.
1) Break it up. I pray a half hour early in the day. And then a half hour in the evening after everyone has gone to bed.
2) Have a plan and/or guide. For the first half hour I use a historic resource, the Book of Common Prayer. Basically, the morning prayer rite in that resource is a mini-worship service. It includes prayers, scriptures to reflect on, music, and more. The bottom line it gives me an orderly, concrete way to spend the half hour and this really helps me stay focused. My thoughts tend to leap about like drunken monkeys in my head, but having an order seems to pacify the monkeys or at least hold them at bay. The second half hour I spend in roughly 10 minutes of free prayer and 20 minutes of silently sitting before God in centering prayer. Centering prayer is an old monastic tradition.
3) Withdraw if necessary. Let's face it--staying focused is hard enough without the phone ringing, kid's yelling or the television blabbing in the background. Found a spot you can go to when your home is not an option. I pray at home in down times when either everyone is gone or asleep. For those times when I can't I drive a few minutes to a hospital nearby and use it's chapel. The cool thing about the chapel is that it's open 24/7 since it is in a hospital. Virtually noone ever comes in. I also have a sit spot in nature I go to to get away. Where can you go and not be interrupted.
4) Make it the priority. Two weeks into this exprayeriment I started to journal about the need to make prayer a higher priority. I stopped though because I had this epiphany that for me to be faithful to this for 40 days, it had to not be a priority competing with other but the priority. So, now it has become my highest priority and everything else must follow. This shift in attitude has really helped.
5) Never make an exception. No matter how tired I am, sick I feel, late it is, or whatever other lame rationalization I can cook up to avoid it, I spend my hour with God anyways.
Check out my next post to find out how spending an hour a day in prayer is effecting me.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Prayer problems
When I survey people about what is the hardest thing about prayer two core issues repeatedly come up: Finding the time, staying focused. There are a couple of ways to tackle finding the time. First off, let's own the reality that we find time for what's important to us. If you aren't finding time recognize to some degree it is a priority problem. Face it if you are to busy to pray...you are probably to busy. So, hey you may have to get rid of something. But before doing that try linking prayer to something that is already a routine for you. Link it to a meal, a commute, or something as simple as walking to and from your car whenever you get out. That's one place to start.
Another is to create a specific time and don't over look space for prayer. Commit for a couple of weeks to praying every day in a particular spot at a particular time. Over time, the spot becomes a trigger to help you get in a prayerful mindset. It also, gives you some privacy so that you can limit interruption and/or distractions.
I find that when I am really struggling for focus, I need something as a guide to physically pull me back into focusing. There are a host of guides out there as printed devotional guides or use a prayer model like A.C.T.S.--Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. A prayer guide not only gets you focused, but it also tends to expand your prayer vocabulary by prompting you to pray about people and issues you would never consider.
So if your struggling for time and focus these are just a few hints to get you started. Blessings!
Another is to create a specific time and don't over look space for prayer. Commit for a couple of weeks to praying every day in a particular spot at a particular time. Over time, the spot becomes a trigger to help you get in a prayerful mindset. It also, gives you some privacy so that you can limit interruption and/or distractions.
I find that when I am really struggling for focus, I need something as a guide to physically pull me back into focusing. There are a host of guides out there as printed devotional guides or use a prayer model like A.C.T.S.--Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. A prayer guide not only gets you focused, but it also tends to expand your prayer vocabulary by prompting you to pray about people and issues you would never consider.
So if your struggling for time and focus these are just a few hints to get you started. Blessings!
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