Chapter 1: Simple Prayer (part 3)

“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Dom Chapman

Counsel Along the Way

Foster gives us readers five wise counsels for our prayer journey:

¬     Remember that prayer is “nothing more than an ongoing and growing love relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.”

And this love relationship is open to all, on equal footing (based on the Redemption), as Madame Guyon has said, ‘This way of prayer, this simple relationship to your Lord, is so suited for everyone; it is just as suited to the dull and ignorant as it is for the well-educated. This prayer, this experience which begins so simply, has as its end a totally abandoned love to the Lord.’

¬     Do not become discouraged by your lack of prayer—“even in our prayerlessness we can hunger for God. If so, the hunger itself is prayer…We give even our lack of prayer to God.”  (Recall Mark 9:24; Philippians 2:13)

¬     Let go of “trying too hard to pray…[don’t try to digest too much of God’s presence and the spiritual discipline of prayer all at once if it overwhelms]…If prayer is not a fixed habit with you…single out a few moments and put all your energy into them.”  We recalled the time when Jesus told His disciples that He had sooo much more to tell them, but they “could not bear it” and so they would have to wait, and take it in slowly under the Holy Spirit’s tutelage (John 16:12-13)…

¬     Learn to pray “even while dwelling on evil. Perhaps we are waging an interior battle over anger, or lust, or pride, or greed, or ambition. We need not isolate that from prayer…We lift even our disobedience into the arms of the Father…Sin, to be sure, separates us from God, but trying to hide our sin separates us all the more.”  Again, we mentioned the promise in Phil. 2:13, that God will work in us even the desire to do God’s will, as well as the ability to follow through! And of course, I John 1:9 reminds us that when we come to God with our inner gunk, He will forgive and cleanse us!

¬     In the beginning, strive for “uneventful prayer experiences. Divine revelations and ecstasies can overwhelm us and distract us from the real work of prayer…[Besides] just slipping quietly into the presence of God can be so exotic and fresh that it delights us enormously.” We do not want to be like the “adulterous generation” that Jesus chided, who were just seeking after spiritual thrills and “signs” (Matt.12:39,16:4) Linking it again to the “love relationship” theme, the core of a lifelong love partnership does not hang on the ephemeral romantic frills and thrills, but on the steady, abiding communion and commitment. : )

Finally, Foster encourages us that as we begin an earnest prayer journey, we will experience a “shift in our center of gravity. We pass from thinking of God as part of our life to the realization that we are part of His life.”  May it be~

“Dear Jesus, how desperately I need to learn to pray. And yet when I am honest, I know that I often do not even want to pray.

I am distracted!

I am stubborn!

I am self-centered!

In your mercy, Jesus, bring my ‘want-er’ more in line with my ‘need-er’ so that I can come to want what I need.

In your name and for your sake, I pray. –Amen”

Chapter 1: Simple Prayer (part 2)

“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Dom Chapman

Beginning Where We Are

In this chapter section, Foster begins to lay out the practice (vs. concept) of Simple Prayer. And how are we to start? “Very simply, we begin right where we are: in our families, on our jobs, with our neighbors and friends….In the most natural and simple way possible we learn to pray our experiences by taking up the ordinary events of everyday life and giving them to God...and so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life…”

 

One member of our study responded this way to these ideas: I used to hope one day I would have a room for prayer and Meditation. I would have plants, big pillows, soft music and an aquarium (fish are very relaxing to watch). I was going to make a cross and hang it in there—sort of my own Sanctuary. It still would be nice, but I also know I can also pray in bed, driving down the freeway, at work, in the shower. God's there all the time, all we have to do is respond. : )

Foster then says we should come to God and spill out our heart even when we are angry or disappointed with God, giving the example of Jeremiah crying out to God in complaint of how God was treating him (Jer. 20:7). Our group then talked for a good while about this concept of anger at God, and just “coming out with it” to God. One member said she really does not feel angry with God, even when things in life go awry or are very difficult; she has such solid trust in God’s love for her and God’s goodness, she does not accuse God of wrongdoing. Another shared she had many times experienced a sense of deep betrayal and anger with God, but had learned to still go to God and “talk it out”—that to come through those times, we must place ourselves before God’s presence in complete honesty, even if we have angry, hurt words and feelings (like Jeremiah did)—for, God is “waiting to meet us in the real,” as Valerie Acuff has said.

We then also discussed how this pertains to times when we are being disobedient to God—to be able to still come before God and say honestly, “I don’t feel like obeying you” or “I don’t feel like reading the Bible,” or whatever the hang-up—but to then complete that simple prayer by asking for God’s grace and help to desire to walk in step with God/walk in His ways, as Philippians 2: 13 says!

