An Uncomfortable Room

Since most of us are not accustomed to doing much listening in our praying, it is something we have to learn how to do.  While we may think that the word "practice" has no place in a discussion of spiritual disciplines,  practice is what we must do with each discipline which is a part of our life.  We learn to play a musical instrument not by talking about it, but practicing.  When we make a conscious decision to be more of a listener in our prayer life, it is not likely to just happen the first time we decide to listen.  Like it or not, for most of us it requires going through seasons of frustration and failure.   

One of the reasons is that listening for the voice of God requires we enter into silence.  Silence is not a room in which we are comfortable.  Of course, the greatest problem has nothing to do with the external silence, but the silence that is internal.  We can turn off all the noise makers around us, but stilling the things which start stirring around inside of us as we try to listen for the voice of God is an even greater problem.  Turning off the external noise makers does nothing to quiet the internal voices which call for our ear and our attention.   As sure as we start listening for God to speak, we will start hearing voices reminding us of some unfinished business at work, or a newly discovered health problem, or some moment filled with regret and a desire for a "do over."   

When we pray and find our mind wandering away from our intention to pray, it is not just an issue of concentration, but one of not being able to silence the inner distracting voices.  What may be discovered at this point is that centering techniques may be helpful, but, perhaps, not as helpful as asking for the help of the Holy Spirit.  While it may be humbling to have to ask for help at the very beginning of this prayer experience, it may be the place we need to go before our heart can be freed to listen for the voice of God.

More on Listening

Hearing the voice of the Lord might be a bit more difficult than simply saying, "Speak, (Lord), for Your servant is listening."  (I Samuel 3:10).  We sometime overlook the fact that the Lord spoke to Samuel three different times before he was able to know Who was speaking.  It is also true that the only reason he did hear was because his spiritual mentor helped him put himself in a position where he was open to hearing.  The story told there in the third chapter of the first book of Samuel tells us that recognizing the voice of the Lord is not as easy for most of us as opening a window.   

One of the first things which has to happen if we are to hear the voice of the Lord is to be convinced that He really does speak to us.  As James the Apostle warns us, we cannot be double minded.  Either it is true that God speaks to us, or He does not speak.  Like so many matters of faith, there can be no standing on the fence. If we have doubts, then we will live with expectations and an experience that reflect this spiritual confusion.  Exactly how we rid ourselves of this spiritual confusion is likely to vary with each one of us.  

If we are not sure about God speaking and our hearing, we will finally have to come to an act of personal faith that is unwavering.  Along the way we can read the Scripture and note the many instances of God speaking to folks like you and me.  Reading the Word will open our hearts and minds to the possibilities others know as reality.  For most of us who want to move into this new dimension of our prayer life, it may take some time.  Some patience.  Some persistence.  Some practice.  A faith that does not turn from believing what the Word of God proclaims.

Listening

When our prayer life seems to go bust, or dry as a summer drought, it may be a good time to take a look at what we are putting into our prayer life.  If what we are doing is getting a result that is less than what we desire, it makes no sense to continue doing the same thing.  If we persist in rituals of the past, we should not be surprised at the same spiritual dryness.  This is not to say that the tried and true rituals of the past have no value, but is to say that we should not be afraid of something new and different.  

Something new and different might be thinking about prayer as a place for listening instead of a place for talking.  Most of us give lip service to God speaking to His people.  We read the Word as if this is a spiritual phenomena that only happened in Biblical times to people like Moses and the Apostle Paul.  Our prayers often turn into a "to do" list for God.  Seldom do we enter into our prayer moments asking God if there anything He wants to say to us.  If we do ask if He has anything for us, He will likely need to speak quickly since our attention span for listening to Him is short.   

Listening for the voice of God is not something most of us do very easily.  If we were to enter into some kind of listening experiment,  hearing His voice might be more troubling than not hearing it because hearing requires some kind of action, or change.  One thing is certain.  If we want to add a new layer of excitement to a dry prayer life, learn to listen.  It will not be easy in the beginning, but if we practice the discipline of listening, everything changes.

Prayers in the Night

Sometimes being awaken in the middle of the night might be about the spicy pizza eaten too close to getting into bed, or it might be about a troubling phone call which took away the evening's peace, or maybe, just maybe, it might be about God saying, "It's time to pray.  Get up."  This nocturnal call to prayer may not even have a specific name.  It may have nothing to do with seeking relief from the spicy food, or the phone call which we wish we had not answered.  The need may not be definable, but it does not matter.  

If God is waking us up to pray, something important is afoot.  In such middle of the night moments the most important thing is to get up and sit in the silence the night affords us.  It is not a. moment for rushing into prayer as usual.  It is for most of us an unusual moment and unusual moments require unusual praying.  We may sit in silence and ask God to reveal to us how He wants us to pray and He may, and then again, He may not. Do not be surprised if it is more of a moment when revelation is slowly unfolding rather than something which comes like a powerful wind.   

