Prayer, Critically Speaking

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Saturday, November 3, 2018

Prayer, Critically Speaking

I realize I have been praying—on and off, and it seems more off than on—for a number of years. A long time. I have been engaged in a continuing conversation with God since my teens. But when Father Nouwen made one particular statement in his slim little book on prayer, I felt as if I could not measure up. No way, no how. He said, “As your life becomes more and more a prayer, you not only come to a deeper insight into yourself and your neighbor, but you also develop a better feeling for the pulse of the world you live in.” [1]

I am sorry. I cannot see any way I can measure up to such a person of prayer as Father Nouwen describes. What can I possibly do to atone for my shortcomings in prayer? I keep telling God I will spend time in God’s presence, but I just don’t get there. It doesn’t happen. I keep missing my appointment times.

Yes, this is a continuing conversation I’ve had with God for decades. I keep apologizing, and then apologizing for the apologies. The Lord must be so sick and tired of my foolish speech and thoughts. (Even now, I feel so apologetic, and I am really sincere about it.)

At least God knows I feel the need for communication, and I also feel the lack of it. I badly feel the absence of God at my side, the desire to know the closeness and intimacy of God’s presence. Yet, I keep forgetting to pray. (But, then, I’ve been forgetting to call my doctor all week to get the results from a routine test. I know those results will be there, but I keep on forgetting…)

Dear Lord, gracious God, I thank You for Your forgiveness and grace. I throw myself—again—on Your abundant mercy. I know You must be getting sick and tired of me and my excuses, my forgetfulness. Forgive me, Lord. Thank You for Your love. Amen.

@chaplaineliza

 

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my companion blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.  #PursuePEACE. My Facebook page, Pursuing Peace – Thanks! And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er

 

[1] With Open Hands: Bring Prayer into Your Life, Henri J. M. Nouwen (United States of America: Ave Maria Press, 2005), 99.

Don’t Forget God’s Word!

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Don’t Forget God’s Word!

These words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s are particularly startling: “Why is it that my thoughts depart so quickly from God’s Word and I find the necessary word is often not there for me in the time of need.” [1]

My delight is in Your statutes;

I will not forget Your Word.

Oh, can I relate! I know—firsthand—what it is like. I had a stroke as a freshman in high school. Yes, there were some physical effect. But, by and large, the effects on my speech center were long-lasting. Frustrating and even infuriating. I still have difficulty after starting sentences, having the concept in my head that I want to communicate, and—nothing. No words or phrases. I could not bring anything to mind. Literally, and spiritually.

“Because God’s Word was spoken to us in history, in the past, it is necessary for us to repeat what we have learned every day in order to remember it.” [2] As Bonhoeffer says, remembering is power. God has infinite power, too.

I am sure of God’s power—God’s love—God’s mighty acts because they worked for me in the past. That’s how I know that God will be there for me in the present (in the “now”) as well as the future…”remembering and repeating are necessary for blessedness, and forgetting is equivalent to falling away from the faith.” [3]

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have some mercy. Dear Lord, help me to remember Your Word whenever I need it. Amen.

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my companion blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.  #PursuePEACE. My Facebook page, Pursuing Peace – Thanks! And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er

[1] Meditating on the Word, Dietrich Bonhöffer, edited by David McI. Gracie. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 2000, 123.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid, 124.