First Love Never Dies: Fact!

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Exerts from the Prayers of Kierkegaard

The point that struck me most about this author is how earnest he is about the love of God. He stresses that God is unchanging. More precisely how God is unchangeable in love!

He stresses that God first loved us long before we had the opportunity to love him back. Not only once, but on a continuing basis God chooses to love us first. Throughout our lives, noticing the our needs and the things that happen to us. Our response is to turn to him in prayer.



This started me thinking in all kinds of directions:

Rembrandt - The Return of the Prodigal Son 1668

 I thought we as Christians talk of "returning our first love" which I because I have never really thought about it I interpreted as that heady feeling when you are first saved. Which is more closely linked to Eros love. That as most of us are aware passes. Striving to return to that feeling does not seem to work. What if..... returning to our first love actually meant returning to God the Father who loved us first. That is an action of acknowledging  and enjoying the Father Heart of God. That is Agape love which is quite different from Eros love. Deep never ending, undying, all consuming love.

As I began to look at the process I am engaged in; weekly going through these exercises. I began to think as I follow the theme weekly "I need to join the dots". This is a process of spiritual formation, so it is about practical change in who I am and how I engage with my Heavenly Father on a daily basis. I realised that each week I need to looking for the connections with the previous week. How each week has it changed my prayer practice.

If I take the concept of God loved us first, then I am able to view the practice of silence as a place to soak in that "first love" while I continue to listen. Even if I don't feel I am necessarily hearing anything, I know I am surrounded by the Father's love and that is enough.

Thanksgiving as my first act of prayer after silence makes so much sense because it is the most obvious and appropriate response to the Agape love that surrounds me. These revelations are changing my prayer life week by week as each built revelation bolts into the next.

Think about what this may mean for you.

Until next week Paul

A Voice of Experience

George Buttrick (1892-1980)
Excerpts from Prayer

George starts with an interesting statement about prayer "There can be no rules, certainly no binding rules but only hints."

Jesus himself is the teacher. Prayer is itself is friendship with God. Friendship is not formal but it is not formless; it has its cultivation, its behaviour, its obligation and even its disciplines; and the casual mind kills it.

I find the friendship and prayer comparison an interesting analogy. Especially where it says the casual mind kills it. In an age where anything goes in many cases  it is interesting to think that this liberty will be counterproductive if not dangerous to prayer and friendship.  Focus will bring results!

The first hint is that prayer begins with Silent self preparation. After my efforts working with silence I find it great to see that this is an area that is going to valuable with George's suggestions. Putting aside the cares of the day and focussing on God. George goes on to make an interesting statement We prepare by saying to ourselves Whatever we ask in the "nature of Christ" is granted only in our earnestness in prayer and life.

Interestingly since I been brought through on The ACTS  prayer method Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication. George's first stage is Thanksgiving,   which so resonates we with me. So much more than doing it third. This is going to bring me life! He states that we need to call to mind the joys of the journey!  He goes on to say that we should be quite specific! If  we are thankful for everything we are thankful for nothing! This so fits for me I can really get that statement. What a thankful grateful life we can lead, if we will but focus.

Prayer may next become confession. Wisely he states that over conscientiousness becomes morbid and under contentiousness becomes  indifference and decay. The wise prayer of confession always leads to the acceptance of God's pardon... God does not wish us to remember, but as a reminder of our dependence on him, for he is willing to forget anything. Therefore so should I!!

Then may follow a prayer of intercession without which the most earnest prayer will seek into selfishness. He says that this is not done as a blanket statements but genuine love sees faces not a mass. God called each of us by name each of us need to intercede the same way. He also suggest we need to pray for those who hurt us and use us. Lest I become bitter.

Lastly comes petition after all that has gone before. Because we have less to fear from a selfish mind with all the activity that that has gone before. He finally states that intervals of these four should be filled by meditation.

This set of suggestions excites me, I am going to give it a go. I have found ACTS difficult to maintain because it never felt natural. I will also intersperse " silence" as the meditation.   If you do want to give this ago, I would very interested in how it works on how it works for you. So if you can communicate on Facebook with ne. I hope we can share some dialogue.  

I must keep in focus the point of this whole exercise for a year is spiritual formation! So if this doesn't transform my spiritual practice then I have missed the point.

The world needs more listening ears!

