As I begin my journey through the Lenten season, I awake this morning knowing immediately what it is I must do. Prayer, oh yes but I wanted something to set my mind in focus. When normally I would reach for my Bible, today, I was looking for a different guide. I stooped to look under the bed where I knew I would find one of Rick’s many devotional books. One in particular caught my eye and it just happens to be exactly what I was looking for (unbeknown to me at that moment). It is titled, ‘Eternal Seasons; A Spiritual Journey through the Church’s Year’ by Henri J.M. Nouwen. I offer this prayer as it is tugging at me hard.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Today the Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.

I offer this in your name, Amen.

You’ve probably heard of the saying, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we say”. (Source unknown) So my question is, how did we mess that one up?

The Wednesday Bible Study group was introduced last Wed. evening to the material we will be studying,”The Way of Prayer”. It included an exercise titled, “Holy Listening”. Basically, we were to be aware of our listening inabilities and jot down when we wandered off into other thoughts, or wanted to interrupt for one reason or another, when we wanted to “help” the person, give comfort, etc. There were times of silence as each were either prompted to speak or not. I must say, we all did very well. But then, we were aware of our need to listen, the challenge to only listen and the consensus was that it was not an easy task to keep our mouths shut. But an amazing thing happened. We felt the presence of God in those moments of silence and listening. And He knew, as He always does, our needs, our soul?s deepest desires. The soul was seeking the very comfort that is ever before us. We were in prayer in our sharing and listening to one another. This was our beginning of learning prayer with the whole of our being.

Kids really do say the darnest things, don’t they? A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, Kylie asked me why God made us. As quick as my fear of saying the wrong thing rose, it also subsided as I spat the words out, “Because He has so much love to give, He needed someone to give it to.” Her immediate response was, “God needs us to love Him too, right Nana?” During that conversation, I was in prayer with my whole being. And now as I think back I realize that my whole life can be a prayer to God. I think of the times when my joy is completely full with little girls running around; Kylie, Karlie, Kenslee, Rhilyn and Addison. I am so full of love that I must be in prayer, a prayer that needs no words merely the love pouring from my soul. It is the same when I sit in silence with Rick in the same room, he doing his thing, me doing mine, but being together…in silent relationship. My soul is so full of peace, love and joy that I can think of nothing other than how thankful I am to my Lord who has given me everything.

The presence of God is ever before us, we are just too loud to hear him, feel him, sense him. We have cluttered our lives so that we are unable to respond to his love. The sadder part of this is that we are teaching our children to do the same. How to stop it? How do we reverse it? I have but one answer, and it is not mine at all, but is from the Creator of our soul. “Be still and know that I am God…”
Psalm 46:10

God loves you immensely!

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So how is your prayer life?  Do you…

• Pray once a day
• Pray once every morning before starting my day
• Pray once a day or so but sometimes forget
• Pray once a week
• Don’t really know

If you were able to answer yes to any of the choices above, then your prayer life is seriously lacking.  And, yes, that includes those of you who were able to answer yes to even the top two.  Don’t even think about patting yourself on the
back for a “job well done.”

Seriously, I hope you don’t think of prayer as a “job” at all but rather as an ongoing relationship with your greatest love.  Now that’s a good question-is God your greatest love?  If the answer is yes AND you answered yes to any of the
above then I ask you again-How is your love life, really?  Is God truly first in your life?

I’ve heard various reasons for people avoiding prayer, I’ve used them all myself.

• I don’t know what to say
• I’m afraid of messing up
• I just can’t seem to make time
• I feel too guilty

Do any of those sound familiar?  Then let’s get to the heart of matter…RELATIONSHIP.

Relationships don’t just run themselves.  They must be nurtured.  One of the most important elements in nurturing that relationship is the ability to converse openly, honestly and on a continuous basis.

Let’s first tackle the issue of being open and honest in any relationship. Whether it’s with a spouse, a child, friend or relative, honesty can be withheld and when it is, it is almost always destructive in some form either to the person you are dishonest to or most certainly to the self.  Never the less, complete truths do not have to be revealed.  But when it comes to being open and honest with God, there is nothing that can be hidden.  He already knows every thought and action in your life, so then the issue turns inward.  It becomes an inability to be honest with the self, which in turn inhibits growth and causes internal strife.  So what does this suggest?  Would it not be to one’s advantage to be able to confide in someone who already knows everything about you?

But let’s not allow self growth to be the only reason for prayer.  God is to be praised and He is certainly worthy of praise!  Prayer is also used to make requests of God.  I  find myself doing a lot of that!

What about continuous prayer?  One of the definitions for continuous is, ‘connected throughout.’  This is how I like to think of continuous prayer…not that we are to be in a “prayerful position” at all times, but rather that we are connected with God in some fashion throughout.  And what does ‘throughout’ mean?…continuously, from beginning to end.

