There is something that I struggle with as I pursue my walk with God and that is prayer/meditation time and time reading. I think that it is less of a problem and more of a discipline though. I’m reading a book called ’Practicing God’s Presence’ that is a short glimpse into a monk from the mid 1600’s named Brother Lawrence. I’m only a little ways into it but I was totally challenged immediately by this uneducated simple man. Brother Lawrence made his purpose in life to serve God and in doing so hungered for a constant communication with God. This would be like constant prayer or meditation while going about your constant day to day duties. It’s amazing the joy and love that he felt from this!
In my day to day life I could only hope and pray for such a bond. I think that it comes from that daily surrender and discipline of talking with God. It’s like that country song where the kid is always imitating his father and the father sees the son praying like he’s talking to a good friend. The father asks where he learned to pray like that and his son says from watching him. I want to pray like that. I want to have that love and bond with God. This goes for anybody though. There is some sort of prayer or meditation in every faith that I know of and the end result is almost the same in all of them.
My question to you is this....what part does prayer or meditation have on your life? Is that the the part that you want it to have? Please feel free to add anything that you want or ask questions...I might even have a good answer.
Be blessed
Caleb
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4 comments:
Prayer is a tough one. Its clearly essential but man do I struggle with it a lot of the time. I actually find it hard to start praying most of the time. I think this has to do with two things.
1. I feel unworthy to address the King of kings and Lord of lords like some friend from my school days. I know what I'm really like, and even though I am forgiven, it still seems presumptuous to address God.
2. I'd feel more comfortable with a specific form or structure of prayer. Not that I want my prayer content to be defined for me but it just feels easier to get going that way.
What I do find is that the best approach for me is to pray for others first. I may be unworthy of all manner of things but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to bring those I know and love before God's throne. Once that's up and running, I'm already 20 minutes in and we're all good.
Other thing about prayer is that I feel that, for me at least, it's too much talking and not enough listening. Of course, I'm not sure how to listen but I don't imagine that one way communication is quite what it's meant to be about.
BTW I found you by searching on "This Present Darkness" under books. I'm interested to see where you go with this.
Hey! I wanted to comment on this because I think it's an important thing, but I really felt like I had nothing to say. Actually, the thoughts going through my head when I read it were more along the lines of "God, how could I say anything about prayer... I know I don't do it enough and a lot of the time I feel like I'm talking to myself."
I think my biggest struggle is that I think it needs to be this eloquent and obviously powerful thing... like tongues of fire falling from the sky and mountains moving into the sea... I've never experienced either of those though.... I did have a dream about praying though. about 5 years ago. It's the first dream that I felt was from the Lord, and to this day it is burned into my memory so vividly:
I was walking with the people I went to indonesia with. We were walking in an area where there were trees, but it was on a very high bluff overlooking the ocean. as we walked, the trees grew more and more sparse. We met a man coming the opposite direction and he stopped to talk to us. He seemed very nice and friendly, but while he was talking to us he looked at me and I saw his face chance. For a second his face was red and he had horns. Imagine the classic scary demon face and you'll get a good idea of what he looked like. I knew in that instant that he was Satan, but nobody else saw his face change. He continued to talk and smile, occasionally looking at me. He knew what I had seen and he knew that I was scared. He told one of the guys on the team that he wanted to show him something near the edge of the cliff. By this time it was just the two of them and me. they walked to the edge and I trailed behind, for some reason keeping my distance from them. I wound up at the edge of the bluff about 50 feet away from them. were maybe 200-300 feet above the water and the waves were crashing on the rocky shore below. The scary man (well, satan) then tried to push my friend over the edge of the cliff. He didn't fall, but caught ahold of some roots that were growing out of the ground. The man's face changed and my friendwas able to see his true identity. Satan began to taunt my friend and I didn't know what to do, so I began to pray. As I started to pray, the clouds on the horizon got dark, and started moving toward the shore. Satan looked at me and his taunting got louder. The clouds moved closer. I began to pray louder and the wind began to blow. I felt that the spirit of the Lord was moving and that the clouds and wind were on my side. The wind steadily blew harder, and the clouds moved over us. I was yelling out my prayer but the wind was so strong that I couldn't hear myself. All of a sudden huge bolts of lightening came down from the sky and into the ocean, followed immediately by loud claps of thunder. Satan looked at me again, but this time there was fear in his face. The lightening and thunder came again and Satan ran away in fear. I ran to help my friend up and by the time I pulled him up, the sky had cleared and the dream was over.
I don't know much about prayer, but ever since this dream, I have believed firmly that there is something supernaturally powerful about prayer...
Any thoughts?
Don't be jealous about the dream... It's not common. I think the reason I remember it so well is because it was the first time I had experienced something like that. I can't recall a dream that has been that moving any other time in my life. You know, I was reading what you wrote and it seems that it's all kinda interconnected. Prayer, faith, God using our weakness to make us more like him.
Sean McMasters always walked when we prayed. He couldn't focus unless he was doing something... You reminded me of that when you were talking about praying on your bike.
You'll see miracles, Caleb. I think we probably see them every day, we just don't always realize it. If they're all connected to one another it's bound to happen eventually. The fact that you are where you are, goin' for Jesus, is a miracle. Like a glimpse of the kingdom to come.
ok.. I'm getting sleepy and I think my thoughts are getting all disjointed... and I have to finish some homework. nighty night
Oh my gosh, i love brother lawrence!! i think i've read that book 5-6 times. it is so simple, but so profound. amazing that a french monk/cook from the 17th century has such relevance for today, isn't it?? the truth never changes, does it? :o)
looks like i'm working my way backwards on your blog ... ;o)
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