We finished our discussion of this section by sharing ideas about how simple prayer relates to Foster’s theme of prayer being about a love relationship with God. One person responded with the reminder that God loves us unconditionally, so we can (and should) come to God and tell God what's on our heart (and also listen to what His Spirit tells us in response). Another spoke of the example of long-term marriage: in that love relationship, you travel through daily life together, and if one person doesn’t share with the other, it brings separation. Sharing everything with the other person is natural, however, when love binds you together. And so it is with our relationship with God: we can view God as our beloved, and sharing the things (experiences, emotions, thoughts) of our life with God binds us together. Along with this arises the notion of trust and sense of comfort and security: in a good marriage, the partners can trust one another and have a sense of security and confidence that the other person also loves them and takes an interest in them (i.e., each person wants to know “what is going on” with the other, how the other is doing, etc.)—and so it is with God as our “Heavenly Spouse” (see for ex. Isaiah 54:5; Revelation 19:7 re: God as Spouse/Husband).

So, let us begin in prayer “where we are,” knowing we are held in the unconditional Love of the Creator~

“Dear Jesus, how desperately I need to learn to pray. And yet when I am honest, I know that I often do not even want to pray.

I am distracted!

I am stubborn!

I am self-centered!

In your mercy, Jesus, bring my ‘want-er’ more in line with my ‘need-er’ so that I can come to want what I need.

In your name and for your sake, I pray. –Amen”

Chapter 1: Simple Prayer (part 1)

“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Dom Chapman

Foster opens his first chapter by saying, “We today yearn for prayer and hide from prayer. We are attracted to it and repelled by it. We believe prayer is something we should do, even something we want to do, but it seems like a chasm stands between us and actually praying. We experience the agony of prayerlessness.

We are not quite sure what holds us back.”

And so, the Bible study group discussed a bit what kinds of barriers we experience to prayer. The discussion focused on ways to stop the barriers and keep prayer flowing throughout the day. One person shared, for example, that she does not say “amen” when she is praying, until the end of the day, to maintain the idea of continual prayer flowing through the day, always ready to pick up the thread of prayer. Another approach group members use is to pray for a given request in the moment after we read it, so it is not forgotten in the press of the day’s tasks.

Foster argues that using busyness as an excuse for not praying is just a “smoke screen. Our busyness seldom keeps us from eating or sleeping or making love.”

Foster believes a major barrier to prayer is the notion that we “have to have everything ‘just right’ in order to pray.”

To move through this major barrier, we must be willing to surrender…and, to be simple. ‘To pray,’ writes Emilie Griffith, ‘means to be willing to be naïve.’

Foster argues that we do not need to—nor can we—have all our motives all sorted out and “pure” before coming to God in prayer. True, we do not want to be hypocrites, but we also cannot afford to let our soul-searching and honesty paralyze us and keep us from coming to God! “God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture [of our “tangled mass of motives”]. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by it, we live by it. And we pray by it.”

Do we understand this grace? Are we living this understanding of God’s grace? Think of the beauty of Jesus’ response to the man in Mark 9:23-25.

“Jesus reminds us that prayer is a little like children coming to their parents.”  Jesus reminds us that we are coming to a loving Father, one who knows us, loves us, and wants to meet our needs (Matt. 6:8,32; Psalm 103:13-14)!

“…it is in the very act of prayer…that these matters are cared for in due time” We reminded ourselves that God’s Spirit is with us to cleanse us in response to our simple requests and confessions (I John 1:9)—and, to help us pray when we do not know how to pray (Rom. 8:26)! : )  We can therefore pray even for God to help us pray!

Foster describes the most basic, primary form of prayer as “simple prayer,” where we “bring ourselves to God just as we are, warts and all…we simply and unpretentiously share our concerns and make our petitions.” He then shows some examples of simple prayer—shocking, ugly prayers recorded in Scripture, as well as beautiful, altruistic examples of simple prayer in Scripture.

“Simple prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretense in simple prayer…we do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God—or ourselves…we pour out our hearts to the God who is greater than our hearts and who knows all things (I John 3:20).”

Foster ends this section of the chapter by saying that simple prayer is both beginning prayer, and necessary, essential prayer. “Those who think they can skip over Simple Prayer deceive themselves. Most likely, they themselves have not prayed.”

With simple prayer, the “adventure is just beginning”…

“Dear Jesus, how desperately I need to learn to pray. And yet when I am honest, I know that I often do not even want to pray.

I am distracted!

I am stubborn!

I am self-centered!

In your mercy, Jesus, bring my ‘want-er’ more in line with my ‘need-er’ so that I can come to want what I need.

In your name and for your sake, I pray. –Amen”

Moving Inward: Seeking the Transformation we Need

We spent the entire evening meeting going over Foster’s one-page introduction to this first section of the book, astonished at how much there was to discuss! = )

Foster describes some forms of prayer as the “movement inward [which] is prayer to God the Son, Jesus Christ, which corresponds to His role of Savior and Teacher among us.”

“To pray is to change. This is great grace…the movement inward comes first because without interior transformation the movement up into God’s glory would overwhelm us and the movement out into ministry would destroy us.”

