Tuesday, December 13, 2005
What's In A Prayer Journal?
Adrian Warnock is wondering.
Prayer journals are a tool, they are a discipline to help one set aside a time to pray. They are a way to fill that void into which it often seems we send our prayers. And for this believer they are more hinderance than help.
I find that I become so slavishly devoted to one that it becomes a substitute for a genuine encounter with the Lord. The discipline as idol, if you will. Prayer, at its essence, is communicating with God. For me, I quit communicating with God and started communicating with that blank book.
So, what to do? Seek God's face, that is the only answer I have. I find the "trick" if you will is to be in tune with myself, to learn to sense when I am receptive to the presence of God and to then capitalize on those times when they arise. And unsurprizingly, they are daily and regular. I guess I would call it "pray in the moment." I seek to practice the ever-presence of God as opposed to keeping a list of stuff to talk to Him about later. By this, I do not mean the qucik "God that's yours" in the middle of a hectic schedule. No, I am talking about taking quality time when it presents itself.
For me, the essence of prayer is not in the speaking anyway, It is in the listening. When I need God, I rely on Him to know of that need, and focus instead on being quiet and letting Him tell me what to do.
I don't pretend to have all the answers here, but I know what works for me. And, I would suggest, that it might work for more than we realize. Talking, or journaling is about me, when it is really all about God. Prayer is not a means for me to communicate to God so much as it is a means for God to communicate to me. Most of the time, that just means settling down and suddenly things are clear -- no miracle, no voice, just "Oh -- I see."
Prayer journals are a tool, they are a discipline to help one set aside a time to pray. They are a way to fill that void into which it often seems we send our prayers. And for this believer they are more hinderance than help.
I find that I become so slavishly devoted to one that it becomes a substitute for a genuine encounter with the Lord. The discipline as idol, if you will. Prayer, at its essence, is communicating with God. For me, I quit communicating with God and started communicating with that blank book.
So, what to do? Seek God's face, that is the only answer I have. I find the "trick" if you will is to be in tune with myself, to learn to sense when I am receptive to the presence of God and to then capitalize on those times when they arise. And unsurprizingly, they are daily and regular. I guess I would call it "pray in the moment." I seek to practice the ever-presence of God as opposed to keeping a list of stuff to talk to Him about later. By this, I do not mean the qucik "God that's yours" in the middle of a hectic schedule. No, I am talking about taking quality time when it presents itself.
For me, the essence of prayer is not in the speaking anyway, It is in the listening. When I need God, I rely on Him to know of that need, and focus instead on being quiet and letting Him tell me what to do.
I don't pretend to have all the answers here, but I know what works for me. And, I would suggest, that it might work for more than we realize. Talking, or journaling is about me, when it is really all about God. Prayer is not a means for me to communicate to God so much as it is a means for God to communicate to me. Most of the time, that just means settling down and suddenly things are clear -- no miracle, no voice, just "Oh -- I see."
