It’s usually not a good thing to constantly feel like a beginner. After all, who wants to be a beginner forever. That would be kind of like staying in Kindergarten forever. I want to always be going deeper into whatever I’m learning. But, there’s one subject of which I’ve figured out I will always be a beginner – prayer, and so will you. However, being a beginner at prayer is a good thing. Let me tell you why.
Admitting we’re always a beginner at prayer puts us in good company. I believe it was Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta who said, “I will forever be a novice, in the school of prayer.” In his book, Beginning To Pray, Archbishop Anthony Bloom, of blessed memory, speaks to the beginning of prayer as always beginning our relationship with God.
“We should rather think in terms of an increasing progression from depth to depth, from height to height, whichever formula you prefer, so that at every step we already possess something which is rich, which is deep, and yet always go on to longing for and moving towards something richer and deeper… God gives us so much, we are so rich intellectually and emotionally, our lives are so full that we imagine that there can be nothing more than this, that we have found fulfillment and wholeness, that we have reached the end of our search. But we must learn that there is always more.” (pages 39-40)
Sadly, many Christians see prayer as some mechanical thing to do, especially when they’re in need. They miss the whole point of prayer. God doesn’t need our prayers, nor does He care what words we use, if any (Though for our sake, our words are important). Real prayer is a privilege, not a “have to”. Real prayer is seeking union with God. As our creator, He knows us intimately. There’s nothing we could tell Him that He doesn’t already know, yet He invites us to come to Him in prayer. Why? Because He loves us and wants to transform us into His likeness in ever-increasing measure.
Won’t you join me in Kindergarten again? Let’s re-enroll in the school of prayer. Two textbooks you’ll want for this class are the Bible, and Beginning To Pray, which you can buy here. It’s a classic. I can’t stop reading it and I know you’ll find it captivating as well. In future posts I’ll be discussing some of the points made in the book in more detail. Until then, let us begin…
Shalom,
Pastor Brad
P.S. I’d be honored if you pre-order my newest book, A PRESENCE IN THE DARKNESS: Finding Hope in Death. It’s a book to help us deal with many difficult feelings about life and death we all have to work through. And, it’s 25% on orders through Nov. 30 and I’ll send you a signed copy when pre-ordered here. Orders will ship media mail on or about December 1, 2017. Thanks for reading!
“I say, I say, don’t bother me with the facts son, I’ve already made up my mind.” A bit of wisdom from one of my favorite cartoon characters, Foghorn Leghorn. It also sounds a lot like the Pharisees in their discourse with the blind man whom Jesus healed in John chapter nine. Have you ever been so sure you were right about something, you knew there was no way you were wrong, only to find out later you were? Me too. On little things, it really isn’t that big a deal. We’re all wrong at times, and it’s important that we admit it; that’s how we learn. But, on the big order questions of life – it matters.
I always thought grief was the range of emotions people went through after the death of loved one, or a traumatic loss. I couldn’t imagine that I was in grief. After all, it was eight months already since my brother died so, I didn’t think it was from that. Yet, I couldn’t explain my feelings. I had had my heart defibrillator for about a month when the feelings began.
I turned in my heart monitor thinking I would finally find out why my heart rhythms were so crazy. I had worn it for a week. Every time I felt some strange rhythms I had to push a button that would record what my heart was doing. Each day I had to upload the data to the Dr.’s office so they could monitor anything dangerous. My last upload was Monday night, and Tuesday noon I went to turn it in to the office. I couldn’t believe what they told me. “Everything looks okay. There are some arrhythmias but nothing bad.” There had to be more to the story.
It was a hot afternoon and I had just finished playing Tennis with my Pastor. There was a family in the church who had a swimming pool and they had told him that he could use it any time. I told him I couldn’t swim, but he said I could just cool off in the shallow end. So, we went to the pool to relax and cool off. My Pastor got out of the pool and decided to lay in the sun for a while. I thought this would be a great time to practice my float on my back as I had in the swim lessons I’d taken about a year before. The next thing I knew, my life was literally flashing before my eyes.
In that moment, in the blink of an eye, I went from calm and serene, to shear panic. My life literally flashed before my eyes. I thought this was the end. I was going to drown in that pool. But, my pastor was there. Surely, he would jump in and save me. I cried out to the Lord, “Save me O God! Don’t let me die like this!” Just then, my toes hit concrete and I could drag myself to the edge of the pool. There at the edge of the pool, standing down and looking in was my Pastor. He said, “Are you alright?”. The only thing I could manage to say between coughing up water was, “No, thanks to you! What happened to all that talk of laying down your life for a friend? You didn’t jump in to save me!” To which he said, “The way you were flailing around, you would have dragged us both down!”
