When "Thank You" is not Enough

Those who do not know God are those who refuse to turn to Him.  (Bernard of Clairvaux)

In my last entry, I recommended, before anything else, addressing the God to whom we are praying:  O Wisdom! O Truth! O Holiness and Goodness!  Mercy and Kindness! Justice! The One Who sees me! The One Who hears me!  If we do not yet know God the Father, we can address our prayer to Jesus Christ, Who comes to reveal to us Who God Is.  Our destiny is to know intimately the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ -- the One of Whom He spoke when He said, "The Father and I are One."  Once we begin to address Jesus -- and we have the words of Scripture to help us in our weakness -- we enter into the Presence of God:  You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  You are the Good Shepherd!  You are the Son of the Living God!  You are the Word of God made flesh!  You will never reject those who come to You!

Entering into the Presence of God, we stand silent.  Ultimately, the only thing we can say is "Thank You," and it is not enough.  When we finally see Who God Is, Who He has been to us all the days of our lives, our gratitude cannot be expressed.  We are mute before Him.  And that is really the best prayer of all.  When we try to say what is on our hearts, words fail us.  But how necessary it is for us to remember all that God has done for us!  Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior!  ....for He has done great things for me!" 

The Psalms both teach us to recall the great things God has done for us, and at the same time remind us of the dangers of forgetting His deeds toward us.  Psalm 106 is worth studying for its progression or slide into idolatry -- just by failing to remember what God has done.  In the margin of my Bible, I once made a list of the results of forgetting what God has done:  They forgot what God had done; they gave in to craving and grew envious; they worshipped idols, and despised His inheritance.  They did not believe His promise, and grumbled in their tents.  They did not obey the Lord, and yoked themselves to Baal, sacrificing to lifeless gods.  (There is a parallel list in Romans, chapter 1, for those who are interested.)

The next "great step" in prayer is to recall all that God has done for us.  And here we have Psalm 103 to guide our thinking and our prayer.  The Psalmist is addressing his own soul in this Psalm -- that is, he is speaking to his mind and his emotions:  Praise the Lord, O my soul; and all my inmost being, praise His holy name.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Reading this psalm in two translations should take us directly into profound prayer, especially if we can remain in David's mindset of speaking to our own mind and heart:  He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases; He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.  He satisfies your desires with good thing, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  If these words do not lead us into praise, thanksgiving, and worship, we are hard indeed!

And that brings me into another great help to prayer:  the words of Scripture.  They are there for us; we fail to use them daily.  Once we have created a 'sacred space,' a place to pray, once we have entered into the Presence of God by acknowledging Who He Is, the Scriptures will lead us deeper into prayer.  The Holy Spirit hovers over all our reading and study, to bring the words to life for us. The Word of God is our great Teacher and Mentor in prayer.  It gives us words beyond our own; it teaches us the ways of God; it ministers life to our dead souls.  Every prayer space needs a bible close at hand -- even if the one praying does not yet read the bible. 

St. Augustine was wrestling in spirit and in truth with the great truths of Scripture as taught to him by Ambrose.  But he could not bring himself to submit his life and his treasures to what he knew to be true.  And he heard a child singing, "Take and read; take and read."  Fortunately, he had the Scriptures close at hand.  Picking up the scroll, he read the words which changed his life:  "Put on Christ Jesus, and make no provision for the lusts of the flesh."  Now the word of God does not only "say" truth, but it carries within itself the power to do truth.  In that moment, Augustine received the grace to finally do what the Word said.  And the same is true of us.  If the Scripture is near at hand during our time of prayer, the Holy Spirit will direct not only our reading, but our response to the sacred words -- and we will finally bow our heads, our hearts, our minds, and our wills to the Word. 

