Transcription
You know that one person you catch on the phone and they only call you to complain or when they need something, and they just spew words that you non-stop, and it's all about them, and it's not about you, and you can't even get a word in, and then they just say, "Okay, goodbye," click. I think that's how God sometimes feels when we pray.
And if you're anything like me, prayer can fall into four categories. Either it's dry and stale, like a dried-out old bagel, or we say the same things over and over again, like a broken record, or we treat God like some giant vending machine in the sky where I put a little something in and get a little something out, or worse, prayer becomes the most annoying chore or obligation possible, like vacuuming the entire house when it's 9,000 degrees outside. Whatever it is, we're gonna stop praying. And once we stop praying, it's like when we stop watering the plant; our faith dies.
So I just wanted to pass along some thoughts and techniques I've picked up along the way that have helped me break out of all these and really helped me take my prayer a little deeper. Now, I'm not going to just give you some fancy definition of prayer because I don't really think you can capture it just with some words. So instead, I'm going to give you a picture. To me, this is prayer, and this will make more sense as we go along. But if I had to put words to it, I would say it's the mutual emptying or pouring out of one heart into another until the two hearts become one. And oh, by the way, one of those hearts happens to be God's.
Now, there are three ingredients necessary in order to make prayer prayer, and if any one of them are missing, your whole prayer is going to fall apart. I remember them as PHT. Or, okay, PHT. Have you ever been alone in a room? Maybe you're waiting for something, and somebody else enters the room. Now, you may not see them, maybe they come in behind you, but you're just aware of the presence of another person in the room. This is the starting point of all prayer, just the awareness of the presence of another person in the room, or else we're just talking to ourselves in the dark. Hello.
The greatest line I've ever heard about prayer, and of course, I don't remember who wrote it, was, "God hears our hearts, not our words." I'm going to say that again: God hears our hearts, not our words. So can we all please just forget about, "Am I saying the right thing or using the right words?" and just get down to the core: what's going on in my heart? If we can speak heart, we can speak God's language. And if we flip that around, we have to learn how to listen to God's heart inside my own heart, enough for any words or feelings or signs, but in very subtle and gentle inspirations or movements in my heart, and those "aha" moments of clarity in my soul. And once we master this very delicate language of heart, that's when we're talking to God.
Okay, you really gotta bear with me on this one. Remember those old diving suits where the guy in the bottom was completely dependent on the guy in the top, and the guy in the top had to pump all the air down to the guy in the bottom? And if the guy in the bottom ever wanted to come up, he had to tug the rope and just hope and pray that the guy on top would see it and pull him up. Okay, the point is, if you're the guy in the bottom, you have to entrust your entire life into the hands of the guy in the top, even for your very next breath. Now, in a similar but totally different way, we have to 100% have that same radical trust in the guy in the top, even for our very next breath.
Now, here's where the analogy breaks down because it's not just some guy in the top where I'm trusting our entire lives to. It's the God of the entire universe who loves you and me in a way that, well, we could never possibly comprehend. Listen to these lines: "The whole universe before the Lord is a grain of sand, a drop of morning dew, but not one tiny sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing it, and even the hairs on your head are numbered." So don't be afraid. You're worth more than all the sparrows. And yes, I paraphrased. This is who we're in the presence of. This is who I empty my entire heart to. This is who I entrust my next breath to.
Now, it's very important to prepare before we pray because, remember, we're in the presence of the God of the universe. Okay, that was a lot of peace. Keep this in mind: to the degree in which I make myself present to God, to that same degree, God will make himself present to me. Think about that. So I like to find a quiet, dark spot, feet on the ground, palms open, ready to receive. Posture is important because our body is the manifestation of our soul. So if our body's open, our soul's open. Now, our heart, or our soul, is spiritual. So this is our doorway, so to speak, into the spiritual, and that's where we're going to meet God.
So the first thing we got to do is get into that room, the inner room, which is our hearts, and close the doors to everything else. And let's start with a simple de-stressing technique. Focus on all the noise in your head, all the stress in your gut, anything that's weighing heavy on you. Imagine it all like a red smoke collecting in the center of your chest, and just keep taking deep breaths and exhaling it all out. Just keep focusing on your breath and picture the smoke passing through your lips. Next, imagine the room you're in, the environment all around you, the chair you're sitting in, even your own body, just fading away. So there's no world right now, so none of those worries connected to it. It's just your heart in an infinite, empty void.
Now, invite him in. And just like we know when somebody else enters the room, be aware of his presence in the room. And I can't stress this enough, but this is not about a feeling. It's about knowing and trust. And there are no words here. Our mind is silent. It's just my heart and his, and nothing else. Now, we can just sit here forever, not say a word, and just be. This is actually the deepest form of prayer.
But if we want to say something, I can't tell you what that is, but I find it helps to have a little structure. So where I usually start is, "Dear Lord, I'm sorry for..." Because, remember, we're on sacred ground here. So search your heart for those dark spots, or have I fallen short with myself, with God, with the people around me? What are the blocks getting in the way between me and him? If you don't really know what to say here, ask him to show you, and he will, over time. And please, just lose this idea of the angry God who's so disappointed in me. He's literally the dad in the prodigal son who runs out to meet us.
Next, let's pray for each other. We're all suffering something on the inside, on the outside, or both. And think big. There are no limitations. Think of all of us who are struggling out there, the sick, the dying, or those of us who have lost hope. And think of the overall balance of good and evil in our world, in our hearts. I don't think it's really so important about what we say because he already knows. It's about, "Do I mean it? And do I trust that he can do something about it?" Because love and faith is what he can work with, not words.
And in last place, we pray for ourselves. Jesus says very tenderly, "Tell me your fears as simply as you can. Tell me what you need. Tell me what you want. Tell me all about your sorrows and your joys." And just pour it all out. Now, I've found the more we tell him about our fears, the more those fears lose their teeth until we're just not afraid of them anymore. And it's important to know the difference between what I want and what I need. And remember, Jesus is way more concerned about our spiritual welfare than our material welfare. So I'll speak for myself here, but sometimes I think we get all wrapped up in asking about all this stuff and have very little or no concern about any of this stuff. And it's Jesus who says, "Seek first me, and then I'll give you all that other stuff."
So after I ask him for all the things I think I need, I usually just say, "Lord, you know what I need better than I do. That's what I want." And after I ask him for all the things I think I want, I say, "Lord, if this desire is from you, then let it be done. If not, then please remove it from my heart." Either way, we're covered. And the more we do this sincerely, the more we're going to find there's really only one thing that I need and want.
And this is probably the most important part: we just say thank you. You don't have to use any fancy words. Just say it in your own words from your heart and mean it. And then I always close simply by saying, "Lord, I know you can do all things."
If we're being honest, sometimes we just don't want to pray. And a lot of it has to do with all these things, but these are just the symptoms. I think what it really comes down to, and believe me, I'm talking to myself here, is: Do I really love God? And do I really believe he's a living person I can talk to, who hears me, who really loves me? Because if I do, then what better things could I possibly be doing with my time on this tiny little planet than spending a few moments every day hanging out and talking with the God of the universe, king of peace, the perfection of everything that I want, that I need, that I'm searching for?
And if you struggle with these, it's okay. We all do. But then that's what we take to our prayer, open and honestly. So try this for a week, and you can make it your own. But I guarantee you this: at some point, you will hear him somewhere deep inside your soul. And when you do, remember that, because that's what we build off of. And then the rest is just a giant love affair where we're no longer talking just to God, but with God. [Music]