Changing up how I pray

February 6, 2024

Maria 1 Corinthians 2, House of Prayer, Matthew 6, Prayer, Praying in the Spirit , , , , Leave a comment

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Matthew 6:5 ESV

When you pray, don’t babble on and on…….. Matthew 6:7 NLT

Do you find it hard to pray?  Do you struggle to know if God will accept the words you use, that they will be pleasing to him, or   ‘enough’? Do you even know what to say?

Sometimes I wonder, ‘Do I have to pray earnestly with feeling or can I pray in an ordinary tone?’  Wes, who was our mischievous, manipulative, incorrigible son (although irresistibly cute!) used to implore me, begging with a long drawn-out , “PLEEEEEEEEZE, Mom. PLEEZE, PLEEZE, PLEEZE….” until I caved. 

Is that how I view God, the Father? 

Some books I’ve been reading have gently redirected my manner of praying as well as the content. And they have added a preliminary, ongoing preparation in order to pray.

Oswald Chambers, a British pastor at the turn of the 20th century, taught his students how to pray simply and if I can say so, matter of factly.  Not a ho-hum approach as though we don’t care about the outcome, but a matter-of-factness that comes from trusting God’s knowledge, wisdom and timing.  In all but one occasion, and that in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing what awaited him, Jesus simply talked to his Father using normal words and without any begging. 

I wrote in my journal: Huh, I guess I DON’T have to convince God with earnest feelings, but pray with confidence as Jesus did. 

I’m not saying that heart-felt, emotion-laden praying is wrong. I’m just not someone who traffics in deep emotions on a daily basis. I process rationally, following my thoughts to figure out my heart motives.

In one of his short reflections from his book, If Ye Would Ask, Oswald explains what it means to pray in the Holy Spirit.  Since the Holy Spirit inhabits us, that makes our bodies a house of prayer. Our job is to clean our temple on a daily basis, taking care of our thoughts and practices.  Then we simply communicate to the Spirit what we personally need or intercessions on behalf of someone else.

Chambers models how we are to present with simple details, the person and the situation to the Spirit of God in us. That is praying ‘in the Spirit’ or in the place where the Spirit is. Afterwards, we leave the matter in his hands to intercede with inexpressible groans on behalf of our petitions.  He does the emoting.

I recently read a biography of Mrs. Oswald Chambers who, with the ability to use shorthand at the rate of 250 words a minute, transcribed all of Oswald’s talks and teachings.  The biographer Michelle Ule provides abundant examples of both Oswald and his wife’s (Biddy) prayers. For example:

Father, we lift up Steve who is caring for our mom. Give him the wisdom he needs today. Amen.

The Holy Spirit will do the rest, according to the GOOD will of the Father. And isn’t that what we want?

But then maybe we don’t.  Maybe we’re afraid of God’s will. Maybe what we REALLY want is OUR will to be done.

That is what provides me anxiety in my life.  I know what I think is best. But what if God’s will doesn’t line up with my desires? I don’t know God’s thoughts, his plans. But scripture says otherwise.

I am finding that the only and actually the most liberating answer to that dilemma of my will vs God’s will is the fact that, as Christians, we actually have been given the ‘mind of Christ’.  Yes, it’s true.

“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT

So….is it that simple…whatever I think, that’s what Jesus thinks?  Yes and no.  This is my take, but it’s what scripture teaches us. The more we soak in God’s word and let his supernatural holy, ‘ex’-pired or God-breathed words shape our thoughts, the more we develop a mind that thinks like Jesus and is receptive to the Father’s communications as was the Son when he walked among us. That’s what growing in holiness is. Growing like God. Learning to think like God.

My job is to keep directing my thoughts back to God. You and I DO have that power, that ability to think about what we choose.  Dallas Willard refers to that freedom as the only liberty we truly have, to focus and aim our thoughts toward a particular end.

For you and me to be able to say without fear, “Your will be done,” we have to trust God. And to trust him, we have to KNOW him. If I’m focusing on problems, circumstances, or suffering, I’m not thinking ‘in the Spirit’.  But the more I think biblically, the more I will know and recognize Christ’s thoughts and they become mine.  Not totally but more and more.

