Imagination and Prayer

    Imagination often opens the door to faith. If God shows us a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it helps us to believe that it will be so.  Children instantly understand these things and respond well to praying with the imagination. I was once called to a home to pray for a seriously ill baby girl. Her four-year-old brother was in the room, and so I told him I needed his help to pray for his baby sister.  He was delighted, and so was I since I know that children can often pray with unusual effectiveness.  He climbed up into the chair beside me. “Let’s play a little game,” I said. “Since we know that Jesus is always with us, let’s imagine that he is sitting over in the chair across from us. He is waiting patiently for us to center our attention on him. When we see him, we start thinking more about his love then how sick Julie is.  He smiles, gets up, and comes over to us. Then, let’s both put our hands on Julie, and when we do, Jesus will put his hands on top of ours.  We’ll watch the light from Jesus flow into your little sister and make her well.  Let’s watch the healing power of Christ fight with the bad germs until they are gone.  Okay?”  Seriously, the little one nodded.  Together, we prayed in this childlike way and then thanked the Lord that what we had prayed was the way it was going to be.  Now, I do not know exactly what happened, nor how it was accomplished, but I do know that the next morning Julie was perfectly well. 

Let me insert a word of caution at this point.  We are not trying to conjure up something in our imagination that is not so. Nor are we trying to manipulate God and tell him what to do.  Quite the opposite.  We are asking God to tell us what to do.  God is the ground of our beseeching, as Juliana of Norwich put it, and we are utterly dependent upon him.  Our prayer is to be like a reflex action to God’s prior initiative upon the heart.  The ideas, the pictures, the words are of no avail unless they proceed from the Holy Spirit who, as you know, is interceding for us “with sighs too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). 

Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline p. 41-42

God's Hand at Work

" 'God, where are you?' I was 22 when I first asked this question. A horrific car crash had left me with a ten percent chance of survival, yet miraculously I am still here. Now in my sixties, I am finding it easier to see God’s work in my life.

I grew up in a Christian household, made a profession of faith at age 12, and have been a Christian since. When I was young, I mistakenly believed that being Christian should give me protection from suffering. But this is simply not true. It was not true for Christ, nor is it true for his followers.

Looking at my life that has included multiple surgeries and physical maladies, an onlooker might mistakenly assume that God was far removed from me. But that would be a mistake. I saw God’s hand at work when surgeons changed their minds at the last minute, when treatment plans were altered, and when surgery revealed results dramatically different from x-rays. God was present in the support of friends and family who prayed and offered words of encouragement. God was there all along."

by Dean Gammons, Upper Room, Monday, May 9th A.D. 2022

Prayer of Self-emptying

The story is told of a learned professor who went to visit an old monk who was famous for his wisdom. The monk graciously welcomed him into his temple and offered him a seat on a cushion. No sooner had the professor sat down than he launched into a long, wordy account of his own accomplishments, his own knowledge, his own theories and opinions. The monk listened quietly for awhile and then asked politely, “Would you like some tea?” 

The professor nodded, smiled and kept right on talking. The monk handed him a teacup and began pouring tea from a large pot. The tea rose to the brim of the cup, but the monk kept right on pouring while the professor kept right on talking. Finally the professor noticed what was going on, leaped to his feet and demanded, “What are you doing? Can’t you see that the cup is overflowing?” To which the monk replied, “This cup is like your mind. It can’t take in anything new because it’s already full.”

Eventually, when we stop the flow of our own words, another gift comes to us, quietly and imperceptibly at first: we find ourselves resting in prayer. Rather than working so hard to put everything into words, we rest from the noise and stimulation that are so characteristic of life in our culture. We rest our overactive, hardworking mind from the need to put everything into words. We rest from clinging, grasping and trying to figure everything out. The soul returns to its most natural state in God. In returning and rest you will be saved.

Barton, R.Ruth. Sacred Rhythms : Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. IVP Books, 2006.

In Solitude We Allow God to Help Us

 It reminds me of a story about a priest who observed a woman sitting in the empty church with her head in her hands. An hour passed, then two. She was still there. Judging her to be a soul in distress and eager to be of assistance, at last the priest approached the woman and said, “Is there any way I can be of help?” “No thank you, Father,” she said, “I’ve been getting all the help I need until you interrupted!” In solitude we allow God to help us.

Barton, R.Ruth. Sacred Rhythms : Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. IVP Books, 2006.

Faith to Move Mountains, Prayer to Move the Hand of God

“Have faith in God. Amen I tell you that whoever says to this mountain ‘Be raised and thrown into the sea’ and has no doubts in his heart but believes that what he says is happening, it shall be his. So I tell you all what you pray and ask for, trust that you get it and it shall be yours. And when you stand praying forgive if you have anything against anyone so your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your wrongs.” (112)

Jesus in Mark’s gospel, translated by Reynolds Price in Three Gospels.

The video below from the Charlie Rose show features Reynolds Price: