Journey Archives - Page 95 of 122

In my post of March 3 Prayer is the offering in spirit I shared the words of Tertullian, priest. I promised to share some thoughts – so here they are.

“God is a spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.” God is a spiritual being and so expects us to relate in the same manner. How we relate is through prayer! How we pray is up to us – whether we recite a prepared prayer (our own or one taught by the Church), whether we “shoot from the hip”, whether we contemplate, meditate or just sit silently in His presence. I don’t think God cares as much about how we relate as He does about whether we do it wholeheartedly. There are different levels of spiritual maturity and so not everyone will pray in the same manner. God’s ultimate desire is for us to be in right relationship with Him.

The first paragraph that touched me from Tertullian’s treatise was this one: since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and in truth, how can he deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read and hear and believe.

“Prayer offered in spirit in truth” – honest to goodness heartfelt pleas and praise – that’s what that means to me. To sit without thoughts or distractions, in His presence believing that He is listening and believing that He loves you unconditionally and has your best interests at heart. THAT is when prayer has the power – the power to comfort, strengthen and heal!

“How can he deny anything to this kind of prayer?” Isn’t that comforting? Our God is an awesome God. He loves us more than we can imagine. He answers the prayers we offer in spirit and truth.

“How great is the evidence of its power as we read, hear and believe” – I’ve believed in the power of prayer since I was a little girl – watching my mother pray fervently for so many things and seeing God take hold each and every time. She believed in a higher power and she was confident He would come through for her each time and He did. She never ceased praising Him, knowing that all good things come from Him.

Tertullian writes about how we’ve read, heard and believe in the evidence of its power. How true that is! So many books have been written about the power of prayer – the power of a praying wife, the power of a praying mother, the power ……..We’ve heard in many different circles of the power of prayer. Scripture itself tells us: where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. How awesome is that! I know I preach about the power of prayer every chance I get because I’ve experienced it myself, in the past and just recently. But it’s not enough to just read and hear about it. We MUST believe in its power. Colossians 4:2 tells us: devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. If you have any doubt about the power of prayer, I would recommend you keep a prayer journal. Write your prayers in the journal each day and check back every once in a while to see HOW those prayers have been answered. I can guarantee you will doubt no more and your awareness of God’s goodness and grace will increase. It will change your life! You may have to keep a gratitude journal as well!

As I look back on my life and the prayers I’ve offered in spirit and truth, I realize how much God has heard and answered the prayers I’ve offered earnestly and wholeheartedly for others and in communion with others! Never underestimate the power of prayer! God bless you!

Familiarity breeds contempt – knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it. We’ve all heard this idiom but have we ever actually applied it to our own lives? Similar to bible verses we’ve read and heard several times – we’ve all heard them, we’ve read them, we’ve had them explained to us, but have we sat down and attempted to decipher what they mean for us personally. How can we apply this idiom to our own lives?

EVERYTHING we experience in life serves to transform us – not just suffering and pain but what we read, what we’ve studied, where we work, where we live, who we befriend, where we travel, etc. All these things play an important part in our spiritual development and maturity. Unfortunately, many of us miss the opportunity to develop and mature spiritually because we are too busy to think deeply or listen intently. Sometimes I find myself reading something or thinking of something and then pushing it aside because I’m busy at that particular moment – I don’t have the few minutes I think it takes to really “get into it”. Unfortunately, I never get back to that reading or thought. In that moment of busy-ness I have lost the opportunity to grow, to learn, to transform. However, when I take the time to delve deeper, I feel enlightened, I learn new things about myself and my heart expands.

I recently began to think about the idiom familiarity breeds contempt when I moved to my new home. I remember driving up to meet with the realtor two weekends in a row and I was so excited to be driving through the mountains, seeing such natural beauty, driving up to the log cabin that would soon be my own and thinking to myself “wow!” but immediately something inside me said “when this place becomes familiar it will lose the wow factor for you.” An “aha” moment for sure and I vowed not to let that happen. I realized that was exactly what the idiom meant – when things are “new” – our cars, our homes, our relationships – we are so excited about the unfamiliar, yet once those things become familiar – we start to lose interest or we begin to take it all for granted. We begin to lose sight of what attracted us to all these things in the first place. So how do we turn this idiom on its face? We contemplate what the french writer Marcel Proust once said – the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in seeing with new eyes. We must set an intention to re-focus our eyes and attention back to what attracted us in the first place, reminding ourselves that what is most necessary is a change of mind as opposed to a change of “scenery.” I catch myself sometimes walking up my driveway with the garbage can, not even paying much attention to the house I fell in love with two and a half years ago. It is then that I stop and close my eyes, take a deep breath and put myself back in the “wow” space. The same holds true for God’s creation. How many people walk around without taking notice of the trees that play an integral part in our survival or the beautiful varieties of birds and their morning songs or the awesome night sky. Have you ever put much thought into how your body works or how the universe operates like clockwork? Is it all too familiar? Do you just expect that everything will go according to plan?

As you know, I love to share songs that have depth of meaning. So here is one that helps keep me grounded, that helps me to constantly see familiar things with new eyes. I hope it does the same for you. Enjoy! God bless you!