This is my daily goal.

When did you lose your sense of wonder?

January 19, 2024

Maria Colossians 4, Holy Wonder, Matthew 18, Matthew 26, Prayer, Psalm 18 , , 2 Comments

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 NIV

What are little children like?  I picture little ones between the ages of 4 and 7, wide-eyed with anticipation, totally trusting the one they’re with. Sadly, it seems kids age out of that wonder stage. But do they have to?

I remember my last spontaneous, wonder-filled summer morning.  I was actually seven, or about to turn seven in July.  I lived with my mom and grandmother in an apartment in Devon, Pennsylvania. Mom and I shared a bedroom. That morning, she woke me up with a smile, saying ‘Get dressed! This is the day.’ 

We were off to Europe for a good chunk of the summer. That memory is painted in turquoise. For having had a bath the night before, I pulled on a turquoise top I loved and was ready for ADVENTURE in lickety-split.  I don’t remember the details, just those first 5 minutes of that day. Somehow, we travelled up to the port of New York to catch a trans-Atlantic ship bound for Southampton, England.

Most of us, as we move through childhood and adolescence into adulthood, lose our sense of wonder, our excited anticipation about a possible adventure. When we don’t feed that innate child-like ability and receptivity to being astonished, we grow dry, practical, no longer able to respond with spontaneity, having lost our taste, desire or expectation for new adventures and invigorating surprises.

I’ve been reading Oswald’s book, If Ye Will Ask. He poses four child-like questions we can personalize:

-“I wonder how God will answer this prayer?

-I wonder how God will answer the prayer the Spirit is praying in me?

I wonder what glory God will bring to Himself out of the strange perplexities I am in?

I wonder what new turn His providence will take in manifesting Himself in my ways?”

The first time I customized these questions to fit the needs of my day, I immediately relaxed. Psalm 18:9 came to mind – He brought me out into a broad place; (ESV).

This ‘wonder’ perspective shifts the focus off of my immediate needs onto the Lord’s purposes. It makes me curious. It lifts my gaze, my focus off of me and what I want to loop up and out.  That brings to mind two commands: one from Matthew 26:31 ‘Watch and pray!’ and the other from Colossians 4:2 ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.’

Here are two fresh examples of how I’m applying these wonder questions to my needs.

My recent round-trip to Tampa to care for my granddaughters took place during terrible winter storms. Both travel days included delays with the high potential for cancelled flights.

Having read Oswald during my week in Tampa, the day I returned home, I felt totally calm with an excited curiosity of what God was going to do.

I realistically faced the fact that if I couldn’t make my connection, that I might have to spend the night near the airport. But that would be a new adventure, for sure. And I find adventures to be energizing, breaks from routine. The Lord obviously decided it was more important for me to arrive home in only one travel day. Mike was VERY grateful to have me back with him that night.

The bigger blessing was the calmness this approach brought to my day. At the airport and on the two flights, I was able to point several people to God’s goodness and total control over all details in our lives.

That was a short-term practical exercise in wonder.  Here’s a long-term one that is front and center in our lives.  Mike’s mom at 95 is declining rapidly and is scared about all the changes and losses she is undergoing.  She now needs more money to pay for assisted living. Of course, our Father knows here needs, but instead of narrowly focusing on the details of these two situations, I am praying the ‘wonder prayers’.  Just how is God going to be glorified in his provision? What is the Holy Spirit actually praying IN Mom? What is he doing IN her?  I’m curious to witness the creative ways will God use in Mom’s life to show his love. Finally, what will we, her family, experience as we accompany her on her last earthly adventure?

I’m seeing in a new way, the reality of how God’s purposes are bigger than any of my situations. And that relaxes me, for I trust his goodness, his love and his wisdom. May his will be done in my life and the lives of those I pray for.

