What does prayer look like?

I have a regular prayer time – but what does that mean – what is it and what is it not…

Must Haves

There are only 3 ingredients needed for prayer – me, God and time.  Prayer is really less about what is done (the mechanics) and more about who is there… basically it’s hanging with Jesus.

Things to avoid

In prayer these things become very difficult – continuous and/or major interruptions, sleep, hunger… kinda make sure the basics are covered first.  When I hang with a friend I like coffee and food to be involved – so when I pray the first thing I do is make myself a cup of tea (God is responsible for his own!).

What do I do?

I sit on my comfy new lounge and as it is winter and I hang with Jesus early (6am) I also have my Nanna blankie (and cup of tea).  There are lots of things I do (not all at once or in one sitting!!) – talk to God, pray for stuff I’m concerned about – personal stuff to global stuff, pray for my friends and church, read – the bible or other Christian books, listen to worship music, dance or pace around the lounge room…

What happens??

Most often I pray and then I get up and go about my day – sometimes God’s presence is more real, more “there”, sometimes I feel Him directing me, comforting me, speaking to me – but not always…

Doesn’t it feel weird talking to someone who’s not there?

Yeah – sometimes it does, but then I know that He’s always with me and I remember the times when His presence has been really “there” and so it doesn’t feel so weird after a while.

Why would I keep “praying” every day?

When I pray I meet with the God of all the universe, the God who saved me from all the yuk in my life and it is wow when you think about it in this way.  I keep praying ’cause I never know what is going to happen… I keep praying ’cause as I meet with God every day I get to know Him better and He is so exciting and wonderful, He shows me Himself and His heart and I show Him mine.  I keep praying every day ’cause He’s my very best friend and I would miss Him if I didn’t – and He’d miss me…

Wow what a week!

Just took my daughter to Adelaide for a week (and a surprise day in Sydney).

We had the best time – went to Edge conference, Hahndorf (Oldest German village in Aus), The Adelaide Show, Seadragon Farm, glorious Glenelg… had the best weather, and caught up with some cool friends…

Then Sydney – jet boating on the Harbour, icons in the background, markets at The Rocks, the city, monorail, Botany Bay – and that just in one day, awesome fun!

Australia is such a cool place to live

Glenelg foreshore Adelaide

Sydney!

Watching eggs hatch…

Spent last night watching eggs – really wanted to see a chicken hatch out of one and the closest I got – well you can see – there was a sizable hole in the egg and occasionally a leg or beak poked out… pretty cool considering it started from something resembling what I made scrambled eggs with earlier in the day for brekky!!  (The Scitech people threw us out at nine – in fact the kids were hassling us – something about them turning the lights out on us!!) Got me thinking about what would compel me to sit and watch a moving, very slowly cracking egg over the course of a couple of hours.  I think we are captivated by things that are outside of our ability to control, to exert our will over, things that we experience as miracles – as they are things that only God can make happen.  I can’t make a chicken hatch out of an egg, or a flower develop and grow, I can’t force the sun to shine (if only…) and I realised that even my faith has that element of can’t within it – there are things about faith that my head and my heart fail to comprehend – and I can only experience as miraculous.  These are things which can be so frustrating, precisely because they are outside of my timing and control but they are things which are the most wondrous, most amazing things… they are the things which lead me to worship – that lead me to the one who can – that lead me to Jesus.

Religion vs. God

Religion

If humanity developed religion in order to explain our existence then God is the created and we are the creator.  In that case we choose God and he in all rights should worship us – his creator.  In this case our religion negates itself.

God

If on the other hand God created humanity then He is the creator and we are the created.  It follows that He chooses us and we rightfully owe Him everything.  In this scenario we were created to worship.

Something to think about…

Don’t turn…

Just picked up a book again called “Don’t turn, Let God turn it” by Andre Olivier.

I needed reminding…  you know – when, to worship God, to obey God, to do what you know is the right thing to do, instead of having to muster up courage and be bold and step out and do something risky you have to do the opposite – HOLD ON…

There’s some stuff in my life that I need to get really tenacious about holding on with – mustering up courage, being bold, taking the risk, being brave, and doing nothing… that’s right doing nothing.  Sometimes doing nothing (at least for me anyway) is so much harder than doing something.  ”What do I do” is my prayer and catch cry – just let me do something, anything – and yet I know, and I hear, “do nothing”.