When "Thank You" is not Enough

Those who do not know God are those who refuse to turn to Him.  (Bernard of Clairvaux)

In my last entry, I recommended, before anything else, addressing the God to whom we are praying:  O Wisdom! O Truth! O Holiness and Goodness!  Mercy and Kindness! Justice! The One Who sees me! The One Who hears me!  If we do not yet know God the Father, we can address our prayer to Jesus Christ, Who comes to reveal to us Who God Is.  Our destiny is to know intimately the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ -- the One of Whom He spoke when He said, "The Father and I are One."  Once we begin to address Jesus -- and we have the words of Scripture to help us in our weakness -- we enter into the Presence of God:  You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  You are the Good Shepherd!  You are the Son of the Living God!  You are the Word of God made flesh!  You will never reject those who come to You!

Entering into the Presence of God, we stand silent.  Ultimately, the only thing we can say is "Thank You," and it is not enough.  When we finally see Who God Is, Who He has been to us all the days of our lives, our gratitude cannot be expressed.  We are mute before Him.  And that is really the best prayer of all.  When we try to say what is on our hearts, words fail us.  But how necessary it is for us to remember all that God has done for us!  Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior!  ....for He has done great things for me!" 

The Psalms both teach us to recall the great things God has done for us, and at the same time remind us of the dangers of forgetting His deeds toward us.  Psalm 106 is worth studying for its progression or slide into idolatry -- just by failing to remember what God has done.  In the margin of my Bible, I once made a list of the results of forgetting what God has done:  They forgot what God had done; they gave in to craving and grew envious; they worshipped idols, and despised His inheritance.  They did not believe His promise, and grumbled in their tents.  They did not obey the Lord, and yoked themselves to Baal, sacrificing to lifeless gods.  (There is a parallel list in Romans, chapter 1, for those who are interested.)

The next "great step" in prayer is to recall all that God has done for us.  And here we have Psalm 103 to guide our thinking and our prayer.  The Psalmist is addressing his own soul in this Psalm -- that is, he is speaking to his mind and his emotions:  Praise the Lord, O my soul; and all my inmost being, praise His holy name.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Reading this psalm in two translations should take us directly into profound prayer, especially if we can remain in David's mindset of speaking to our own mind and heart:  He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases; He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.  He satisfies your desires with good thing, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  If these words do not lead us into praise, thanksgiving, and worship, we are hard indeed!

And that brings me into another great help to prayer:  the words of Scripture.  They are there for us; we fail to use them daily.  Once we have created a 'sacred space,' a place to pray, once we have entered into the Presence of God by acknowledging Who He Is, the Scriptures will lead us deeper into prayer.  The Holy Spirit hovers over all our reading and study, to bring the words to life for us. The Word of God is our great Teacher and Mentor in prayer.  It gives us words beyond our own; it teaches us the ways of God; it ministers life to our dead souls.  Every prayer space needs a bible close at hand -- even if the one praying does not yet read the bible. 

St. Augustine was wrestling in spirit and in truth with the great truths of Scripture as taught to him by Ambrose.  But he could not bring himself to submit his life and his treasures to what he knew to be true.  And he heard a child singing, "Take and read; take and read."  Fortunately, he had the Scriptures close at hand.  Picking up the scroll, he read the words which changed his life:  "Put on Christ Jesus, and make no provision for the lusts of the flesh."  Now the word of God does not only "say" truth, but it carries within itself the power to do truth.  In that moment, Augustine received the grace to finally do what the Word said.  And the same is true of us.  If the Scripture is near at hand during our time of prayer, the Holy Spirit will direct not only our reading, but our response to the sacred words -- and we will finally bow our heads, our hearts, our minds, and our wills to the Word. 

Entering into the Presence of God -- 3

As I read over what has gone before, I get discouraged, realizing that once again, I am trying to reduce prayer to a "How-to" formula.  And yet I know that everything begins with the move of the Holy Spirit.  He alone draws us into prayer, makes Jesus real to us, and reveals all that He wants to give us.  And yet, Scripture (in James, I think) says, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."  I think that is about all we can do if we want to pray well -- draw near to God and wait.

