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Prayer is interaction - communication - with God, and for most of our
lives the results of prayer are not spectacular. Though we may have
experienced miracles of intercession, of healing and of provision, these
are not the spiritual fare on which we dine daily. It is less common
that we enjoy "mountain top" experiences of prayer; more often than not
it is in the daily mundane events that our lives are joined with God.
Most of us but rarely dwell with God in the hallowed atmosphere of a
sacred building; rather it is at the coalface of our existence where
our days commence and finish, where we are found to be tired, dusty,
challenged and vulnerable, that we develop our relationship with God.
Rarely do we realize the steady, ongoing growth of intimacy produced by
the constancy of this our interaction with God. Prayer is the switching
on, or the opening of circuits, of power between our Creator and
ourselves.
And, just as electromagnetic forces, sound waves and electricity of
themselves produce no audible sound, so oftentimes in prayer God's words
come as a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19: 11-12), rather than the voice of
God as depicted at Sinai. When we address the subject of the power of
prayer it is obvious that, as we regard prayer as an active force, we
are dealing with the dynamics of prayer. Dynamics are concerned with
forces which produce motion - as opposed to inertia or a static state.
Dynamics encompass personality, strength, ambition, energy and new
ideas. The topic of the dynamics of prayer is so large that it really
has no boundaries.
Scripture speaks of prayer being the medium through which miracles can
be set in motion, or can spring forth, fully accomplished: Elijah (1
Kings 17: 20-21), and Elisha (2 Kings 4: 33) prayed successfully for the
restoration of life to two young men, and Jesus (John 11: 41-42) gave
thanks for his ongoing communication with God just before he restored
Lazarus to life.
Other notable prayers from Scripture are:
Faith makes the difference in prayer, changing prayer from a custom of
conformity into an expression of spiritual intimacy. Prayer wraps
around us like a soft blanket, providing comfort and assurance during
the fiercest of life's storms. Prayer provides the strength when we
would otherwise be beaten by circumstances. Prayer supplies us with
non-judgmental love and forgiveness when we, or those we love and serve,
have been hurt. Prayer gives us the courage to challenge injustices and
prejudices whether these be entrenched in legislation or in attitudes.
Prayer shakes our lives and conceptions (misconceptions) just as surely
as the bones were shaken in the valley of Ezekiel's vision, so that God
may remove the scales from our eyes and the plugs from our ears, and we
may experience vibrant lives as God's children.
When our spiritual, physical or emotional pain seems almost too
excruciating to bear, prayer will enable us to endure, to discover an
inner serenity and then to teach us how our own experiences can be used
to help others. In the silence of prayer we hear the voice of God, and
our lives are changed. We are transformed from those who have known
loneliness to those who know they will never ever be alone again; from
those who have acted or reacted from fear to those who act and react
only from love; from those who find life can at best be endured to
those who welcome each new day with joy. Prayer is the staff on which
we lean when the path ahead grows steeper and more strewn with
obstacles. Prayer is the power that compels us to seek help rather than
pursuing a permanent escape from life's ills. Prayer is the force that
unblocks channels of healing, grace and blessing and allows us to
experience fully the love of God.
Prayer provides the greatest intimacy we will ever know, for with God we
can be completely open and completely honest, admitting our
insufficiencies and asking for God's sufficiencies. In the security of
this intimacy we are able to expose our deepest regrets, our sharpest
torments, our fears and recurring nightmares, and in the naming and
critical examination of these we discover a catharsis has occurred and
we are freed of the burdens we have carried over-long. To God we are
able to bring our hopes, ambitions and unexpressed dreams and expect a
gift of discernment, and perhaps another of courage to bring these to
fruition. In God, once depicted as remote and perhaps judgmental, we
discover a loving Parent, even an intimate Lover. From God's mouth come
truths with which no other would dare confront us, yet in our intimate
closeness such words are encased in love, for God knows each of our
frailties and chooses not to wound our fragile beings.
God, in human form as Jesus, observed the disciplined prayer life
required by the Jewish law, extending this to embrace a period of prayer
and fasting in the tradition of the nation's prophets. In living and in
dying God as Jesus reached out with his words and his spirit to God his
Parent. So it is that we are able to reach out in the processes of our
living and our dying to God our Parent from whom we draw the energy of
life which continues to fill our hearts with joy and sustains us through
our darkest nights. The power of prayer is available to us at all
times; it is our willingness to connect to the energy of God through
every circumstance of our lives which falters at times, not God's
grace. God is present at the coalface. In the dusty streets, amid the
bushfires, avalanches and earthquakes which shake our lives, God is
there in prayer.
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Nothing Is Impossible With God by Kathryn Kuhlman by David Wilkerson by Catherine Marshall (Editor), Peter Marshall
Other Writings By Rev. Vera Bourne:
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