This book is such a great reminder that sometimes in life there are things that happen that we can’t fix with any amount of stomping, screaming, cajoling, pleading…  Sometimes things need prayer (lots of prayer) and patience (lots of patience) and enough courage to do nothing – and let God do all the something’s that may or may not need to be done.

So if you’re like me and have things that you know you need to “do nothing” about then I pray that you have the strength, courage and then some more strength and some more courage to “do nothing” well and with grace.  (And please pray that I do also)…

Strong vs. Weak

It all started with a fire I couldn’t light… (which later I found was because the wood was no good!)  I had to ask for help – *gulp* – you see I pride myself on being able to do anything, self-sufficient, confidently capable…  It got me thinking about the relative value we place on strength and weakness.  You see in my mind, as in many of our minds, strength is an expectation – I don’t want to be seen as being weak or incapable.  In our world weakness is not valued in any way and to feel weak is to feel vulnerable, open to abuse and/or exploitation.  This is not without some justification – it is so true that throughout our world the weak are exploited and abused.  On the flip side, the strong often sit isolated in their pride – you see my ability to do things for myself means that I don’t need to rely on or interact with anyone else.  When I had to open myself to ask for help not only did I have to admit weakness but I had to engage in relationship (albeit a shallow one).

This left me wondering if there is something positive about our weakness?  Lets face it – we all have some areas of our life in which we are weak (or weaker)… Can our weakness bring about unexpected wonder in our lives as we open ourselves to others and allow them to use their strength in the places we are weak.  Is this perhaps what the apostolic writer in the bible, Paul, meant, when he wrote “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Corinthinans 12:10b).  Perhaps Paul saw in his weakness an opportunity to allow others – not least of whom, Jesus, who had unlimited strength – to add their strength to his weakness and to engage in relationship also.

Perhaps there is no winner really in the war of strong vs. weak…

Garden Pics

My garden is looking so pretty at the moment!

Dr Chasing Snow

Well I’m just back from Canberra where I was attending my Dad’s graduation – he received his doctorate from none other than Kim Beasley who is now the chancellor at ANU…

With the graduation all wrapped up we decided to head for the snow – where there was fun to be had by all…

So after throwing snow balls, making snow angels and trying to figure out if wheelchairs could ski we headed back for the height of Australian culture – pizza and red wine with friends.

Had a lovely time away and am so proud of Dad and all that he keeps achieving…

Influencers…

We are all in some way the sum total of a number of influences – events, circumstances and people who give shape to our lives.  These are just some of the people who I chose to have influence my life – this doesn’t mean that I always agree with everything they say or do but that in some way they have given some shape and formation to my life and the way I think.  I am limiting myself here to actual breathing people – there are lots of people (due to my reading obsession) who shape my life through the books they have written etc. (and there are way more living people I could mention here but I want this post to be vaguely readable)

Ps Rick McKinley (Imago Dei Church) – I love the style of Ps Rick’s teaching, I aspire to teach the way he does – he is relaxed and casual and highly intelligent all at once.  He knows what he is talking about but doesn’t make what he is saying inaccessible to anyone.  He also has an amazing heart – he loves Portland like crazy (or at least he’s got me fooled if he doesn’t!!).  I enjoy his theological style and his simplicity of vision of Jesus being about the whole of our lives.

Ps Mark Driscol (Mars Hill Church) – This man is way more of a book freak than I am (yes it is possible!).  I really enjoy that about him – he is also outspoken and bold and sometimes I cringe at what he says.  Despite this he is a fantastic communicator (in a very different style to Ps Rick) and what I love most about him is he is unapologetically focused entirely on Jesus.  On many other things we may differ but on Jesus we will always agree.  I highly recommend his book “Death by Love” (its theology differs slightly to Roman Catholic theology if that is important to you but its highlight is the way in which he applies the work of the cross to everyday situations).

Joyce Meyer (Joyce Meyer Ministries) – Joyce has almost single handedly helped to get my thinking right.  This is really practical stuff, it’s fine to try to follow Jesus in fairyland (or any other land you might head to) but if you want to follow Him on this planet then there’s stuff that does your head in (or maybe it’s just me!).  She is so helpful – and a strong and beautiful WOMAN – it’s so good to have great female Christian role models – GO JOYCE!

