Pray Without Ceasing (ETD – Pt. 9)
One of the glorious aspects of being an eternal being, secure in my destiny, is that the process of discovery never ends. So while I am in awe every time I’m in any way illuminated to some truth, I have an expectation that there awaits another equally amazing truth, one layer beneath.
I have been thoroughly and wonderfully caught up, meditating on what it means to live my life in the company of God. A transformation has and is taking place where old language is discarded and new language has taken up residence, giving voice to fresh views of “prayer.”
When I draw into the company of God; when I enter the dialogue with Him, I come home. I “do” the whole of my life from that fourth chair, under His sway, in His council, within His stronghold of safety and sanctuary. That place of connectedness utterly transforms every encounter of every day for the whole of my life. The fellowship I have with God thoroughly influences thoughts, actions, intent, emotions, countenance… For me, this is the fullness of what it means to pray. In this scenario, I can and do pray without ceasing.
My experience of being with God intensifies over time. Intimacy deepens. I find I’m freer for Him to move through me because the impediments I erect are fewer. There is a flow of dialogue that I experience very naturally with Him as the moments of any given day unfold. There is an ease to living life “real time” that I have never experienced before, and it’s not because anything is less complex or challenging.
The energy I was accustomed to expending to push against God’s lead, is redirected so that I am actually working in tandem with Him. I’m in “the yoke,” traversing impossible plains, because He is in the weight bearing position, His power coming to bear. In this way, there is no such thing as an impediment. Wherever God would lead, we are able to go.
Exhale.
Striving… that sense of trying to push an impossible weight uphill, disappears. I find I experience a different kind of “tired” these days. Tired used to be weariness, as much from a futile expenditure of precious energy, as it was from truly being in sync with God, working in cooperation with Him. The difference is peace, an inward settledness. Now when I feel a lack of peace it stands in stark contrast to a “new normal.”
There are many ways to talk about prayer. There are many facets to how we communicate with The Triune God, and I am in awe of the breadth of the lay of this land. It’s a huge conversation, which turns out to be a great thing as I sit in God’s company. We have an eternity to talk it through.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
~ Psalm 42:8 ~
4 Comments
Charlene
Free! Free indeed! The closer we get to God, the more we surrender, the more we give over to Him, the more we experience the reality of those glorious spacious places He so wants for us. Pressing into Him daily and connecting in continuous dialog and prayer is a rich and rewarding way to live. To live IS Christ! Indeed! Thank you Anne for sparking this meditation.
Kathie
Intriguing words Anne. What exactly happened in the moments you felt the transformation? What is the old discarded language vs the new for you? Your blogs are encouraging and insightful and always thought provoking. Look forward to connecting soon. XO
Anne Barbour
I would think about “prayer” and I would feel palpably confined. So, I brought the word to the Lord. He walked me up to the top of a hill and we have spent the last several months now looking at the lay of the land below. Down on that plain is “prayer.” I see it from a distance while I’m up here. What God has been wanting me to see (at least as I understand it right now) is that He means for me to experience Him comprehensively. In other words, He desires that I would always experience Him. He needed to “unhook” me from my confining perceptions about prayer (if I’m not “praying” I’m not with Him somehow.) That’s too simple, but unconsciously, it’s close to what I thought.
The rest of what exists on that plain below is the breadth of ways I connect with my Maker. If I occupy my place in the fourth chair, I am never out of His company therefore always experiencing Him. That was generally speaking, the missing piece for me. There are countless ways I interact with God. Even if I may not be “interceding” or “beseeching” or “lamenting” or “praying” (those aspects of dialoguing that I would traditionally define as prayer), I am still connected, still experiencing, still having meaningful exchanges with God.
All that to say, prayer has a much bigger lens than I imagined before God started to speak to me about all of this. All the years I have spent with God, “doing” life with Him… I have been in some sense, praying… communing…. fellowshipping… experiencing Him.
I don’t know if that helps you understand the transition for me or not. I am still processing…. still settling in.
Gail
Anne Barbour…..Great word as usual. After reading your post I am picturing the Lord and I on a tandem bicycle!! He is in the lead and I am following very close behind him. We are connected and pedaling in sync. That’s what I want, I want to be in sync with Him. Going through this life 24/7 with Him. I must chose to hop on the bike and I am still in the process of really learning what that looks like. :)