The Freedom of God
October 29th, 2009Thursday’s Reflection
WHEN WE ENTER INTO … SILENCE, we are seeking — and eventually we encounter — something profound: the freedom of God. The silence of prayer separates us from our projects and our need to be in control of every aspect of our lives, and when we allow this to occur, we are free to let God do with us as God desires.
- Daniel Wolpert
Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership
From p. 18 of Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership by Daniel Wolpert. Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Talk about your experience of silence in prayer. Share your experiences as you feel led.
Today’s Scripture Reading
[Jesus] shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”
- John 11:43-44, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Why Saints? Observing saints more closely reveals that they were ordinary people just like us. What set them apart was their life purpose. More than anything else, they wanted to know God. So despite their faults and frailties, they have much to teach us. Learn from Saints.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Jude (October 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
October 29th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Keeping a focused mind/heart when I pray is a struggle for me. Especially if I attempt to just be silent and “sense” God. My mind is gone before I realize it. I have read more books on prayer/contemplation than I can recall – and yet – it is an area of struggle. I guess I am slightly encouraged that the authors note this as well. I find that this forum, or a devotional or a book along side me during my quiet time leads me in and out of His presence with prayer.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Jill, I understand…I’m the same way.
I just found a book on how to pray, actually, at a consignment store. This something that I struggle with. When I try to get quiet and pray, my mind seems to wander with all these racing thoughts. I then begin to ask myself, what sin in me is the barrier that is keeping me from being able to quietly pray to the Lord. I don’t know, maybe I just feel insecure when I pray, not really knowing what to say, am I saying the right words so that the Lord may hear me?
October 29th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I have the same struggle, but sometimes during quiet time and my mind wanders, I like to think God still is hearing me and talking with me. Maybe we’re trying too hard, and trying to take control instead of letting go, and letting God. I don’t know.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Jill, Penny and Lois, I know your feelings. Yet I find in my moments of quiet, if I allow God access to my soul, my wandering mind travels in the direction that God chooses. Thus I find myself thinking not only of the needs of this day, but of people whom I haven’t seen in years or needs that never occurred to me before. Once during that “holy wandering” of thought, I came across the need to pray for roofers–an occupation that normally would not have happened.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:20 am
I always say the Jesus Prayer:
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Make haste to help me, rescue me and save me, do your will in my life.
I say it in my walks, when I am shopping, whenever a negative thought enters into my mind. I say it always.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:22 am
I too used to berate myself when my mind wanderered during meditation. Usually I’d wander over my to do lists like groceries, etc. But in yoga, my instructor said to simply notice then bring my mind back. Slowly it does improve. I’ve used this in my prayer life too, to notice then bring my mind back. The silence at times is overwhelming, such a new experience to shut off the distractors and just be Puts me in a different frame, more receptive for prayer.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:05 am
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. – Romans 8:26 Let go and let God.
In a battle the enemy always attacks the 1st line of defense. When we go to our knees we can be sure the enemy is there to thwart our communion. this is time to cry out fervently for the Spirits intercession. Just remember Satan suffers defeat when we are on our knees and he cries out to our conscience.
I too suffer with all that you all have testified to, and found a sure way for some relief – Intercessory prayer. I keep in mind, family, friends, relatives, and situations that need intercessory prayer. Always looking to add to my list, I ask God to lead me to those in need of prayer. This seems to turn me away from self and quilt of selfishness that I often suffer in prayer when praying for my own needs. Pray for me a struggling alcoholic, and yet a Christ child.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Someone recently gave me a guided devotional reading that has a large space– blank– on the left side of each page. It is designed so that if your mind wanders to needing eggs and milk at the store, you can write down “eggs and milk” and get back to prayer. Or if the reading moves you to journal, you can journal there. It is a very nice idea.
Once I stop talking and settle in to silence (and some days, it feels like God has literally clapped a hand over my mouth to silence my words), then He arrives– or, more to the point, I become aware of His presence, since He was there all along. Oddly enough, getting to that place is often challenging, but once there– leaving is even harder. What humbling blessing, having a Daddy who seeks us out, actually longs for our company! O that I might long for God as God longs for me– always. Amen.