Look up to see what God is doing

January 13, 2024

Maria Anxiety, Colossians 4, Fear, Genesis 21, Hopelessness, Job 34, Joshua 5, Matthew 26, Numbers 22, Prayer, The Lord's Prayer, Watchman , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. Genesis 21:19 NIV

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few days about how short-sighted I can be.  At times very inward-focused on troubling circumstances rather than considering God. Surely you and I are the same, each with both personal situations and an orbit of people and persistent problems or crises whose details trouble, frighten or seem to multiply.

Reading about Hagar’s situation when she was abruptly shoved out of the household of the richest man in the neighborhood, I thought about how she would have processed this sudden turn of events. She tumbled from a high-status position as the mother of Abraham’s first-born son, to being an outcast whose son, now a teenager, was going to die of thirst because they had run out of water. Looking horizontally at her circumstances, there was no way out.

But God! He spoke to her, painting a picture of the reality that he had planned, a staggeringly amazing future for Ishmael. Stunned and lightened by such hope-birthing words, she lifted her head to see beyond her immediate problem. That’s when she spotted the thirst-quenching, life-giving well.

Numerous examples of similar corrected vision dot the scriptures.

  • Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD. Numbers 22:31 NIV
  • Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua 5:13 NIV

So, what is it that has you feeling hopeless?  Maybe it’s the state of the world with irreconcilable wars and conflicts, or the politics of your nation that feel futile. Or maybe the rapid decline of morality in our cultures, even in some of our churches. 

For me, I carry concern over my mother-in-law’s physical decline and lack of happy anticipation of her future with Jesus. Friends in my Bible study carry heavy burdens regarding children and grandchildren and I pray for these needs. Yet, from a horizontal vista, in many of these situations, nothing encouraging ‘appears’ to be happening.

Right after I read about Hagar’s upward shift of vision, I picked up a devotional where I read Jesus’ words to his sleepy men at the Gethsemane Garden. He commanded them to ‘Watch and pray’. Immediately, I connected what Jesus counseled with the value of looking up.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Matthew 26:41 NIV

I don’t think Jesus is warning his disciples about the temptation to fall asleep.  Rather because of Satan’s whispered doubts, they and we fall into discouragement, fear and anxiety.  We count the odds instead of counting on God.  But we are to be like watchmen on a castle’s ramparts looking for the help that has been promised.  And we are to pray. That is, to lay before the Savior of the world what we ‘see’ and then tell the truth of what God has done, is doing, can do and has promised to do. We can be like Job whose words in 34:32 go: ‘Show me what I do not see!’.  Then we can add, ‘Father, protect me AGAINST these temptations to doubt and worry.’

So, for the last few days, I’ve been repeating out loud several times a day ‘Watch and Pray’. I don’t want to miss what God is doing.

Apparently, the Spirit of God wants to make sure I get his message loud and clear. For, last night when I was thumbing through a book filled with liturgies for work (Every Moment Holy, Volume III, The Work of the People), I came across a margin reference to  Colossians 4:2, along with the words:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, (Berean Standard Bible)

Besides watching, praying and thanking God as he brings about solutions to our burdens, we are also to be alert, keeping a look out for his imminent arrival. It’s a true statement, ‘we are nearer today than we’ve ever been in history’.

So, pick up this short mantra for yourselves, Watch and pray, and fill yourself with real hope.  And pass it along to someone else whose eyes are downcast.

Look who is praying for you!

November 9, 2023

Maria 1 Corinthians 6, Holiness, Holy Spirit, House of Prayer, Intercession, Prayer, Romans 8 , , , 3 Comments

The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God’s people the way God wants him to. Romans 8:27 GOD’S WORD® Translation

Somehow, up to now, I’ve glossed over this stunning verse that precedes the famous Romans 8:28. But, the other morning, after reading Oswald Chambers’ devotion for 8 November, I suddenly saw what a multi-faceted gift we actually have received when God placed his Spirit IN us.

Just imagine!  God has a specific will for you and me and his Spirit actually asks the Father for this divine will to be done in us.  Of course, you and I are to pray for ourselves and invite friends to join us in calling upon the Lord. But we have almighty God in us speaking his word over us, his living, irrevocable word.  With confidence, we can rest in the surety that God’s word never fails. His ultimate will for us shall come to pass.