One of the Psalms says, "Enter His courts with praise and thanksgiving."  I think that is wonderful advice.  I have found that praise does draw us into the Presence of God, leaving all else behind except Him.  The problem is that, until we are instructed by the Holy Spirit, praise does not come easily to us.  Because we are by nature sinners, and self-absorbed, it seems difficult for us to really praise God, and when we make the attempt, it feels fake.  But that is only because we have not developed the habit of praise; it feels as if we have put on someone else's shoes and are trying to walk in them. 

In Advent each year, the church presents to us the ancient "O antiphons:" O Key of David! O Root of Jesse! etc.

I never really understood this form of prayer until I began spontaneously using it myself. When we come to pray, an excellent way to begin is to reflect on Who it is we are talking to.  Most of us begin addressing "God" without thinking about Who God Is to us.  When we allow ourselves to ask the question Jesus asked: Who do you say that I am?  the Holy Spirit descends to open our hearts and minds:  O Wisdom!  O Goodness!  O Truth!  O Gentleness!  O Mercy!  O Protector of the Innocent! O Helper! O Provider!  You are the Redeemer of the World!  You bend low to instruct the ignorant!
You have led me in right paths for your Name's sake!

As we recall Who God Is, Who He has been to us all the days of our lives, we enter into praise and thanksgiving, into His Presence.  To remember Who God Is is to stand before Him in Spirit and in Truth, just as Peter did when He confessed the Truth about Jesus.  Nothing more need be said if we remember Who God Is, Who He has been to us.  Prayer is worship, and worship comes from knowing God.

For those who do not know God, and who therefore cannot worship Him, we need to begin by asking Him to reveal Himself.  C. S. Lewis once wrote, "If there is a God, then He must be self-revelatory."  No one can reveal who God is except God. We cannot truly pray to someone else's God.  But God is ready and willing to give us His own Spirit so that we might know Him.  All we need to do is to ask---if you, evil that you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more is the Father willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!

I don't know why we are so reluctant to ask God for the one thing He most wants to give us!

Entering Into the Presence of God -- 2

In Him we live and move and have our very being -- God is present to us at every moment.  But we are not always present to Him.  The goal of our prayer is to bring ourselves-- heart, mind, soul, and body-- into the very Presence of God, to hear His Voice, to experience His Love for us, to receive His Wisdom, His Guidance, His Truth into our very being.  How far away is that experience from simply reciting our prayers!

The very desire to pray is His invitation to us:  Come and See!  Come and Experience!  Come and Taste the goodness of the Lord!  Unless the Holy Spirit had been calling us, we would have no desire to enter into His Presence.  But if we desire it, it is only because He has willed to fulfill our desire.  C. S. Lewis tells us that our desires are keys to our destiny.  One does not desire water, except that our bodies were designed to be nourished and sustained by water.  We are designed to "run on" water, so to speak.  The same is true of hunger, sex, and our other natural desires.  Pope John II published his reflections on The Theology of the Body, saying that our bodily desires for union with another are an indication of our desire to be united ultimately with God Himself.

So if we desire to pray, we know that God wants to answer that desire, and that He will answer the deepest longings our hearts.  The question is, "How, with all the demands and distractions of our lives pulling at us, how do we enter into the Presence of the Almighty?"  I have come to believe from observing life, that if we want something to happen, we must create the space for that activity.  For years, I wanted to paint, but not enough to find the time and space to paint.  Real artists first set up their "space," and they set up that space with all the equipment they need to paint -- canvas, easel, brushes, etc.  Then, when they find or make the time to paint, they go to their space, and the magic begins to happen.  Without that space, the desire to paint soon withers.  Other things take precedence in life. 

So if we really desire to pray, we must first create a space to pray.  A certain chair will do the trick, preferably one close to a window.  Having a bible close at hand, or at least some kind of spiritual reading, is part of the equipment we need to help us listen to the guidance of the Spirit.  Once we establish a place to pray, prayer becomes easier for us; in fact, the physical setup alone begins to trigger prayer in us -- and the more we practice prayer in that place, the more our hearts, minds, and bodies associate the physical setup with prayer, the more natural it becomes for us.

