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Subject: Strengh through prayer
Replies: 10 Views: 700
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:54pm
'Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount
up on wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall
walk and not faint'. Isaiah 40:31.
Many of us come to a situation in our lives where we do not know the way
forward. I am one such person. I have sensed that I am not in the right
place, or the right job, or the right house, or the right church or
relationship problems have totally drained me. I am tired, often totally
exhausted, and at the end of my tether. My emotional, spiritual and
often physical tanks are running on empty.
This is exactly the situation into which this verse speaks. It is the
place we all have to be, in order to be willing to wait on the Lord.
Admitting I am at the end of my human resources and aware of my own lack
of knowledge, I finally realize my utter need to depend on the Lord and
to listen to what the Spirit is saying. I become aware of false motives,
inner desires, my own sinfulness and human inadequacies. I begin to
empty myself of these things because I realize that they must go, for me
to move on to the next stage of faith to which I am being called.
Hearing from the Lord is the goal. I put all else aside. My burning
passion is to do the will of God. Nothing else. Nothing more. This leads
me into a state of realizing my need of the ancient spiritual
disciplines ~ prayer, fasting, meditation, reading the Holy Book,
silence, solitude, simplicity. I know that it is only through these
measures that I will be able to hear God speak, far from the maddening
crowd. I truly want nothing more than to 'tune in' to what God is saying
to me. Eugene Peterson reminds me that 'the task is not to get God to do
something I think needs to be done, but to become awareof what God is
doing so that I can respond to it and parti te and take delight in
it'. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:55pm
I enter a stage of waiting. Waiting prayer is a type of praying which
has a specific focus of its own. In the gospels, different people used
different waiting styles in order to encounter Jesus and have their need
met. When I look at the recorded stories, I notice that body language is
a very important part of the waiting experiences. Body language is an
interesting phenomena, and the best selling book of John Piesse, 'Body
Language', shows that people are realizing that a person's body language
will display motives, inner attitudes, incentives, and the message that
body language conveys is actually far more likely to be an accurate
measure of what the person thinks, than what the person actually SAYS.
In the days of Scripture, folk were far more 'in touch' with messages
from body language than we are today. That is why we read of David
dancing naked, Jeremiah sitting in ashes, David kneeling before the
king, etc. We are told of the bodily posture, and that indicates the
person's DESIRE, without the need for verbose explanations.
When applying this concept to the waiting prayers in the Gospels, it is
interesting to note three different body postures, which were employed
when waiting upon a word from Jesus. Sue Monk Kidd explores this thread
in her book 'When the Heart Waits', and she suggests three styles of
waiting prayer. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:55pm
The first is the prayer of GOD praying for US. When I need to regain
strength, I am tired. I am weary. Often I am in a state of spiritual
confusion or disillusionment. In this state of body, heart and soul I am
in no condition to find words to express to my Father what is deep
within. So I simply rest. My attitude of heart is one of simply doing
NOTHING! I rest in the strong and mighty arms of the One who sustains me
at all times. Inwardly I am leaning on the Everlasting Arms. I am
resting in the shadow of his wings. I am resting 'secure in him, for he
shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his
shoulders' (Deut. 33:12). St. Paul knew about this when he encourages:
'Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to
pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs
too deep for words'. (Romans 8:26). Note - the Spirit HIMSELF - for US!
Jesus often reminds us of our need for rest. 'Come to me, all who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So God himself holds us
at this time, doing the praying for us - it is all God's doing and
creating. We can ultimately never transform or heal or change ourselves
- it is God the Creator who works from within us to bring about His
divine plan of restoration and transformation. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:56pm
To rest and allow God to speak requires a stillness of heart, mind and
body. It is a most gentle and releasing time of deep relaxation, and in
this state I begin to tap into those deep Eternal reserves which have
been there, but I have been too busy or pressured to be aware of them. I
do not have the strength to even find the words, but in an amazing way
the singing of a bird, or the awareness of my breathing, and the rising
and falling of my chest, seems to become a prayer all of its own. I
realize that I am truly praying, but not my words - those of Christ
drawing me quietly into the new life he has already waiting for me. The
strange, awesome drawing of the heart towards God is quite strong, and I
sense the breath of God breathing new life into me.
