Now, clearly, there is nothing wrong with this kind of prayer -- in fact, it is often this very prayer that brings us into the Presence of God and to recognition that He is there to supply what we so desperately need. It was this kind of prayer that animated people in Jesus' day to come to Him, and once they had met Him, then they could recline on the mountainside to listen to His Sermon on the Mount or His other teachings.
But once we have met God, or once He has met us in our direst need, prayer becomes, in the words of Teresa of Avila, "loving discourse with One who we know loves us." Mary told the visionaries at Medjugore, "Pray until prayer becomes joy for you."
If prayer would be "joy" for us -- and indeed, it is, more satisfying than our daily bread -- then we need to acknowledge Who it is we are praying to. Many people never get beyond the vague term "O God...." But Who is this Person we address as "God?" Who is the "God" to Whom we pray?
One of the best and most satisfying prayers has nothing to do with requests; rather, it is a loving and peaceful catalog -- I hesitate to say "list" -- of the terms that apply to our God: O Truth! O Loving Kindness! O Mercy and Justice! O Bending Ear to the cry of the poor! O Compassion for those who have lost their way! Blessed is the One who has stooped down to free my feet from the snare! O my shield and my very great Reward! Blessed is He who has drawn me from deep waters and rescued me from the enemy too strong for me! Blessed are You who brought me out into a spacious place and enabled me to stand upon the heights! You have armed me with strength, and broadened the path before me so that my ankles do not turn! (Ps. 18).
If anyone does not know where to begin with this kind of prayer, I suggest Psalm 18, not just 'read,' but prayed, slowly and meditatively. You might notice that in the praises above, there was a shift, almost without my realizing it, from 3rd Person to 2nd Person. This is the same shift that takes place in the 23rd Psalm: The Psalmist begins by saying who the Lord is -- his shepherd: "He makes me to lie down in green pastures...He restores my soul." The writer speaks of his God in the 3rd Person. However, within just a few verses, he shifts to the Second Person: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me....You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
This is the natural progression from praise to thanksgiving, adoration, worship. We do not even notice we have made the shift from talking about God to talking to Him, from describing Who He is to us to thanking Him for Being Who He is to us! The meditation for Feb. 2 in Jesus Calling says this: Seek My Face, speak to Me, and I will light up your mind! When our prayer is seeking the Face of God, miraculous things happen!
This is why God wants us to praise Him -- not because He is greedy for our praise, but so that He can become for us all that He desires for us. If we do not know Him as "Shepherd," "Shield," "Reward," "Strength," "Goodness and Mercy," "Truth" and "Kindness" -- then He will not be those things for us. If we will not read Scripture, we will not have the words and phrases to know God; we will be limited in our prayer life to what other people have told us -- and often, their ideas are not God at all, but only their ideas of God. Of course, once we have encountered Him for ourselves, as did Moses, Joshua, the judges of Israel and the prophets, as did the saints -- then, we no longer need "a man [to] teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord (Jer. 31:34).
I leave today with the reflection from Jesus Calling, which I think can be applied to the different kinds of prayer:
I am renewing your mind! When your thoughts flow freely, they tend to move toward problems. Your focus gets snagged on a given problem, circling round and round it in attempts to gain mastery. Your energy is drained away from other matters through this negative focus. Worst of all, you lose sight of Me.
A renewed mind is Presence-focused. Train your mind to seek Me in every moment, every situation. Sometimes you can find Me in your surroundings: a lilting birdsong, a loved one's smile, golden sunlight. At other times, you must draw inward to find Me. I am always present in your spirit. Seek My Face, speak to Me, and I will light up your mind.
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