That fact cheers me up greatly.  Why do I worry? If the Spirit is praying for me even without me knowing the specifics, then I will submit with gladness and relief to what the Father desires to be so in my life. I will seek to obey (help me Holy Spirit!) what I explicitly know from Scripture and keep attentive to Holy Spirit nudges.

After cheering us with this on-going spiritual gift, Oswald then reminds us of our part in the Spirit’s work. That is to keep our ‘house of prayer’ clean.  He links Jesus’ anger over ongoing commercial sales in Jerusalem’s temple with Paul’s reminder about the status of our bodies:

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?      1 Corinthians 6:19 (NLT)

Oswald draws his reflection to a close by explaining how to keep this place of prayer clean. We are to tend to our conscious thoughts and mind our conscious actions.

Researchers tell us that the majority of our thought life is taken up with the unconscious. If that is the case, it’s a relief to know I’m only responsible for the thoughts of which I am aware. 

That might feel like a tall task, to take each thought ‘to task’ and judge it. To examine each speculation, determining whether it honors God or shows disrespect. And then to toss what is offensive into the garbage dump of all that is untrue, demeaning, ugly, evil, wrong, defiled and unbecoming one of God’s family members.

But friends, I offer a sweet consolation that motivates me to WANT to clean up my thought life. If by throwing out the junk that clutters my conscious mental world, I can create more room for the Spirit…..or i f I can make his abode a more attractive and pleasing space for him to intercede for me, why wouldn’t I? I want ALL the godly prayers He is willing to offer on my behalf.   And if you are like me, then you too want more of what our triune God has to give.

Let the house cleaning begin!

Is anything too unimportant to pray about?

July 15, 2023

Maria Answers to Prayer, Healing, Luke 13, Patience, Persistence, Prayer, Self-Righteouness , , 3 Comments

…..everyone who asks receives… Matthew 7:8 NASB

“Oh, I don’t want to bother God.  I’m sure he’s got more important things to worry about than my______!”

Have you ever met someone who takes this sort of pseudo-pious posture?

When I’m feeling sarcastic inside, I’d LIKE to retort, “Oh, you believe you don’t need God for this, that you can handle this issue yourself?”

But more often than not, I experience sadness for any such dear soul who doesn’t believe that our Father in heaven CARES about every detail of her life and mine.  Has she forgotten that He created her! We tend to love what we paint or fashion or bring order to.  Do you know many artisans, composers, painters, sculptors or gardeners who aren’t partial to what they’ve labored over in love?

I regularly find delight in praying about the ‘little’ matters.  (One pastor I’ve read recently commented that from God’s perspective, ALL our requests are little.) I am comforted that Mike, too, depends on God for the many details of each day.  From tech issues, to conversations with colleagues to untangling sticky issues with a customer service rep and even a foreseen lack of time. On this earth 1.0, a fundamental law of nature is ‘As is the day, so too are its challenges’.  But, the good news is that God promises strength and wisdom and sometimes even a way out for each obstacle that challenges us, IF we stop and ask him. Nary a day goes by that we don’t both experience God’s provision and answers.

For example, yesterday a replacement single Airpod arrived from Apple.  Mike has faced various issues with these Airpod Pros he bought a couple of years ago. Since I was away doing errands when the replacement arrived, he texted me for prayer because he couldn’t seem to pair this new device with his cell.

Immediately responding, I typed out and prayed that he would trust God to provide patience and wisdom to figure it out.  Within 5 minutes, he signaled his praise for God’s timely provision!

Later when I was home again, we talked about God’s rapid help, juxtaposing his speedy affirmative answer with those many as-yet-unanswered, ongoing and long-term AND daily pleas for relief, ways forward, healing, conversions, solutions etc.

My theory about these ‘little things’ is this: Our Father wants us to depend on him for all that concerns us in order to train us to count on him for each and every one of our daily ‘ordinaries’.  He grants many, many requests in order to prove that he always responds to our cries for his help. Training us to cast all our issues, the teeny and the major, is how he creates in us an automatic and trusting response to life’s bumps and sufferings. 