But Time to pray is another part of the equation.  Mothers with infants and small children cannot plan their time, no matter how much they desire to pray.  That chair may become the place to hold and nurse a baby, to read to a toddler, to hug and talk to a small child.  All of these are forms of prayer, of God's love being poured out into the world that so desperately needs it.  But the exhausted mother may still desperately need a time to pray, or to receive within herself a renewal of the love she constantly gives to others.

When I was in that situation, having 3 children in 5 years, I found that I was adrift spiritually.  Physically, I was exhausted, since my children did not sleep at night.  I nursed all my children, so it seemed that I was up every hour and a half, either to feed a baby or to take care of a child with an earache, strep throat, tonsillitis, etc.  I recall one day that seems to sum up my life at the time:  the oldest child (5) was vomiting on the sofa; the middle child (3), in the midst of potty-training, was crying because she needed to go potty, and the youngest ( a few months old) was screaming with hunger.  No matter which direction I headed first, it was the wrong direction.  All my life, the two resources I had depended on for health and strength had been sleep and prayer -- and now I had neither.  I had no coping strategies to deal with my life at the time, and I did not know how to solve the problem.  If I got up early to pray, a baby woke up too and needed attention.  I knew I "should" be able to be a loving mother, giving all my children exactly what they needed when they needed it -- and that only added to my guilt and frustration.  I felt helpless and angry at my obvious inadequacy to cope with life.

Finally, I struck a "bargain" with God:  if you will only give me time to pray, I promise I'll take it, instead of rushing around trying to get something done.  Within a week of my promise, my neighbor across the street began to ask if she could take the children with her to the bank, to the grocery, to the post office -- whenever she would be out for just 20 or 30 minutes.  Now who does this?  I figured it had to be an answer to my prayer.  Whenever she took the children with her, I would run to my "prayer chair" and collapse into the arms of God for however long I had free.  That time began to steady and calm me, even if I said nothing that could have been construed as "prayer" during that time.  What it did was to convince me that God was present to me, even if I could not always be present to Him.  It built my faith that He was the Senior Partner in the enterprise of my life, and I began to trust Him a little more. 

More about prayer later.

Entering into the Presence of God

Someone asked me, "How do you pray?"  My answer is that there are as many ways to pray as there are fingerprint patterns.  I recommend The Book of All Saints by Adrienne Von Spyrer as an example. Von Spyrer was a Swedish mystic, a physician, wife, and mother, and a convert to Catholicism.  When she prayed, she was able to see into, and participate in, the prayer life of all the saints -- and even others who are not canonized, like Shakespeare and Dante.  As she saw, she reported her visions to her confessor and scribe, Father Hans Urs Von Balthazor, who wrote what she said.  Some of those she saw at prayer she had never heard of previously, but if her confessor suggested them, she could see them.  She remarked on the humility of the saints, who allowed themselves to be seen, weaknesses, faults, and all.  This is a very large book, but reading through it encourages us who all think we do not know how to pray.  On one page or another, we will surely find someone whose prayer resonates with our own.

But since the question was, "How do you pray?"  I decided to reflect on my own experience, for whatever it may be worth to someone else.  There is not a set pattern so much to my prayer, since at the very beginning, I try to keep in mind Jesus saying, I Am the Alpha and the Omega.  I know that He is the beginning and the end, and, being in His Presence, I try to be led by His Spirit in my prayer.  It is the job of the Holy Spirit to teach us to pray and to lead us in prayer, so being open to His influence is the most important thing of all.  But there are definite helps to being open to the Spirit Who wants to lead us into the Presence of God and to Communion with Him.

The first step is actually a very simple one:  we have to have a place and a time to pray, an "appointment" with God, so to speak.  I know many people say they pray all day long, and that is a fact for those who have learned to pray.  And there are those who pray first thing in the morning, but their routine is really a set of prayers that they "say."  Actually, it was one of these who asked me the question.  Although she prays regularly and frequently -- more faithfully than I do, in fact --- she is yearning for a deeper communion with God, and that is why she asked the question.

