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| life.biblechurch.org |
Richard Foster has a practice in prayer called, "palms up, palm down." As a person is sitting, he places his palms downward on his legs. This is where he lets go or drops certain things. Then he turns his hands upward to receive from God. Only empty hands can receive. Self-examination that never turns its gaze upward is never really letting go, but really only holding on more tightly. I get stuck in this form of introspection more often than I would like. Looking upward in prayer helps me to let go.
"In one sense adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims." ( Foster, Prayer-Finding-Hearts-True-Home, 83) Moving Inward through prayer is necessarily followed by and accompanied with Moving Upward. Without this movement, moving inward and letting go is doomed to become merely "self-examination [where] we will always end up with excessive praise or blame." (ibid, 30) Letting go is necessary only so that now I can open my heart and receive from God.
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| davidniblack |
Moving Upward begins with the Prayer of Adoration. Moving Inward can become narcissism unless I move toward "the grateful center, . . . a time and a place where we were free of all the grasping and grabbing, all the pushing and shoving, all the disapproving and dissenting." (ibid, 88) Such thankfulness brings me away from mere self-examination into a true hope and a real love. I let go so I can receive the goodness of God through adoring him.
The Prayer of Rest, Sacramental Prayer, and Unceasing Prayer teach me ways in which I can better receive from God. In practicing rest, I find that the work of prayer and everything else does not lie in my hands, but in God's. Sacramental Prayer and Unceasing Prayer are ways I can join God in his work rather than try to get him to do what I want. They focus on using my body and other parts of creation to pray as in sacraments, or in drawing my attention back to God throughout my day, so that each moment is spent with him as an unceasing prayer. I receive God's presence and life by resting on him and seeking him moment by moment.
Prayer of the Heart, Meditative Prayer, and Contemplative Prayer take the conversation I have found in resting with God, sacraments, and unceasing prayer and move them into communion and union with God. In Prayer of the Heart and Meditative Prayer, I find I increasingly feel as God feels and think and God thinks. They are gifts and practices. In contemplation, the communion of shared thoughts and feelings becomes the union of shared will. I anticipate willing what God wills from a heart formed into his likeness, "in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) I receive the very best that God can give: himself living in me.
COMMUNION AND UNION WITH GOD
Moving Upward in prayer begins with gratitude. Without thanksgiving I do not see life as it really is. I do not understand how God really is. Gratitude begins the journey to companionship (covenant) with God.
As gratitude takes root in my life, I can begin to discover and understand the mind of Christ. His thoughts and feelings become the focus of my attention and the "bread" on which I live. I turn my thoughts and feelings toward him more and more as I share communion with him in my mind. From this immersion in the life of Christ, I find my will and my actions start to change.
"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you." (John 15:7) As the life and words of Christ make their home in my mind, my will and actions start to look more like Jesus'. Through the renewal of my mind, God orders and enlivens my soul and my will and my body begin to act in concert with him. I move from communion with God to union with God.
Quite frankly, I think I try to skip from gratitude to union. I guess the process of change through communion and the renewed mind are more work than I want to do. Obviously, the whole work is from God, but equally obvious is that he won't do it without my involvement. As I heard Dallas Willard say recently, "We are not waiting for grace, grace is waiting for us." God wants communion and union with me, but I find myself distracted and more interested in other things.
His mercy is patience. He waits and works with me lovingly. For this I am grateful.
Lord, where I place my mind is very precious to me. I think long and hard about plans for myself and what I want. I want to have the mind of Christ instead. I want to be free from the worry about my own "kingdom," and my own name and be solely focused on you and yours. I don't want to keep your grace waiting anymore. Amen.
COMMUNION AND UNION WITH GOD
Moving Upward in prayer begins with gratitude. Without thanksgiving I do not see life as it really is. I do not understand how God really is. Gratitude begins the journey to companionship (covenant) with God.
As gratitude takes root in my life, I can begin to discover and understand the mind of Christ. His thoughts and feelings become the focus of my attention and the "bread" on which I live. I turn my thoughts and feelings toward him more and more as I share communion with him in my mind. From this immersion in the life of Christ, I find my will and my actions start to change.
"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you." (John 15:7) As the life and words of Christ make their home in my mind, my will and actions start to look more like Jesus'. Through the renewal of my mind, God orders and enlivens my soul and my will and my body begin to act in concert with him. I move from communion with God to union with God.
Quite frankly, I think I try to skip from gratitude to union. I guess the process of change through communion and the renewed mind are more work than I want to do. Obviously, the whole work is from God, but equally obvious is that he won't do it without my involvement. As I heard Dallas Willard say recently, "We are not waiting for grace, grace is waiting for us." God wants communion and union with me, but I find myself distracted and more interested in other things.
His mercy is patience. He waits and works with me lovingly. For this I am grateful.
Lord, where I place my mind is very precious to me. I think long and hard about plans for myself and what I want. I want to have the mind of Christ instead. I want to be free from the worry about my own "kingdom," and my own name and be solely focused on you and yours. I don't want to keep your grace waiting anymore. Amen.
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