For an example of something very long term, consider the woman who suffered as an outcast for more than a decade due to her constant bleeding. Nevertheless, she received from God’s hand food, work and some kindnesses during those seemingly-interminable twelve years.

We all have our long-term versions of this single woman’s desire. For one more example, how about the crippled woman Jesus heals on a sabbath?

….should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free…… Luke 13:16 NIV

So, dear friends, as you carry a heart heavy for the ‘biggies’ such as the salvation of a family member, or healing, or reconciliation with a friend, remember to keep asking the Lord for every one of your ‘little’ needs. His answers will strengthen your faith as you persistently pray, without doubting.  Rest assured, that when God deems the time is right, he will provide.

Has how you pray changed over the years?

May 4, 2023

Maria John 17, Luke 11, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Warfare, The Lord's Prayer , , 2 Comments

“Lord, teach us to pray….” Luke 11:1 ESV

Today, 4 May 2023, is our country’s National Day of Prayer, a time to renew our practice of prayer and perhaps adjust it.

I can sense changes in how I now talk to God, especially in how I intercede for others.

Have you ever noticed how children pray?  They blurt out exactly what they want. “Jesus, give us a good day.” And rightly so. We must enter the kingdom with that same simple but cheery, trusting and care-free approach. Our Lord wants us to hand over every material and immaterial situation to him. But our Father also expects us to grow in our understanding and practice of praying.

For a while my care for God’s honor, for his name has increased. His expansive goals and perspective are slowly replacing my limited ones, or maybe amplifying them.

Remember how God planned to liberate Israel from Pharaoh as well as cause Egypt to know experientially that HE is Yahweh, the LORD? He had dual purposes.  And so can we.

This morning, I asked Jesus that the four men in my immediate family would honor God in how they pray for their wives. That he would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in their work. As well as draw them deeper into intimacy with our Father. Then reading Oswald Chamber’s meditation for today, I felt resolve to pray more like this expand.

With razor-sharpness, Chambers diagnoses the limited ways we intercede for others. (May 4 meditation from My Utmost for His Highest)  “We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others…..we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies…..Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.”

So, where do you start if you want to mature in how you pray for others? You can’t go wrong by allowing ‘the Lord’s Prayer’ to shape and change your approach.  Think of it as a framework, a springboard for a personal and God-honoring way to intercede.

Focus first on God’s goals and purposes. If we are believers, then our primary goals, our ‘first concerns’ should be the Lord’s, such as the honoring of his name, kingdom expansion, and all his purposes to become reality.  Then we are invited to hand over what we need this day, personally as well as for others.  This is where we can mention the immediate situations and needs, such as Jim’s surgery or travel safety for Sally, or a peace-filled resolution to the war in Ukraine.

But, don’t you want to talk to practice talking with the Father like Jesus?  For inspiration and guidance, we can sink our teeth deep into John 17 and study how Jesus prayed and for what.  We can select one of his petitions for the day and model our prayers for others on that.

For sure all and any sincere conversation with the Lord is a GOOD and RIGHT thing. This is not a suggestion to leave one way behind and replace it with something new. It’s a both/and.

Who knows, maybe Jesus is calling you into a grand adventure.  Maybe this shift will cause you to look forward to praying for others with a greater sense of expectancy.

Beware, though, Satan will not be pleased. So, armor up each morning with all the spiritual defenses and the one offensive arm we are to use, God’s Word.  

If it’s going to be, is it up to me?

February 9, 2023

Maria Prayer, Psalm 37, Trusting God, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it. Psalm 37:5 Berean Study Bible

Immersed and imprisoned in the dark grip of binging and purging, I could not conceive of how God could free me.  Afterall, I was the one shoveling cookies or M&Ms into my mouth. No one else was causing this addictive behavior but me.

But God DID rescue me. He DID bring me up out of the pit of despair and I didn’t have to DO a thing. He simply gave me a more compelling desire, that of treating my body better when I found out that I was pregnant with our first child.

