Like many Christians, I have found prayer to be a puzzle. How much, when, where, what position, what words, what language, what form, what formula,? I’ve read a number of excellent books and attended seminars devoted to prayer. I find myself no wiser and even less a pray-er than before. For a year, a small group met in our home studying With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. The book has much to commend it, coming as it does from one of the great Christian thinkers of the nineteenth century. But after all that thought and effort, I found myself no closer to God in prayer than before.
Quite by accident, I stumbled on a “method” which seems to “work.” I have put those two words in quotation marks because there is no method and no work in prayer. Prayer is, at heart, all in the heart, not in a method or in hard work. Prayer is a relationship, prayer is a two-way conversation with a beloved Other. So, when reading what I say below, please hear and recognize this first: without a relationship, this method, this process is just as dry and tedious, just as empty as any other method if used to talk with a friend. The heart must be engaged before the “method” will “work.”
Much of the New Testament, especially Paul's epistles are written in the third person: "He is” “He did,” “He said,” “He went." They are powerful, complex declarative statements about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Their work for and through us. Statements like:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us, in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons, through Jesus Christ. To the praise of His glorious grace which He freely gave us, in the One He loves.
(Eph. 1:3-6)
He Himself is our peace.
(Eph. 2:13?)
In Him, through Him, to Him are all things; to Him be the glory, forever, amen.
(Rom 11:36)
These statements, written by Paul to various ecclesia, and to us, are his statements about God. They describe, they declare, they teach; wonderful words, but words about. I am not belittling these clear statements opening our the mind to the reality of our great Father and His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. But there is another layer, another “use” of the very same words. With one grammatical sleight of hand, declarative and descriptive statements are transformed into prayers:
Praise be to You, the god and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ who blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For You chose us, in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in Your sight. In love, You predestined us to be adopted as your children through Jesus Christ. To the praise of Your glorious grace which you freely gave us in the One You love.
(Ephesians 1:3-6)
You Yourself are our peace.
(Eph. 2:13)
In You, through You, to You are all things; to You be the glory, forev
(Rom 11:36)
No longer is the author addressing a fellow human. We are instantly addressing God directly with His own inspired words. Now, instead of information we are entering into communication, a relationship. Implicit in the change is the acknowledgement that the statement is true and that we are approaching God with His truth on our lips.
After praying this way for a number of years, I discovered that I was not the first. It has been a "method" of praying from the earliest church Fathers. It is still practiced in some monasteries in both the Roman and Greek Orthodox Catholic communions. In theological terms it is called "Lectio Divina" (Divine Reading). Like all theology, however, definitions of things divine are mere empty shadows of the reality. It is in the living breathing experience of entering into the very thoughts of God, that these words become an intimate merging with the divine purpose and will. Static words, black on white type, live and breathe by His Spirit in us. His words become ours, then again His -we enter into His thoughts, intents and purposes-truly heart meeting heart,
Mind meeting mind, spirit meeting spirit-the essence of relationship-the essence of prayer.
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