#thebravepray
Bravery always involves vulnerability. Vulnerability is a loaded word. Prayers make me vulnerable because I so desire for a change to happen and I am powerless to make it happen. I am depending on a supernatural intervention.
Prayer is partnering with God. It is releasing supernatural power into situations we are powerless in. (Who likes admitting to being powerless?)
Prayers ask God to do things which we cannot accomplish here on earth.
Prayers pray, “I cannot change this situation in my own strength so help. Now.”
To pray is to stand in the gap and to feel the pain of evil and injustice. (Who likes that holy tension?)
Prayer triggers our doubts.
Prayer is being honest before God.
Prayer is communicating to God that you are available.
Prayer is a wonder and a mystery.
Which one of these triggers you in your struggle to pray?
Prayer isn’t hard. The belief in prayer is hard. It triggers our trust issues.
I have a grown teen from a former youth group who believes prayer is like that wheel on Wheel of Fortune. To pray you spin that wheel. But her wheel has 7/8 of it with a “no” and only one spot for a yes. Does that feel like prayer for you?
Prayer, for most of us, is like eating our vegetables. We know it’s good for us, but very few of us enjoy it or do it.
It is the brave who pray.
Prayer is a relational journey.
- Not memorizing facts.
- Not saying key phrases.
- Prayer involves our body.
- Prayer involves our emotions.
- There is a beginning and a long mysterious middle.
- Sometimes there is an answer to prayer. Sometimes this doesn’t happen in our lifetime.
Prayer is a wide spectrum.
- With room for silence and shouting.
- Can be an angry tirade or a humble cry of gratitude.
- Full of creativity or repetition.
- Is for original and written prayers.
- Is for imagination and reason.
- Is for vulnerable confession or rote words spoken in faith.
Prayer is something we become. It is not transactional but relational.
Hence, #thebravepray.
It is the brave ones who embrace the vulnerability, push past the doubts and trust issues, and dare the Larger Story God with this relationship.
Prayer is not an escape from reality but it is the deepest place of reality. Prayer is how we enter into our lives and live in honesty.
Through prayer I am also entering into the cosmic reality. There are forces at play here that are not human and not for me.
There is the one favorite verse which is easy to memorize (even I can): Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7, NLT)
This verse is even more beautiful from the First Nations version: The Great Spirit cares deeply about you, so gather all your worries into a basket and throw them on his shoulders. He will carry them for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
I vulnerably pray to put all my worries into God’s basket (sometimes angrily) who puts them upon his shoulders. I have learned over time that God does carry them.
I have learned over time. This is a part of bravery too.
#thebravepray
Questions for Reflection:
- Why do you pray?
- When do you pray?
- How do you pray?
- Reflect on the three questions above to develop a more fruitful prayer life for yourself.