Fast forward decades.  This same living God who never changes has periodically directed my way of thinking, lifting me out of my no-exit vision and set me down in a more spacious place with broader vistas.

For the last year, I have ‘needed’ more pocket money than our budget allows. In August, I started praying, waiting for God to direct me. But after a month of no answer, I took things back into my own hands and took on a Friday substitute teaching gig. Yes, the extra money was what I wanted. But it lost me a day. For I had to block off one day a week to be ‘on call’. 

After 3 months, I realized that I had traded time for money.   I realized that I wanted my day back. The dilemma then became:

‘How can I make that extra pocket money without tying up my Fridays?’

I have churned over this for about 2 months, seeing ‘no exit’.

But last week God used a conversation, some podcasts, and time alone with him to lift me up out of this dilemma.  First, our son Graham mentioned in passing that at age 40 he works out hard twice a week.  When he shared that data from a recent medical exam brought him evidence that he is indeed uncharacteristically healthy, that gave me pause.

Next the Lord arranged for me to hear on a podcast that the most important factor in our physical health is the quality of our relationships.  Do we have friends and family members with whom we feel safe enough to be real? Can we express our feelings without condemnation?  

Since for years I have been exercising hard three or more times a week in order to stay healthy, Graham’s revelation coupled with the podcast point struck a chord. Logical reasoning gently led me to the possibility that if I cut back the number of exercise classes I take and pay for in a month, I would have the money I want without having to work on Fridays.

To reenforce that line of thought so I could see that God was behind my ‘metanoia’, my current theological reading has been preparing me to consider intentionally setting aside space in my week to be quiet, to listen to what the Holy Spirit wants to communicate.  All of a sudden, I felt a new energy, a growing desire to gently walk and be quiet, open to God.  This is what Graham does.  Twice a week he goes to the gym and twice a week he walks for 2 hours in the morning, listening to God.

Dilemma solved and direction shifted!

Now I come to a current need and issue.  This morning I gave it to God to handle.  What is this situation and how do I see it?  We live far from our two sons and their families.  I want to see them more.  I want to stay connected. I want to build rapport with our grandchildren. But I don’t know how.  Encouraged by the ‘time and money’ issue, I am excited to see what God is going to do.

As I ended this morning’s time with the Lord, I turned to a new page in my journal and rewrote Psalm 37:5, personalizing it by using other English translations of the Hebrew words.

Maria, roll off of yourself, unburden yourself from these cares/issues/problems/worries. Disengage from them and roll them away and ONTO the Lord.

Hand over your customary way of life and thinking, placing your confidence in Him. That way you can live care-FREE, feeling completely safe.

And HE shall attend to, HE shall put all those things you’ve given him in order. Psalm 37:5 Maria’s translation.

What a promise, what a savior!

A new way to pray for my family

January 26, 2023

Maria Ephesians 6, Prayer, Psalm 23 , , 1 Comment

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want……..  Psalm 23 ESV

This morning I journaled my version of Psalm 23, personalizing it into a prayer of thanksgiving and affirmation of my trust in God. Here’s what I jotted down.

“With you, God, I will never lack what I need such as rest, or refreshment. I can count on you to restore my soul to its original condition. Each day the world, my sin and Satan’s dirty tricks batter it.

You know how I’m counting on your promised wisdom and guidance this day, for I have no idea what I will encounter. But you do, since you have already scripted it out!

When you, Righteous and Holy God, purposefully lead me into places that feel unfamiliar and sometimes scary, I’ve learned to count on your invisible but real presence. I’ve experienced your protection and deliverances many times before.  I don’t have to see your rod and your staff to trust you.

Who can deny that this fallen world is broken and evil exists? Suffering no longer surprises me. For you have taught me through your word that,

…. our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Ephesians 6:12 NIV

Over and over again, I have experienced how you publicly affirm my place in your Kingdom Family. Bad things never can threaten my secure place in your Home. Daily anointed, I am invited to enjoy uninterrupted Kingdom food and fellowship with you.

