Your Glorious Art

God wants me to see the glamor,
the brilliance,
the event.
The breaking sun beyond the trees.
Beyond that, is the rest of it;
the ancient tabernacle
that holds the earths, moons,
the great stretch of time between time.

Far and long ago,
moving along its lines,
keeping its pace,
changing, exploding, collapsing, expiring, beginning.

This is Your glorious art.

RE:RE:POST PRAYER: A SHARED LIFE WITH GOD

Prayer is a gift. It happens simply because of God’s grace that enables me and calls me to approach Him. Therefore, I should not think of prayer as something I can master, or should attempt to master. Mastering prayer or being skilled in prayer sounds like it is another aspect of me trying to be in control of something. If prayer is foremost a gift of grace, certainly it travels way beyond being a necessary religious task to be ‘mastered,’ or something that has to lend itself in some way over time to be measured. Furthermore, it is not something that has to be controlled, or in my power to develop. This kind of prayer is certainly not relational, but technical. This is a human-governed form of prayer with its end fixed ultimately on self. Prayer is the pursuit of God. It is the genuine movement of God and me walking together, living together, and being in communion together. God is offering Himself to me. He desires me. This truth captivates me. Everything else is still in the realm of priority when prayed with the right motives, but it is secondary, or a byproduct. Jeremiah 29:12 and 13 stir in my thoughts when God says clearly, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Therefore, I can appropriately expect from prayer, foremost, God’s voice, God’s presence, and God Himself. What is your prevailing view of prayer? Is your current life of prayer one that has changed over time? If so, why did it change? Would like to re-approach the whole matter of prayer?

Re-Post: What to Expect from Prayer

Prayer is a gift. It happens simply because of God’s grace that enables me and calls me to approach Him. Therefore, I should not think of prayer as something I can master, or should attempt to master. Mastering prayer or being skilled in prayer sounds like it is another aspect of me trying to be in control of something. If prayer is foremost a gift of grace, certainly it travels way beyond being a necessary religious task to be ‘mastered,’ or something that has to lend itself in some way over time to be measured. Furthermore, it is not something that has to be controlled, or in my power to develop. This kind of prayer is certainly not relational, but technical. This is a human-governed form of prayer with its end fixed ultimately on self. Prayer is the pursuit of God. It is the genuine movement of God and me walking together, living together, and being in communion together. God is offering Himself to me. He desires me. This truth captivates me. Everything else is still in the realm of priority when prayed with the right motives, but it is secondary, or a byproduct. Jeremiah 29:12 and 13 stir in my thoughts when God says clearly, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Therefore, I can appropriately expect from prayer, foremost, God’s voice, God’s presence, and God Himself. What is your prevailing view of prayer? Is your current life of prayer one that has changed over time? If so, why did it change?

Ready to Reapproach

Interesting first meeting last week. Besides the kids bouncing around, it was a little bit more formal then intended, but these sort of groups take time to gel. At any rate, I am preparing to build a fire for the next meeting and head for the living room with you. It was interesting how we all seemed to steer toward trials and suffering as the main element of growth. I offered the view about others who suffer (outside of Christ) but do not grow nor are changed toward spiritual virtue, thus implying whether suffering in itself has any power to change us. After more discussion, I shared the idea that it is not particularly suffering that changes us, but our response to God in suffering; how we respond in our lives through spiritual habits. Someone immediatedly spoke up and said, "Yeah...it led me to pray so much more in my life at the time." Suffering and how we respond is not the point here. The point is seeing Who causes us to grow, and what we do to be involved in it, how we live for it, whether in suffering or happiness. This is what this group is about. It is an invitation to a journey. I saw the light go off for many of you when we arrived at God being in control of our growth, and how "guilt-oriented" ways of reading the Bible, praying, meditating etc. was futile because it proved that we were attempting to be in control. The latter way is loveless, self-focused, and not relational. For the most part, this sums up much of the "spirituality" we have all known to differing degrees with others, and in churches. Can you identify? Are you ready to re-search, re-approach spirituality in Christ? Where are you in this? What are your spiritual goals? Please share with us.

What to Expect from Prayer

Prayer is a gift. It happens simply because of God’s grace that enables me and calls me to approach Him. Therefore, I should not think of prayer as something I can master, or should attempt to master. Mastering prayer or being skilled in prayer sounds like it is another aspect of me trying to be in control of something. If prayer is foremost a gift of grace, certainly it travels way beyond being a necessary religious task to be ‘mastered,’ or something that has to lend itself in some way over time to be measured. Furthermore, it is not something that has to be controlled, or in my power to develop. This kind of prayer is certainly not relational, but technical. This is a human-governed form of prayer with its end fixed ultimately on self. Prayer is the pursuit of God. It is the genuine movement of God and me walking together, living together, and being in communion together. God is offering Himself to me. He desires me. This truth captivates me. Everything else is still in the realm of priority when prayed with the right motives, but it is secondary, or a byproduct. Jeremiah 29:12 and 13 stir in my thoughts when God says clearly, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Therefore, I can appropriately expect from prayer, foremost, God’s voice, God’s presence, and God Himself.

Thirst

"Brothers, sisters, I do not consider myself to have arrived, to have grasped it fully; but there is one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Letter to the Philippians, chapter 3 verse 13 and 14
Paul was ruled by thirst. It was a humble, generative thirst that said, "I have not arrived...but I am moving in that direction." We all agree that it is a process, a journey. Paul leads the way in his letter. He says in the verses that follow that those who are mature think this way, and are thirsting in this way. Does our reach exceed our grasp in this matter of "pressing forward?" Are we ruled by thirst?
What daily practices are currently in your life that stem from a desire to grow in Christ? (Bible study, prayer,fasting, worship, meditation, serving etc.) Do you have any goals you would like to set this new year in "pressing toward" the goal Paul shared in Philippians?

Meant to Grow

We are meant to grow. We are called to change. This all happens in Christ. This process is the true journey. It is an inner movement towards Christlikeness. It is God's goal for our lives. St. Paul wrote in his letter to the assembly in Rome, "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son..." (Romans 8:29a RSV) As I wrote in the previous post, it is a deepening of a walk of responsiveness to God. It is not fragmented between the sacred and secular. It is our whole life. It is not an addition to our personalities. It is our whole life, our whole being in the very embrace of Christ. It is the image of Christ continually birthing in us. In his letter to the Galatian churches, St. Paul pleaded with the wavering assemblies, "...I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ be formed in you..." Again, "until Christ be birthed in you." Spiritual transformation/ formation, development/ growth is the process of being comformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. What has been your idea of spiritual growth? How does it happen? What are your current ideas or practices of how it occurs in your life?