I once read an excerpt from a book where the writer was sharing a part of his journal.  His “experiment”, as he called it, was to see if he could fashion his life in order that he could stay “connected throughout” with God.  With each entry, his
time with God, rather it be in prayer, or just thoughts of God,  would increase, as this was his goal.  He began to realize that in everything he did throughout his day, it was possible to keep ‘the things of God’ on his mind.  At the finish of the experiment, he knew that it was not by his own efforts that he had attained this, but it was through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit that had enabled him to ‘think God thoughts’ with every thought and action of his daily life.  He had been ‘connected throughout.’

Are you connected throughout with His Holy Spirit?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Matthew 22:37-38

In times of difficulty there seems to be great volume of wisdom to which we can turn.  In the 1960’s Paul McCartney of the Beatles wrote that in times of trouble we should “Let it Be.”  It made a great song and letting some things be is certainly wise.  As they say “let sleeping dogs lie.”  But most of life has to be dealt with even if it is unpleasant.  So in times of trouble I prefer the wisdom of three men who have faced and suffered greater trials than I ever hope to endure.  The first is the 20th century Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the second is St. Paul the apostle and first century Christian martyr, and the third is no less than our Lord Jesus the Christ.

While Bonhoeffer waited out his last years of life in a NAZI prison, he had the strength and courage to continue being part of the German resistance and even participated in the planning of an attempted assignation of Hitler.  The result was his untimely death just months before the end of the war.  At the same time he wrote what became several books on Christian Discipleship.  The following came from one of the books entitled Life Together:  “There are three things for which the Christian needs a regular time alone during the day: meditation of the Scripture, prayer, and intercession… In our meditation we read the text given to us on the strength of the promise that it has something quite personal to say to us for this day and for our standing as Christians—it is not only God’s Word for the community of faith, but also God’s Word for me personally…” p86-87

While in a Roman Jail, also awaiting his own execution, St. Paul wrote: Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Philippians 4: 6-7

The night before Jesus was crucified; he was calm and still caring for his disciples when he told them: ”Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14 25-27

So I have to ask myself, if these men in prison and awaiting death for the crime of loving God and humanity can suggest that we should look to the scriptures, pray for ourselves and others, with thanksgiving to God, and we shall receive the peace of God, then maybe I should listen to them.

Something to ponder; all things should be brought to God.  In all things we should be thankful to God, not the cruelty of the world people create, but in the all encompassing presence of the Holy Spirit.  For me the peace of God is actually the recognizable presence of God in my life at that moment.  My memory of the Lords’ previous help for me feeds my faith which acknowledges that Gods’ presence can be trusted, even in the times of unwanted outcome.  All three require faith to function within a person’s life.  Meditation is more than reading or memorizing, its’ sinking into the scripture.  Letting our mind and spirit dive into the scripture to contemplate what it meant to those who first heard it.  How did it change their lives and what does it mean to me. What would it mean to put it into practice?  What is God saying the Divine power will do?  What has been my experience in this matter if any?  Do I truly have faith in God to do this?  Remember, Jesus said “my peace I give to you.”  How much more can we ask for from our Creator?

What does it really mean to have faith?  We say we have it, yet do we live it in our daily lives?  There are some that do, yes.  But most often, I would have to say people lack faith.

Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:1 what faith is…”Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I’ve thought a lot about this particular verse in seeking to understand why it is that I continue to suffer from chronic pain.  It has caused me to think a lot about my hope and where it lies.  I do carry a lot of hope that one day I will be free from the daily suffering, but I’ve come to understand that it is not in the end result that we carry hope, but it is in the journey toward the end result that it abides.  And that journey of hope has brought me much gain.  The fulfillment of peace and the exuberance of joy are two of my greatest treasures.  But faith has become the essence of my Christian life.

In Mark 11:22-24, Jesus said, “Have faith in God.  I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Faith that moves mountains.  Faith in yourself that you can move a mountain will not gain entry into the sea.  But faith that God will move the mountain for you will move it beyond the depths of the sea.

It is too often that we base our faith on the end result rather than the blessings we received during the journey.  It is then that we may begin to lose hope and life becomes a chore.

Where does your faith lie?  Does it rely on the outcome of daily life or is it found in the hope of your daily blessings?  Must you have proof of faith, if so, then it is not faith at all.

In my faith journey, I have refocused my hope.  It is not on the hope of the physical being, but it is hope in the spiritual.  For my physical self is dying just as is yours.  But what lies within my spiritual being is the promise of Jesus.  He has moved mountains for me.  My hope is that God allows me to use His strengths, gained through faith, to bring blessings upon another.  My hope is that my blessings flow into you and that you share them with another.  And God is faithful.  He has used me to reach out to others in ways I never thought possible; just as He uses others to bless me.  It has been and continues to be an awesome journey.  It is a journey of growing Christians.  Christians who find that hope lies in salvation and salvation is discovered in what we sow each and every day.

I have learned to stop staring at the mountain before me and to look for the space between the mountain and the sea.  It is there that I’ve discovered faith and where my hope lies so preciously.

Thank You Jesus for the faith, hope and love you’ve given me.
God Bless,

Tracie