And if that weren’t enough, I know full well that I will never lack your goodness toward me, nor stop receiving your covenantal family love.

Thank you, Father!

Closing my Bible, I moved into a time of prayer for my family.  Usually, I pray for each person individually, according to what I know their specific needs are. I’m personally and permanently connected with 15 different family members. These include Mike, my beloved husband, 2 sons, 6 grandkids, 2 daughters-in-law, my mother-in-law, one brother-in-law and his wife (my sister-in-law) and my favorite cousin. How I pray for them varies, but this morning, after such a reassuring and meditative time with God, lingering in David’s psalm, I chose to pray globally for my family as a whole.

It went something like this:

Father, you have placed me in the lives of these fifteen precious people.  Open their eyes this day and cause them to know that walking with you, they will lack nothing they need.

May they relax into your promised all-encompassing care. This includes, rest, refreshment, restoration, provision, protection, wisdom, guidance.

I don’t know what trials and suffering they will encounter.  But may they count on your promised presence, even in the most frightening events, conversations, or news they receive.

May their afflictions this day not rock their assurance of their forever place in your Kingdom family. Deafen their ears to our culture’s message proclaiming that you don’t exist or don’t care.  Protect them from unwitting and discouraging comments of ‘helpful’ Christians. And block their ears to Satan’s whispered lies which masquerade as their own thoughts.

Strengthen their union with you, Jesus, so they enjoy uninterrupted table fellowship with you.

Finally, shift their eyes upward and give them an expectant hope TODAY of your creative, but sure ways to shower them with your goodness and steadfast covenant love.

And tonight, as they lay their heads down to rest, may they fall asleep mulling over their guaranteed future with you, knowing that the best is yet to come. Amen

I enjoyed praying like this, using one of the morning’s scripture readings. I’m eager to try this again. What helped, though, was first to digest God’s word myself.  Only then could I see how to speak God’s word out loud as an intercessory prayer. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for this fresh way of praying!

A ‘dangerous’ prayer?

December 15, 2022

Maria Matthew 6, Prayer, The Lord's Prayer Leave a comment

Do you mean what you actually pray for?

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 NLT

Before we took the Bible seriously, we would pray the Lord’s Prayer with our little sons out loud at bedtime after reading them stories.  I’m not sure why. Maybe we meant to communicate that now it was time to go to sleep!  I imagine we used this ritual as a way to feel good about ourselves as Christian parents.

Eventually, as we grew in faith, we left formulaic prayers aside and the four of us just talked to Jesus, thanking him and asking him for what we needed.

Over the years reciting a set prayer or creed in congregational settings has changed how I understand God’s priorities. I think most Christians would agree that Jesus is teaching us (as he did his disciples who asked him how they should pray) to make the Father’s priorities our first petitions.

Therefore, in the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God’s reputation be honored foremost in the universe. Next come both a petition for Kingdom expansion and a plea for God’ agenda to be accomplished in all realms.

What follow are requests for ourselves and a closing that affirms God’s power and rightful ownership of this holy, supernatural, and only important Kingdom in the universe.

A week ago on Friday, the Spirit seemed to be checking my heart’s understanding and sincerity in asking the Father to make sure that his will be done.

That morning I thought through the implications of boldly praying, ‘thy kingdom come!’.  I asked myself, “Maria,….

  • …what if God’s will is not your will, your idea of what ‘good’ is?
  • …are you really choosing not only ask for but to yield to the Father’s plan for this day over your own schedule?
  • ….are you able to take your desires and offer them up to be ruled, measured, evaluated and answered in God’s way and based on his God’s agenda?
  • ….do you REALLY know what you are praying for?”

I didn’t have to wait long to know the answer. So, I affirmed in my journal, “Yes, I mean what I said.  And I’m not worried.  I know for a fact that God is good and wise and that most of all, he loves me.  Besides, this is how Jesus taught us to pray.  He, the Spirit and the Father are one God. Yes, I DO trust the Almighty!”

