Prayer is...

Prayer is…Coming Home

Many of us spend considerable time wandering about in a far-off land. Yet, in every moment, God beckons us home: To that from which we came and for which we were created; to that place where His embrace is no longer shunned or resisted; to that space where knowledge of Him is gained only as we let Him love us the way He wants. Through prayer, we get to know God through the experience of knowing ourselves known thoroughly and loved through and through by Him.

Prayer is…Using Our Senses

Prayer is a growing sense that Something vastly important exists far beyond our normal sense perceptions. The world of the material is so vivid; at times, it can all but cloud-out the larger world of the immaterial (or spirit/Spirit). Through prayer, it becomes possible to use our senses as gateways to the parts of heaven dwelling inside and around us. When you gaze out at the vastness of the night sky, what do you see? When you listen to the laugh of a young child, what do you hear? These things are intended to point us to God and invite us to revel in His absolute majesty and deep love for us and for all creation.

Prayer is…Sharing One's Life

Prayer draws from all that makes us human: Our memories, our physical senses and abilities, our emotions and drives—even our most intimate dreams, imaginations, and aspirations. Prayer is inviting God to be a part of it all. It’s also responding to His desire to share His life with us. Here's a two-fold question I ask myself regularly: What would your life be like, Dave, if you opened yourself up and just gave yourself away to God? And what, too, would happen, if you let God do the same for you?

Prayer is…Awakening

Communing with God is not just about speaking with Him. Sometimes, it is; often it extends way beyond that. Through prayer, God illuminates and permeates all we are, hope to experience, and hope to be. Through such intimacies, prayer becomes a means to ultimate wakefulness. It is a tuning in to the fullness of God's life and love as He dances over and within us (see Ze 3:17).