Do we grasp our need for transformation? God says to us, “Be holy, as I am holy” (see Lev. 11:45; Lev. 20:26; I Peter 1:15) and “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). Throughout Scripture, we read accounts of individuals who encountered something of God’s glory in greater, more direct measure than the “usual,” through specific, embodied encounters with God or with angels (spiritual “messengers”) who came from God’s full, glorious presence. We read two of these stories, Ezekiel 1-2, and Rev. 1:9-18, and noted some commonalities: the complete “otherness” and transcendence of God—indescribable, overwhelming; the “blazing” appearance of God and Jesus in both accounts; that both Ezekiel and John were “good” men, “holy” men, and yet both fell down as dead in the presence of God...

Indeed, we must agree with Foster’s assessment of our need for transformation before we can encounter greater measures of God’s glory! St. Paul speaks of this transformation being worked in us through the Spirit of Christ bringing life to our spirits, imparting Jesus’ righteousness to us (II Cor. 5:21; II Cor. 5:17;  cf. II Peter 1:3), and, by our deliberate, conscious surrender to the Spirit’s inner renewal—“being renewed in knowledge in the image of Christ” (Col. 3:9-11 ), so that we can move from “glory to glory” (II Cor. 3:18). We also read Romans 8:29, which reminds us that our calling, our whole purpose and destiny, is to become like Jesus. We reminded ourselves that these processes of transformation are part of a lifelong journey, and that God has compassion on us in the process, knowing we are frail bits of dust (Psalm 103:13-14).

We then delved a bit into Foster’s second argument, that inner transformation must occur before we can effectively move outward in transformative spiritual service to others. We reviewed aspects of inner transformation as enabling service in some Scriptural examples, first reading the story of Gideon (Judges 6:7-24) and discussing how the barriers he had to service are common to us, also: The first barrier we see in this story is disappointment with or anger at God, wondering why He has not intervened or why He has allowed certain devastating circumstances in our lives. The second barrier noted in this story is failing to see our true identity (that is, from God’s perspective of who He has created us to be). We then see Gideon asking for a “sign” to be sure of God speaking to Him, and we see God’s mercy toward Gideon through it all, telling Him at the end of the encounter, when Gideon is afraid because he finally realizes fully that He has been conversing with God, that Gideon should not be afraid (of how He has acted toward God in anger and unbelief), because he “will not die” (i.e., God would not be striking Gideon down for His less-than optimal responses toward God).

We then looked at the story of Jesus washing His disciples feet (John 13: 3-5), noting that Jesus’ service to others came from a full realization of (1) His identity (that He IS the glorious Creator and Master of everything, and had come forth from God) and (2) His destiny (or, that He was headed once more for union with God). This stands as an example for us of healthy Christian service: truly knowing who we are as beloved and honored children of God, and knowing our calling and destiny as members of the spiritual kingdom (i.e., service stemming from strength and wholeness, not false martyrdom or lack of proper “boundaries”).

We then discussed the story of Simon the sorcerer, in Acts 8:9-24, as another example of our need for transformation before entering Christian service. Simon was used to making money off his powers. He did not understand God’s ways of freely giving what we freely receive from God. He was trying to apply his old understanding to his new life with God, and landed in trouble! Again, however, we see that God provides opportunity for repentance and cleansing.

Finally, we read the story of Isaiah’s response to God’s call to service (Isa. 6:1-8). Before Isaiah could offer himself in God’s service, he needed cleansing!—Isaiah realized his need and cried out to God, and God responded in mercy, showing forgiveness and bringing cleansing. We reminded ourselves that our “calling,” our service might not be in lofty form. It might be all about doing “Ordinary things in an extraordinary way”—to do “small things with great love,” as Therese of Lisieux (and Mother Teresa after her) said.

Finally, hearkening back to Foster’s theme of the spiritual life being a love relationship with the Divine, we reflected on love as a motive for seeking inner transformation, bringing in John 15:9-10 and Dan Allender’s challenging quote, “To honor what God has called me to be is the reason I choose the path of change.”

Foster ends his short introduction to the inward movement of prayer with a story about Abba Joseph (one of the “desert fathers” of the 1st century AD): “A disciple once came to Abba Joseph, saying, ‘Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, I keep my little fast, and my little prayer. And according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my mind of all evil thoughts and my heart of all evil intents. Now, what more should I do?’ Abba Joseph rose and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He answered, ‘Why not be totally changed into fire?’”

Ah! We were thus reminded of how easily we fall into a rut, of how easily we come to believe that our strivings are surely “up to par” and we are doing so much for God, for righteousness…only to realize, in a Spirit-led jolt, how childishly we may be thinking, how much more our Great and Glorious Heavenly Father and Master would have for us to be!

“Why not be totally changed into fire?” Lord, please call us once again, rouse us upward and outward in our thinking and understanding of You, please help us see and hear You as You really are, please help us deepen our understanding of all You have called and created us to be, that we might soar in Your greatness, glory, and love, as You would have us do, to Your glory and praise!