The FaithFul of God

The FaithFul of God

Praying.

by C.S. Lewis
Imagine that person you talk to on the
phone who only calls to complain or ask
for something constantly pouring out
words always about themselves and never
about you you can’t get a word in and
then they simply say okay bye and hang
up.
In Matthew 6:7-8
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what
things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
We read and when you pray do not use vain
repetitions as the Gentiles do for they
think that they will be heard for their
many words therefore do not be like them
for your father knows what you need
before you ask him.
I believe that’s how God sometimes
feels when we pray if you are like me
your prayers might fall into four
categories either they are dry and Bland
like a piece of old bread or we repeat
the same things incessantly like a
scratched record or we treat God like a
giant vending machine machine in the sky
where we insert something and expect to
receive something in return or Worse
prayer becomes the most annoying and
obligatory task possible like vacuuming
the entire house on a scorching
Day.
Lewis mentions in the screw tape
letters you can always try to make their
prayers very spiritual when in reality
they are not.
Let your patient try to
evoke feelings without words. Words
without meaning and not allow the
patient to realize that he is trying to
produce Faith by the sheer effort of the
will. When all efforts fail you can still
manipulate the patient mind into
thinking he is much more spiritual than
he really is.
If you can get him to
abandon the effort of prayer all
together, whatever the situation we often
stop praying.
When we stop praying
it’s like we stop watering a plant.
Our faith Withers.
I would like to share some
thoughts and techniques I’ve learned
along the way which have helped me
escape these traps and deepen my prayer
life.
I won’t offer just a beautiful
definition of prayer for I truly don’t
believe it can be captured with words
alone instead I’ll give you an image for
me.
Prayer is the mutual pouring of one
heart into another until both become one.
There are three essential ingredients to
make prayer.
Prayer if any of these are
missing your entire prayer
crumbles.
I call them PHT have you ever been alone in a room
perhaps waiting for something and
another person enters the room you might
not see this person maybe they enter
from behind you but you are aware of
their presence.
This is is the starting
point of all prayer the awareness of
another person’s presence in the room
otherwise we are just talking to
ourselves in the dark.
The best phrase I have ever heard
about prayer and of course I don’t
remember who wrote it was.
God hears our
hearts not our words. I’ll repeat that
God hears our hearts not our words so
please let’s forget about whether we’re
saying the right thing or using the
right words and get straight to the
point.
What is happening in my heart if
we can speak from the heart we can speak
the language of God.
In 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on
his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not
 as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
It is written but the Lord said to Samuel do
not consider his appearance or his
height for I have rejected him the Lord
does not look at the things people look
at.
People look at the outward appearance
but the Lord looks at the
heart. Imagine if we reverse this we need
to learn to listen to God’s heart within
our own not through words,feelings or
signs but through subtle and delicate
Inspirations or movements within our
being. Those moments of clarity in the
soul in Romans 8:26-27
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
 because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God.
We read in the same same
way the spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for
but the spirit himself intercedes for us
through wordless groans. He who
searches our hearts knows the mind of
the spirit because the spirit intercedes
for God’s people in accordance with the
will of God.
When we Master this delicate
language of the heart we are indeed
conversing with God.
Now bear with me
remember those old diving suits where
the diver depended entirely on the
operator on the surface to pump air if
the diver wanted to ascend. He would tug
the rope and wait for the operator to
notice and pull him up. The point is if
you are the diver. You trust your entire
life in the operator’s hands even your
next breath depends on him. Similarly but
much more profoundly. We need to have this radical
Trust in God even for our next breath.
Here’s the difference it is not just
some operator at the top. It is the God
of the Universe who loves us in an
incomprehensible way.
C.S.Lewis mentions in the screw tape
letters. Their task is to fix the patient
attention on something visible and
tangible so that he ignores the enemy’s.
God’s presence the enemy allows the
suffering as a test of trust. He wants
creatures to learn to trust him even in
darkness and uncertainty. Our job is to
ensure they lose that trust and focus on
visible and tangible things consider
these words.
The entire universe before the Lord is like a grain
of sand and a drop of Morning Dew not a
single Sparrow falls to the ground
without God knowing and even the hairs
on your head unnumbered therefore do not
be afraid. You are worth more than many
sparrows.
Yes I paraphrased it is in
the presence of whom we stand.
It is to
whom I pour out my whole heart to.
It is to
whom I trust my next breath. It is
crucial to prepare before praying
because remember we are in the presence
of the God of the Universe to the extent
that we make ourselves present to God He
makes himself present to us.
Think about that. I like to find a quiet and dark
place with my feet on the ground Palms
open ready to receive posture is
important because our body manifests our
soul. If our body is open our soul is
open our heart or our soul is spiritual
this is the door to the spiritual where
we will find God. Leou says in letters to
Malcolm prayer in the sense of
requesting is not what matters.
Prayer in the sense of lifting the mind and heart
to God is what counts.
So the first thing
to do is enter that Inner Room of our heart
and close the doors to everything else.
Let’s start with a simple technique to
relieve stress. Focus on all the noise in your
mind the accumulated stress in your
