PRAYER: A RADICAL TRUST
Right now I’m reading several books at one time. One is a book on discernment –a very good book I may add; another on Ireland and the Celts; the third on meditation and contemplative prayer. The conflagration of the three has brought me to broach the subject of how to use a discerning heart (or even the spiritual gift of discernment) as I pray for others. It names a struggle I face in my own prayer life: Do I pray for someone in a specific way because they asked me to… or do I take that person, their needs, wants, desires to God and seek God’s best for them? Do I pray that their will be done… or that God’s will be done in their lives.
Sometimes as I pray for something specific that someone has asked, I’m led away from their request and find myself asking God to use their circumstances, need, situation, longing, even illness or grief to bring them closer to Him and His desire for their lives – even if it means they don’t receive what they want right now. At those times, I feel as though I ought to put out a disclaimer to anyone who asks me to pray that says: “I will pray for you. But please know, praying for God’s will to be done... is not necessarily what you’d like to be done.”
Are you brave enough to pray beyond what you can see? Are you willing to turn your needs and the needs of those you love, over to God and His intentions and purposes? Praying this way is more than tacking on “In Jesus’ Name” at the end of our prayer. It’s taking the time and effort to slow down… to seek God’s heart and will… and to listen before, during and after our prayer times for the holiest Spirit. It’s willing to be led in prayer and not be the leader.
But that’s not all, praying in this way includes yet another dimension –and this one inside of us. Because praying this way assumes a radical trust that God loves and knows us, that God is good, that God cares about the details of our lives, and that at any moment what God is allowing to happen in our lives is not for harm…but for good. Do you believe those things? Do you have such a radical trust?
Just this week three people, after sharing some of their life story, asked me to pray for them. As I prayed aloud I asked God to be with them, to heal them (even if they had no physical malady), to lead them and to bless them. As I continue to pray for these folks when they come to mind I’ll pray: “Your will be done, Lord” trusting what God wills and works is beyond anything I could come up with.
I’m becoming more aware that God’s unfathomable love for us includes both crucible and pleasant places. May our absolute trust in God’s goodness lead us to place ourselves and those we love into His tender care. BLESSINGS AND JOY, THE CELTIC MONK
Sometimes as I pray for something specific that someone has asked, I’m led away from their request and find myself asking God to use their circumstances, need, situation, longing, even illness or grief to bring them closer to Him and His desire for their lives – even if it means they don’t receive what they want right now. At those times, I feel as though I ought to put out a disclaimer to anyone who asks me to pray that says: “I will pray for you. But please know, praying for God’s will to be done... is not necessarily what you’d like to be done.”
Are you brave enough to pray beyond what you can see? Are you willing to turn your needs and the needs of those you love, over to God and His intentions and purposes? Praying this way is more than tacking on “In Jesus’ Name” at the end of our prayer. It’s taking the time and effort to slow down… to seek God’s heart and will… and to listen before, during and after our prayer times for the holiest Spirit. It’s willing to be led in prayer and not be the leader.
But that’s not all, praying in this way includes yet another dimension –and this one inside of us. Because praying this way assumes a radical trust that God loves and knows us, that God is good, that God cares about the details of our lives, and that at any moment what God is allowing to happen in our lives is not for harm…but for good. Do you believe those things? Do you have such a radical trust?
Just this week three people, after sharing some of their life story, asked me to pray for them. As I prayed aloud I asked God to be with them, to heal them (even if they had no physical malady), to lead them and to bless them. As I continue to pray for these folks when they come to mind I’ll pray: “Your will be done, Lord” trusting what God wills and works is beyond anything I could come up with.
I’m becoming more aware that God’s unfathomable love for us includes both crucible and pleasant places. May our absolute trust in God’s goodness lead us to place ourselves and those we love into His tender care. BLESSINGS AND JOY, THE CELTIC MONK
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