Another heart attitude or posture for waiting prayer will gradually
follow this resting prayer. As my reserves are filling up, and my energy
is returning, so my hope renews itself. I am again able to reach out to
God, in a gentle quiet hope of how he will show me what he has already
purposed for me. So this is a posture of the beggar - cross-legged and
sitting on the ground, with hands outstretched, palms open, in a posture
which indicates many things which are in my heart.
Firstly, I know that of myself I can do nothing, so this posture
indicates that inner poverty of Spirit. I am sitting on the ground -
indicating a heart of humility before God, fully aware that of myself I
deserve nothing or can attain nothing. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:57pm
I am sitting cross-legged. Once mastered, this is actually a posture in
which the body can remain still for lengthy periods of time. When
visiting eastern countries we may observe Buddhist monks and beggars and
many spiritual pilgrims adopting this position. It is relaxing on the
body, yet keeps it alert. It is difficult to fall asleep sitting like
this! So my heart is ready to wait for the long haul, if necessary. I am
resolved to wait in hope and trust that eventually my Lord shall come,
as he did when he walked to the temple gates and passed the beggars in
this posture.
This brings me to the third attribute I see in this heart posture. I
have open hands. I am as a beggar, withholding nothing and also ready to
receive WHATEVER it is that my Lord may put in my palms. And I know from
deep within my soul that whatever it is, I shall be grateful and
appreciative. No beggar is ungrateful, no matter how small the offering.
So I must wait for God to place in my hands whatever it is He so
desires, knowing that this shall sustain me and meet my need. This
implies faith, trust that at some stage, something will be placed in my
open cup-shaped hands. To doubt the length of the wait at this stage is
something I struggle with. I remind myself of all the beggars of the
world, who must also fight with doubt, never knowing how long they will
wait, and wondering if anyone will ever come along and give them some
food, or a few small coins. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:57pm
I am reminded of blind Bartimaeus, who sat like this is the darkness of
his lack of eyesight, and I feel like that too, in a spiritual sense. I
am totally in the dark, and waiting for light to come into my heart.
Waiting for God, the Light of the world, to enlighten me, to delight me,
to give me light about the task he will place in my hands. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:58pm
food, or a few small coins.
I am reminded of blind Bartimaeus, who sat like this is the darkness of
his lack of eyesight, and I feel like that too, in a spiritual sense. I
am totally in the dark, and waiting for light to come into my heart.
Waiting for God, the Light of the world, to enlighten me, to delight me,
to give me light about the task he will place in my hands. *
gawie 5.02.09 - 01:59pm
Finally, as I receive what the new direction is, it comes into my hands
with the depth of gratitude of a waiting pauper, too. I really and deep
dwon to my core am aware that this new gift is something OTHER, which is
something extraordinary and incredibly precious. This gift, being filled
into my hands, overflows my heart and mind with the enormity of my
gracious God, who has once again come to me. and gifted me, filled me,
enlivened and overflowed me with the sustenance which I will need for
the next part of my journey. As a beggar receives food or money in his
hands for the next day, so I know that this new offering from my Lord,
is my new spiritual food, which will contain the gifts and the spiritual
fuel and all that I will need. I am thrilled to look at what the Lord
has given me. I adopt a third posture, that of adoration, sitting at
Jesus feet in loving thankfulness, wishing to enjoy all this new power
and hope and joy which he has brought and placed within me . This
posture is one where I am awake, listening to every word my Master will
speak to me, and alert to every gesture he may convey. I soak up all of
what the Lord has done in me.The awareness that this new direction,
energy, giftedness, is not from me or of me, brings me to a place of
adoration, and gratitude. I will come again to remember this time if I
stumble in the future.This is the place of great joy and thankfulness
wells in my heart. All I want to do is rejoice and worship. The image of
God as my Shepherd who supplies my every need, and satisfies my deepest
longings links me with David, the Psalmist, who wrote, Come, let us bow
down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our
God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.
(Ps.95:6,7).
(c). 2006. Christine M. Jones.
Droplets from Life: http://www.dropletsfromlife.blogspot.com *
oubaas 15.04.09 - 06:00pm
It is a gift from God to be able to pray. *
oubaas 13.09.11 - 12:27pm
Also posted at http://oppie-koffie.co.uk 
*