Saying prayers is indeed praying -- but the old Baltimore Catechism defined prayer as "opening our hearts and minds to God."  And if we imagine being a disciple of Jesus, walking with Him through the countryside, eating with Him by the way, and conversing with Him throughout the day, I think our "prayer" would certainly include listening to Him with our whole hearts, our whole minds, and our whole strength:  Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke?  In fact, I consider prayer much more as listening to God than saying anything at all to Him.  Whenever I sense the presence of God, everything in me shuts down and shuts up -- I cannot speak at all, and I understand very little of what is happening.  But He works in secret; He is not obligated to give me an explanation of what He is doing.

So it is important to find a time and a place to meet with God.  That is the very first step.  Tomorrow, God willing, I will write more about this important step.

Let Me Feed You!

Jesus fed 5000 people on the mountainside when they had no means of feeding themselves.  God fed the multitude in the desert when they had no means of feeding themselves.  When we are hungry and have no way to feed ourselves, God will feed us.

I am convinced that the reason so many people cannot or do not read the Bible is that either they are not yet hungry enough for spiritual truth, or they are trying to feed themselves instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to feed them what they need.  So many of us determine we will "read the Bible," and so we begin -- at the first page of Genesis.  Undoubtedly, the more persistent of us will get further on, but sooner or later, all of us will bog down somewhere before we get very far. 

The Bible is not a "book," even though it does have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Rather, it is a library, written over a period of roughly a thousand years by multiple authors with multiple viewpoints -- yet all used by the Holy Spirit to tell one story.  If we walked into a library and selected the first book nearest the door, determined to read our way around the shelves, we would soon give up.  When we come to God's library, we need a Divine Guide -- someone to show us where to begin and what to read.  We need to begin with worship, with acknowledging that we ourselves are incapable of feeding ourselves with divine truth.  We need to acknowledge our helplessness to read, to understand, to digest the living Word of God.  We need humility to ask the Holy Spirit to feed us the "pure milk of the Word of God" until we grow up into full maturity.  We need to believe that God will feed us with the "finest of wheat." 

A few times in my life, I have been in a restaurant where the owner says, "Let me feed you."  After that, I simply put myself in his capable hands and relax, knowing that he will bring me only the best he has to offer.  And I know that I will be satisfied, not only physically, but "spiritually," or aesthetically.  Our relationship with God is no different.  If we put ourselves in His hands, saying, "Feed my hunger for You, for Truth," will He refuse our prayer?  Only He knows the deepest hunger of our souls; only He knows where our minds need understanding.  And He is more than able to do what we ask.  We need only sit with our bibles on our laps and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Faith is believing what God has said -- to US!  Most of us struggle to believe what God has said to others, but we do not realize that He has given us the same food.  It is hard to believe something that has not fed our own hunger.  Our faith begins with an encounter with the Risen Jesus -- He is alive!  How do we know that, except that we have 'met' Him on the way, as did the disciples going to Emmaeus?  If we allow Him to feed us where we are, we will recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.  Our gratitude for having been fed at the point of our hunger is the catalyst for our belief. 

Years ago, when I first began reading the Bible, I was devouring it day by day, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  I simply could not get enough.  After I had read it through twice, I began studying the geography, the history, the meaning of words, etc.  All of this reading and study, however, was nothing I was doing on my own -- it was the result of someone praying for me to receive "the baptism of the Holy Spirit."  And it came like a fire, unexpectedly.  I began reading the Acts of the Apostles, but only because that's where the book literally fell open.  When I realized I was reading about what had just happened to me personally, I couldn't stop reading. 

The day came, however, when I could no longer read the Bible for months at a time.  I would just sit and hold it on my lap, loving it, but not being able to read it.  Finally, Jesus spoke to me:  Let Me feed you!  I realized then that I had been 'feeding myself' with all the study -- study that was necessary for a time.  But now, I had to let go and let the Spirit of God lead me through the Scriptures most necessary for the moment and the situation.  One cannot go to school forever, as necessary as it is to begin there.  Sooner or later, we must begin to apply the knowledge we receive to the life we are living. 

