Personal #2 - Prayer

As we have thoroughly discussed communication with God in this class, I have thought back to my own prayer life. In my other class, an independent study on Reformation Theology, we discussed John Calvin, who writes four main rules of prayer. First, that reverence is absolutely necessary in prayer. Second, we pray from a sincere sense of want, and with patience. Third, we yield all confidence in ourselves and humbly plead for pardon. And fourth, we pray with confident hope. These two lines of thought regarding prayer have showed me a few things: how dynamic prayer is, how my selfish nature can blind me to the true meaning of prayer, and how God desires us to "empty ourselves" in prayer so that His Holy Spirit may fill us. I have noticed the flaw in my prayer life - I often do not enter into the presence of God with a sense of reverence. I do not "empty myself." I am consumed with my selfish agenda and often insist that prayer be a monologue in which I get to express my intended agenda with my God. Oh, how I am misguided. I have begun to see the beauty and gift that is prayer. I have been learning how to truly quiet myself in order that I may hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit. While I will always be sinful and my prayer always flawed, I am thankful for a gracious God who draws me near to Him and teaches me more about Him in my schoolwork.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outside Reading #3

Themes of wilderness and the presence of God are especially evident throughout the psalms. Some examples include: Ps. 63:1-2 "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory." Ps. 78:14-16 "He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas; He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. Ps. 136:16 "to Him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever." Ps. 107:4-6 "some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress." Woven into these examples, is the idea that wilderness puts us ...
Read more

Landscapes of the Sacred #2

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Ch. 10 discusses the tension between place and placelessness is Christian Spirituality. It discusses the two approaches to sacred place: kataphatic and apophatic.  Kataphatic rejoices in discerning the presence of God in the “thisness” of various places [place] while a pophatic: skeptical of an image’s ability to contain the mystery of the Holy [placelessness]. In one specific section, The Christian Imagination and a Theology of Place, Lane discusses how God is here, but not only here. He writes, “A theology of transcendance will never be comfortable with place.” He goes on to describe 5 “motifs by which the religious imagination is able to ‘create’ places or landscapes that become embodied means of experiencing the divine presence.” The first comes from John Calvin, he “spoke of the natural world as a theater full of wonders in which God’s glory becomes apparent..” The second is n ature as a ‘second book’ alongside scripture as a way to read the presen...
Read more

Reading - see my journey on facebook

Kendall Bredehorst 12/16/17 "See my journey on facebook" briefly discussed the effects of technology on pilgrimage. As each year goes by, an increasing amount of people are using technology in their day to day lives. Technology is turning into an necessity rather than a non-necessity. This trend is overflowing into how people experience pilgrimages and thru-hikes. To fully experience the trail people need to completely immerse themselves in the expedition, which means ditching the phone. Due to the additive characteristic of technology, people can hinder their pilgrimage or hike through the use of technology.
Read more