Sunday, May 18, 2014

Prayer and Self-Divestment (PrayerLife)

Lake Michigan sunset

Prayer is talking with God about what we (God and I) are doing together. Real prayer is a collaborative Kingdom activity. God is up to something today, and we are to be part of it.

Prayer isn't prayer if we come to God expecting him to validate our own plans and purposes. The idea is to hear from God what he is doing, to receive direction as to what we are to do, and then to act on that knowledge.

Henri Nouwen writes: "Prayer is the act by which we divest ourselves of all false belongings and become free to belong to God and God alone." (Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life, 39)

Prayer listens so as to be abandoned to God.