So, how did I apply the fruit of my inner dialogue?  As I dressed to head off to substitute teach, laptop in hand, I told Jesus that I would not try to get some personal work done while monitoring the students’ progress with the assignments left by their teacher.  Instead, I would engage more and see if I could help some.

And I did just that. I made myself available to others by not placing my day’s purposes above God’s. And I did get a few tasks accomplished during the teacher’s planning period.

I still think that this part of the Lord’s prayer contains a ‘dangerous’ petition, one that God WILL answer, for sure.  We just better know what we’re asking, when we recite, ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

Can we know God’s will?

September 1, 2022

Maria Philippians 2, Prayer, Psalm 20, Wisdom , , , 1 Comment

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13 Amplified

May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill your whole plan! Psalm 20:4 NASB

Have you ever prayed to know God’s will about a matter BEFORE you ‘did’ anything, before you took action?

I’ve only started first with God once in my life.  It happened like this.  I found myself at civil loggerheads with the other French teacher at my private school.  Thanks to a radically liberating workshop I had attended nine years into teaching, I switched how I taught French. I abandoned textbooks, grammar and spelling, typical emphases for language teachers.  Instead, I embraced helping students acquire French through comprehensible input. Presenting my students rich, varied, repetitive and interesting input in the form of stories and anything novel, I simply copied how we all learn our first language.

It’s natural, organic, fun and thoroughly engages learners.

It also threatens a traditional textbook teacher. My colleague feared that my radical change would slow her down in preparing students who started with me for the AP French exam as seniors.

I endured her pushback for several years.  But eventually, I knew that one of us would have to yield.

In September of my last year at this school I told God of my desire and asked him to reveal his will. I started praying for a sign. I had no idea how the Lord would grant my request, but I trusted that he would.  The ‘deadline’ loomed closer as we approached March, the month when contracts were to go out to those teachers the school wanted to retain.

I don’t remember being TOO terribly anxious.  Mike and I kept reminding our Father of this request. Frankly, it felt like a new adventure in trusting Him.

On Valentine’s Day, I received God’s signal.  I ran into Elaine in the hallway that day. “Maria,” she began, “you’re going to have to go back to using our textbook next year.  I’m losing too much time teaching what they should have learned with you.”  What is poignant is that my students were growing unafraid to open their mouths and speak French. Was it messy? You bet, but I expected that.  Could they conjugate a verb?  No, but they entered my colleague’s classes enjoying speaking French.

Back to my hallway conversation.  “This was it!  God just gave me a sign” With relief, I felt released to look for a new job for the fall.  I refused to teach the traditional way which didn’t serve my students well.  So, I would be the one to depart.

Experiencing God’s answer after months of waiting thrilled me even more than the answer.  Here was evidence, that if we wait on him in faith, he really DOES give us wisdom.

Here the Lord was affirming and opening up a path toward my heart’s desire: the freedom to teach the way I knew allowed learners to enjoy the process of speaking without fear.

Twenty-two years have passed.  I have once again asked Jesus what he thinks about a desire I have.  I have been praying and waiting for 4-5 weeks.

You know how much I love practicing languages.  My ‘monthly allowance’ for this polyglot hobby, my exercise class, nail and hair care and book habit is not enough.  Therefore, I have laid this issue before the Lord. I have asked Mike to pray that God would make clear if he approves of me proceeding with that desire. Afterall, he is the logical person to check with first!

Isn’t the Lord the source of our good desires?  I reason from Scripture like this:  if he gives me a desire, then he is going to fulfill it.  Probably not in the way I imagine, but in a creative and surprising form.

I believe that I received a greenlight nudge three days ago. Listening to a Spanish podcast while doing food prep, Pablo mentioned why people allow fear to stop them from trying something.  Suddenly, I felt the longing to embrace something larger than me, beyond my comfort level and ability so I would have to depend on Him.

I mentioned it to Mike that night and he concurred that very likely was from the Lord.

I continue to pray and wait. At the same time, I have opened a file to capture the practical ideas that are popping into my mind.  I don’t know yet where God is leading me by means of this desire, but I’m excited to find out. His word assures me that it is he who is causing my desire to do works that he has programmed for me.

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