stomach. Anything that is Weighing on you.
Imagine all of this as a red smoke gathering in
the center of your chest. Keep breathing
deeply and exhaling all this smoke
focusing on your breath.
Imagining the smoke passing through your
lips. Next visualize the room you are in
the environment around you. The chair you
are sitting in even your own body
disappearing. The world around you ceases
to exist and with it all your worries
Fade Away only your heart remains in a
vast emptiness. Now invite God to enter
just as we notice when someone enters
the room feel the divine presence.
As it says in
Psalm 46:10-11
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be
exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted
in the earth.
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob
 is our refuge. Selah.
This is crucial it’s not about feeling
something but about knowing and trusting
here there are no words our mind is
silent. It’s just my heart and his
nothing else.
We can simply stay here
forever without saying a word just being.
However Lewis says in letters to
Malcolm the greater part of my conscious
prayers consist of words prayer like all
spiritual work is not just something we
do with our hearts but with our minds
but to empty our minds of worldly
problems. We need to quiet our hearts
first which is why he says it is not
just something we do with our hearts
this my friends is the deepest form of
prayer but if we want to express
something a structure can be helpful.
I usually start with dear Lord I am sorry
for because remember we are on sacred
ground here search your heart for those
dark spots where have I failed myself God,
the people around me.
What are the obstacles
between me and him. If you don’t know
what to say ask him to show you. He will
show you in time and forget the idea of
an angry and disappointed God. He is the
father of the prodical son running to
meet us.
Next let’s pray for each other.
We are all facing something internally or
externally or both.
Think on a large scale without limitations.
Think of everyone who is struggling. The sick.
The dying.
Those who have lost hope.
Think of the overall balance of Good and Evil
in our world.
In our hearts I believe
it doesn’t matter so much what we say
for he already knows what matters.
If we truly feel it and if we trust that he
can act because it is with love and
faith that he works not with words.
Finally we pray for ourselves.
Jesus invites us very tenderly tell me your
fears in the simplest way possible tell
me what you need, tell me what you
desire. Share with me your sorrows and
joys pour everything out before me.
Lewis says in the great voice I do not pray
to change God. I pray to change
myself.
I have found that the more we
talk about our fears. The more they lose
their power until we are no longer
afraid of them. It is essential to
distinguish between what I want and what
I truly need.
Remember Jesus cares
much more about our spiritual well-being
than our material well-being.
I’ll speak for myself here
sometimes we focus so much on asking for
things. That we forget other equally
important matters.
In Matthew 6:31-32
31 Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?
or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
 have need of all these things.
Do not worry saying what shall we eat or what
shall we drink or what shall we wear for
the Gentiles seek after all these things
Your heavenly father knows that you
need them all.
Jesus says seek first me
and I will give you all these other
things.
After asking him for all the things I
think I need I usually say Lord you know
my needs better than I do. This is what I
want and after asking him for all the
things I desire.
I say Lord if this
desire comes from you let it be
fulfilled if not please remove it from
my heart. Either way we are in good hands
the more we do this sincerely the more
we realize there is only one thing we
truly need and want.
And finally and this
is probably the most important part we
just say thank you.
It’s not necessary to
use fancy words, just say it in your own
words from your heart and be
sincere.
I always end by saying Lord I
know you can do all
things.
Let’s be honest sometimes we just
don’t want to pray and much of this has
to do with with all these concerns but
these are just symptoms what really
matters is do I truly love God?
Do I truly believe that he is a living person
I can talk to?
Who hears me?
Who truly loves me because if I believe that.
Then there is nothing better I can do with my
time on this small planet than to spend
a few moments every day talking to the
God of the Universe.
In Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
 present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
 be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
 in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It says for I am convinced that
neither death nor life neither angels
nor demons neither the present nor the
future nor any powers neither height nor
depth nor anything else in all creation
will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord the King of Peace. The Perfection of
everything I desire of what I need of and
what I am seeking.
Lewis says in this problem of
pain. We are not sufficiently like God to
understand his answers.
We may pray and
not receive what we ask for because what
we want is something far inferior to
what he is willing to give us and if you
struggle with this.
It’s okay we all
struggle but then that’s what we bring
to our prayer openly and
honestly.
In Lamentations 2:19
“Arise, cry out in the night: in the
beginning of the watches pour out thine
heart like water before the face of the
Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for
the life of thy young children, that
faint for hunger in the top of every street.”
It says pour out your heart like
water before the face of the Lord lift
your hands toward him for the life of
your young children who faint from
Hunger at the head of every street.
Try this for a week in your own way and I
guarantee that at some point you will
hear God somewhere deep in your soul
when that happens remember
it because that is what we build on and
then the rest is just a great love
affair where we are no longer just

talking to God but conversing with God.

“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
Praying. by C.S. Lewis

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