I would challenge anyone who wants to know the Word of God to do an experiment:  begin with acknowledging Who God is and worshipping the One Who put the Word together for our benefit.  Allow Him to lead you to the section and the passage you need to read.  Because we read in order to meet the living God, the Word of God.  Only then will our reading lead to faith.

Is One Religion as Good as Another?

It sounds very liberal and open-minded to acknowledge all religions as equal and good.  But if we are realistic and even scientific in our investigation, we begin to discover that not all religions produce the same results.  We might begin by asking, "What is the purpose of religion?"  Even with this question, we begin to find huge differences in religions.  And then, once we have defined for ourselves the purpose of religion, we find great differences in the results.

One good place to begin a search for the Truth is to read Iran: Desperate for God --An oppressive Islamic state drives its people into the arms of Christ, a book published by the Living Sacrifice Book Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  This book is told or written by Islamic believers who all devotedly practiced Islam, to the point of depression and suicide.  They did all and more that their religion required of them, and became more and more oppressed and depressed.  Some even attempted suicide, for they had no hope at all.  All of their constant prayers and penances and self-denials led to despair. 

It seems that the point or purpose of Islam is to control people, not to release them into the freedom of the Children of God.  They are so fearful of Allah and his displeasure.  One girl reported her fear that if any of her hair would show, she would be hanged by her hair in "heaven," or if she did not cover her hands and wrists, she would hang by her hands for all eternity.  Fear is the over-riding emotion of faithful Islamic practice in Iran.  (I cannot report about the Islamic experience in America or other countries, for I know nothing about that, except for the students I taught who were Muslim men and women, and I know only a very little about their experience.)

In every story in Iran: Desperate for God, the writer tells of an experience of Jesus Christ, either from having been given a book, a New Testament, or of seeing a movie about Jesus.  Here is a quotation from a young boy who had begun in 5th grade earnestly searching and reading all about Islam.  But someone had given him a booklet about Jesus:

From the moment I read that Jesus booklet, I started to search for this God they're all talking about.  First of all, I read the Communist books again.  But now all I found was a lot of emptiness in them.  I discovered that when Lenin wanted to swear, he said, "To God, I swear."  Then I went to the other religions to search, starting with historical beliefs in the books of Iran, Japan, India, Lebanon, China, and Brazil.  I read all about the religions so I could compare them.  then I started studying space and stars, hypnotism, spirits, and telepathy......I tried to write these down in a notebook.  I wrote notes especially about Islam during the heat of this religious revolution ....Nobody was able to answer the questions I recorded to ask them.  There are so many problems even ayatollahs cannot give an answer.

Finally, this 13-year old boy was able to get his hands on a Bible that an old man lent him, even though it was forbidden to own a Bible in Iran at the time.  The Bible was in English, but the boy struggled to read it, and he decided to go directly to the mullahs with his questions.  The first question he asked was from the Koran, chapter 3, verse 3:  If anyone wants to have salvation and enter heaven, they have to believe in Torah and also in the Bible and in the New Testament..  Then the boy quoted other passages regarding Jesus Christ from the Koran, as well as passages from the Bible.  The mullah got red in the face and said, "Your ideas are not interesting; I can't talk to you." 

The boy continued his search for the truth:  I always believed the real God should have noble characteristics.  The God I wanted couldn't like bad things for His children.  He should know everything and know how that person wants to live in the future.  This God in my mind would always care for His children.

In every one of these stories, when the searcher discovers Christianity, they also find freedom, joy, peace.  Their experience is such that they immediately want to share their joy with members of their families and with their friends, even though doing so might bring imprisonment and death.  I downloaded this book on my Kindle for $1.99, I think, and I have read it through more than one time.  Experiences like these prove to anyone who thinks about it the truth of Jesus Christ:  You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free. 

The purpose of religion is not a rule, but a relationship.  If we look at the relationship of believers to their 'gods,' we will inevitably discover the real God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  His brothers and sisters will come into the same relationship with the Father that Jesus Christ Himself had, for this is His purpose for us -- to make us sons and daughters of the Living God.