The important thing in these middle of the night encounters with the will of God is being present.  Being there.  Sitting quietly.  Listening.  Staying until the moment of release comes.  Even as we knew it was time to start praying, He will let us know when the praying is finished.  We may make our way back to bed after the moment of release having prayed little more than "Father, Thy will be done," and if so, we have done all that obedience to God asks of us.  The important thing for us and the Kingdom is that we have done it.

A Blessing of the Word

Something I did not plan was the way the Scripture opened to certain passages in the last few days.  While I am not one of those who advocates opening the Scripture in a random manner to read whatever page shows up, this week reading the Word has sorta had that kind of feeling.  The first passage was I Chronicles 29:14 which sent me reading the sections of Scripture around the verse.  It is a story of torch passing as a very old David gathers an offering for the building of the Temple and then passes the collection as well as the Kingdom to Solomon.  Old worn out retired preachers like myself pray we have been faithful in passing the torch. 

The second was an Old Testament lectionary reading for this past Sunday which was Baptism of the Lord Sunday.  I had read Isaiah 55 many times over the years on this annual day of celebrating baptism, but this year it was like I had missed reading it for a life time.  About the time I was reading the Word, I heard a Catholic choir singing "Come to the Water" and as I put the Word and the hymn together, it was overwhelming.  The Choir certainly gave a new perspective and a new blessing to a very familiar passage of Scripture.   

The third Word which showed up via what I have come to see as the Spirit's work was from II Timothy.  It is that Word early in the first chapter which brings to mind how our own faith is connected to the faith of the generational family which has gone before us.  I am always amazed at the strong faith of my mother whose life was filled with times of hard difficulties I know about, but cannot really imagine.  But, she went through them and she planted in my sister and me a seed of faith that has grown into something that most likely resembles the prayers she prayed for us.  I am grateful for these Words this week.  Each has been a blessing from the Spirit.

Not Timidity, but Boldness

The Liturgical calendar marks today as Baptism of the Lord Sunday.  During my preaching years, it was always one of my favorite Sundays.  I always made it a time for preaching what I prayed would be a strong sermon about baptism and the importance of personal faith in Jesus Christ.  Of course, the liturgy for the day leads the congregation to a moment of baptismal reaffirmation.  I can still see folks moving from their pew to the baptismal font to receive the wet marking of the cross on their forehead in much the same manner as they would come a few weeks later for the imposition of holy ashes.  

What was always most exciting was the moment before folks were touched with the water in an act of reaffirmation.  Before preaching that day, I would always tell folks that at the end of the sermon there would be an invitation given for anyone who had not been baptized to declare their faith in Christ by being baptized.  When I first started the practice, I did not know what to expect.  In the early years, I wondered if anyone would respond to the invitation for baptism.  After a few years, I wondered who would be coming when the invitation was given for never was the invitation given that someone did not come.  Actually, there was one Sunday morning when no one came, but before the evening service that day a man approached me asking if he could be baptized that evening since he could not get himself to move from the pew that morning!   

After over forty years of preaching, I am convinced that preachers need to be more intentional about inviting people to come to Jesus.  I have heard many a preacher offer a great sermon filled with the power of the Spirit and then walk away from the invitation that was hanging in the air.  It is a moment of such loss for the Kingdom.  Those of us who are called to preach are not called to a spirit of timidity, but boldness (II Timothy 1:7).  May boldness once again be the mark of those who dare to preach the gospel.

I Wonder

I wonder what God is going to do in my corner of the world today.  I wonder where He will will surprise me with His presence.  I wonder what Words He has stored up for me to hear.  I wonder how the people He puts in my path will present themselves.  I wonder who among those I know will be touched by His caring and loving hand.  I wonder what measures He will take today to offer love and grace even to me.  I wonder if He will be doing something extraordinarily different in some gathering of the church today.   

I wonder what i will be doing when God decides it is time.  I wonder if I will be paying attention to the silence within, or the external distractions.  I wonder if I will really see.  Really hear.  Really feel.  Or, will I really miss it all.  I wonder if I will know that I might be God's answer to someone's prayer.  I wonder if I will be a giver of grace.  I wonder if I will be an expression of God's love.  I wonder where it will be that I let Him down.  I wonder what confessions will be needed at the end of the day.  I wonder if my life will be pleasing and acceptable to Him today.  I wonder if He will see and hear me today and know I love Him.  

I wonder what it would be like to walk so close behind Jesus that I can only see Him lifting His feet so that I can put mine where His have been?  I wonder what it would be like to hear the Spirit rejoicing that there is nothing in my heart to hinder His work in me.  I wonder what it will be like to hear the Father say, "Well done."  I wonder what it would be like to move beyond moments of catching a glimpse of God's glory to standing in an eternity where glory is continually washing over me like great waves of the sea.  I wonder.