Henri J. M. Nouwen 1932 - 1996: "From All things New"

 

This is such a blessing to me, Henri Nouwen is one of my favourite Christian authors. This is not just because of the quality of his writings, but the life choices he made to follow God's leading. He was prepared to share his doubts and his struggles.  A world class Professor from Yale School of Divinity who left the academic world to pastor a community of disabled people in Canada.

His simple statement about prayer is LISTEN!!

 
 


He starts by using the story of Elijah in the cave and the still small voice of God (1 Kings 19:9-13)We must become attentive to the still small voice and be willing to respond when we hear it. He makes some interesting linguistic statements that I find intriguing The first one is that the word absurd comes from the Latin word for deaf. Curiously the word obedient is derived  from the Latin root word for listening. This shows me the simple basis for us needing to listen more in prayer.


We are so busy talking when we pray that we forget to listen. When we don't listen, we don't hear what we need for need for guidance. When we ask a question of God, it would seem to be logical to be quiet, so we can hear the answer. The old adage of "we have two ears and one mouth therefore I should listen twice as much as I speak", would seem to be very applicable to prayer. This leads us into the need for two commodities that can be in short supply in our present culture: Silence and Solitude.



This can be  an uncomfortable place, a space, where all sorts of thoughts cascade in on us, from all parts of daily life. Some suggesting why we shouldn't bother with silence and solitude. A friend  of mine  many years ago suggested having a pad next to us when we pray, writing down anything that is a worthwhile reminder and then move back to the silence. Henri suggests starting small, 5-10 minutes a day. You will be able to enjoy the silence better, the more you practice. One thing that stuck me about this practice (which I have started on many occasions, not always successfully) is that  it switches the control from me to God. When I stop talking in prayer, I give the leadership back to God. What does he want to do with this time of prayer? What does he want to say to me? In our very noisy world it can take quite a bit practice to feel comfortable in solitude and silence.

There would seem to me to be a place for all the prayer tools; my every 20 minute prayer for 1 minute is going quite well. I am feeling quite satisfied by the process. I am praying with much more intensity in my 1 minute bursts as I stretch my damaged shoulder. It is raising my awareness of the need to prayer in all situations that I find myself in.

The need to listen to become more obedient is a new slant. I have only ever tried silent listening prayer because it was supposed to be the right thing to do............... If  however I listen to be more obedient that becomes a vastly different drive to persevere through the uncomfortable stage that I have struggled with in the past. This maybe the key that I have lacked. Maybe as my other blog says I will learn to hear the voice of Truth more clearly and therefore trust more.

I simply need to shut the door of the study and switch off the music and begin to listen. Sounds easy doesn't it! I will see how it goes.

Until next time.

Paul

p.s. God just dropped this thought,  just before  publishing:
" It is not the doing that separates Mary and Martha it is the desire and ability to listen."
 I need to think about that a little bit more!

No greater intimacy.

This weeks author is Douglas V. Steere who wrote Prayer and Worship. A Quaker and scholar who spent most of his life as Philosophy Professor at Hartford University. he died at the age of 94 in 1995.

 Douglas had much to say about prayer. However it was one short segment that intrigued me.



"There is no greater intimacy with another than that is which is built through holding him or her up in prayer."

It was the statement "No greater intimacy" that started me thinking. Wow to be able to deepen and enhance our feelings in the natural or to circumnavigate our negative feelings to bring change in someone's life.

What could that look like.

• Praying for a beloved spouse.
• Praying for ones adult children to maintain a level of intimacy even when they a not consistently physically present in your life.
•  Praying for estranged family members.
• Praying for struggling marriage.
• Praying for aging parents.
• Praying for those we find difficult to deal with

I am sure there are more examples. These add  to the things that we can do  in the natural to improve, maintain and enhance relationships. As we begin to pray deeply and consistently into our situation, it will change relationships for the better, no matter how good or how bad it is! I believe  it will just take time and commitment.

 

As we reach out our hands in the spiritual realm change begins to happen.

Oswald Chambers said My Utmost for His highest.

I believe that  My utmost for His highest can become my utmost for their highest as well.

 

 

I also the one who will benefit most out of this will probably be the one who is praying.

 

I am going to continue to work at this with my 20 minute praying intervals. I am not always able to be consistent with my commitments and meetings at work, but I feel it is working for me. Reach out your spiritual hand to someone this week.

 

Until next week.