Louie Giglio (Passion Conferences, Passion City Church) – Worship is where it’s at for me – in the fullness of it’s meaning, not just singing (but certainly including music and singing).  I regularly require a dose of Passion something – whether it’s listening to a podcast, reading a blog, or listening to music from their artists at Sixstep Records.  It always confronts and deals with my heart which has this habit of coming back to me (its all about me!) – it wakes me up to a whole world full of people who are dealing with their own struggle (most far worse than mine) and it challenges me that to love and worship Jesus wholeheartedly means keeping my focus off myself (at least for a good portion of the time) and on Jesus and those who He would entreat me to care for.

Ps Danny Guglielmucci – (Edge Church) – I have attended Ps Danny’s Edge Leadership conference many times and I benefit greatly from his church’s love, warmth and hospitality.  It has been a place that I have gone to broken and returned from, if not healed, at least on the right path…  He has many talents and cares like no other – his Father’s heart places him in a position to bring an amazing unity within the broader church in Australia.  He is a distant role model for me and fellow participant in allowing Jesus to break His Church out of their walls in this country and see His Glory revealed over this Nation (sorry, vision-centred God talk there… just hit on two things that really push my buttons – Jesus’ Church and this nation of Australia)

Ps Bruce Downes (The Catholic Guy, Impact Catholic Ministry) – Ps Bruce is one of the most tenacious people I know… I admire him most because he won’t quit – he won’t quit on God and he won’t quit on what he feels called to do.  He is Impacting!!

These people are “big names” with Websites, Podcasts and lots more – I encourage you to also be encouraged by them!  All of the relevant Websites are in the links on the side.  However the people who impact me the greatest and probably impact you the greatest too are the people around us – the people who let us into their lives and who we allow into ours.  The people who have shaped me hugely I won’t mention by name here but they are those who I have had coffee with, I have had long phone calls with, who have come to my house and my family functions, who I chat with at church… they are the people who have access to my heart, to all of the good and bad that is me and who somehow find it in their hearts to love me anyway (cliched but true!)

Disappointed Hopes

Over the last few years I have had great cause to reflect on hope – and the loss of hope.  When we hope for something we gain confidence and inspiration – we dare to dream.  When hope is lost something in us shrinks back, we lose our confidence and withdraw, at least a little, from life.  Hope brings a passion and daring all of it’s own – fears are put into perspective and problems seem like minor irritations.  When hope is lost, fear and problems can take centre stage on our lives and can hold us back from so much.

For me it has been so important after a number of shattered hopes one after another that I could again begin to hope.  Restoring hope has been a very difficult thing and I needed to start small.  Even with an understanding and belief that Jesus is my ultimate hope and the one who I can rest all my hopes and dreams upon I still needed to allow my emotions enough time to heal and begin to restore life in me.

There were two main practical things that I have used to help restore disappointed hopes:

1. A greater understanding of the mysterious nature of God who both wants to reveal Himself to us and yet also hides Himself from us.  (For those of you with access to a bible have a look at Chapter 19 in the book of 1Kings, from about verse 11 to verse13)  I have really learned to trust God in not just a theoretical way but a very practical way and to have to do it without  imposing my own deal upon Him.  The biggest thing that this has meant for me is to allow God to heal me and teach me in His own time – without my striving, struggling and “need to know”.  That yukky word called patience!!

2. I have had to learn to take risks again – this blog is just another one of them.  I have had to risk loving – knowing very well that that my love could be not returned or even outright rejected.  I have had to risk being who I experience myself to be, to do the things that I believe myself to be especially able to do and to do and follow what I believe to be true and right.  And one of the biggest things I have had to do is to risk believing that some of my lost hopes and dreams (the ones that I really believed) could be picked up in broken pieces and could be restored.  For me a simple example is even in what I was reading – without realizing I had stopped reading about things which I was most passionate, thinking that people had the ability to cut me off from my dreams.  I initially just took baby steps – I bought a book on things that mattered most and allowed it to sit on my shelf and then in time took the risk of reading it and allowing it to open my heart up to hope and dream (again becoming vulnerable to hope disappointed).

This might seem hard, and at times the easier thing is to lower expectations of people, life and desire – but for me the more I lower my expectation I die just a little bit more.  I am committed to this path of pulling myself out of this place of death where hope is disappointed and reaching out for life.  LIFE baby – LIFE that Jesus came and delivered to us here – a life of abundance… an abundance of hope…