Hey Happy St. Patrick's; a day late I know but enjoy the bank Holiday if you're off.
We continued the conversation on prayer this morning and I'm learning so much from this series. The one thought I'd like to leave with you this week is that prayer is not about our articulation with God its more about the posture of our hearts.
When we orientate our hearts towards God we embrace the Character and person of God the Father.
When we are kids we usually start with bless mum & dad extending the circle to Grand parents, to aunts and uncles and the circle goes out all the time. The strange thing is that the older we get the circle draws inwards.
What if we have missed our most important conversations with God because we are stuck in the 'me vacuum'? Back to the posture of prayer, if we are orientated towards God the Father then maybe we should catch that He is inclusive to others.
What does your communication with the Father sound like, is it me and mine or do you widen the circle to include others?
6 comments:
You said,
'prayer is not about our articulation with God its more about the posture of our hearts.
When we orientate our hearts towards God we embrace the Character and person of God the Father.'
I think that I know what you mean by this but can't be sure because the of the jargon. Not too sure I agree because surely prayer is talking to God, and what comes out my mouth is from my heart, whether I know it or not, and what's in my heart is determined by my character, not God's. Are you saying that if I'm only praying about me and my needs that I should be working on my character so that it's more like Gods? That sounds like a Job!!!
What I meant was that prayer is not so much about how many words we use or how we use them but more about our approach to God.
Jesus taught us in Mt 6 how we should pray to God, we come to God the Father (intimacy), we hallow His name (wonder and awe) we pray 'Your Kingdom come' (surrender)...you get the drift.
It's about catching God's heart and also allowing Him to initiate the conversation. Prayer is about you and God but its also about widening the circle to pray for others; If we catch Gods heart and charcter we will pray for others.
Love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
Ok that works. Thanks for explaining.
I get what you are saying about the circle narrowing and needing to be wider. Gods heart is big enough so that everyone can be included but mine isnt. How do I know where to start and perhaps more importantly stop so that the widened circle doesnt just end up as a list of people to pray for and another box to tick?
I think one of the best ways to avoid the 'me vacuum' and ticking the box prayer times is that we practice the presence of God.
Living in God's presence is enjoying life here on earth and at the same time drawing from heavens resource to live life to the full.
"Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
Thanks - I think i get what you mean but that sounds a lot easier said than done. Do you think the practise bit is the key to that sort of living becoming a reality?
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