Game Changer
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1 NASB
Teach – “A person may believe he or she has planned for life, but ultimately knowing what to ask for, knowing what is best, comes from God.”[1] Oh, but you knew that, didn’t you? The problem is you didn’t pay any attention to the consequences. You went right on asking for the things that fit your plan. You continued to expect things to go your way. And they don’t. So it’s back to the prayer closet asking God what’s the problem. The problem isn’t where you are or what you are doing or who doesn’t cooperate. The problem is you. If Yeshua is going to teach his disciples to pray, then the first thing after silence will be acknowledging and embracing the fact that we don’t have a clue. Praying is not enlisting spiritual technology. Praying is turning over life to the hands of God—and being ready for anything to happen.
Perhaps no one told you that praying is the most dangerous thing you can do. Perhaps they forgot to mention that it isn’t just sinners in the hands of an angry God who should be scared to death. Anyone who comes before the Creator, Sovereign and Holy Other needs to shake a bit. Tenuous, that’s the proper word for life in the throne room. Somehow we have replaced the most fearsome being of all the ages with a dotting heavenly grandfather. That needs to change. If we want to pray, we must realize that we have entered the wilderness of YHVH, a place where no man can survive. Our plans are finished before they started. This is alien space. If you ever feel like you don’t belong in this world, you might be shocked to find just how much you absolutely do not belong in His presence. Learning to pray might begin with learning to cry, but it can’t proceed without learning to be afraid.
“To pray means to make God the confidant of one’s sorrow and need.”[2] But He’s not your best friend. Making God your confidant means letting Him experience all of the hidden, horrible secrets you carry. It means bearing your raw edges, the places where no one loves you, not even you. Confidant: “a person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others.” Not your best friend by a long shot. Even friends fail. The secrets you dare not share are the ones God is waiting to hear. You thought you had it under control. Well, actually you knew you didn’t, but you carefully crafted your public persona so that it appeared as if you were doing alright. But the hidden stayed hidden. And now, now that you stand in the wasteland, now you know you will have to reveal all those hidden things if you are going to learn to pray. You will have to take Him into your confidence and deal with the unloved spaces.
The Yiddish proverb applies. “A person plans and God laughs.” Take care.
Topical Index: prayer, Luke 11:1, Weiss
[1] Avraham Weiss, Holistic Prayer, p. 45.
[2] Ibid., p. 44.
When God becomes Real, you can’t fake joy. Moments, that’s all.
Thank you, Skip. This was very, very good for me.
On my wall I have a clipping of a cartoon of a man holding a sign saying “The end is near” with the people next to him remarking “These days that’s probably a good thing”.
In prayer, more than any other place, is the place for self to die. The end of me is the only beginning of Him there can be. There is no me-plus-Him; only Him. I tried all the other combos in the places where you can tell if something is working (or not); namely, those disaster places, and noticed that I was still very much alone. The conversation did not start until those disasters finally put me all the way on my face. Voila! The right place – the only place – to approach the Throne from! Transmission received. At last ( I do mean at first, of course).
Looking back, He was there all the time. I was the one missing; hiding in my bushes, baiting God with all the fear, anger, holy zeal, self righteousness and self justification, ACCUSATION (yes, so much of what I actually thought of Him was actually accusing Him!), and self pity I could muster. He had to make the first move, because I did not trust Him! But I was the one out of line. I was the one missing in the action of relationship. I was a disassociated mess – of course I was missing!
I thought – because I perceived – that I was falling all by myself, but I found at the bottom that He was not in that fall – that fall away – because He was where I really needed Him – at the bottom, where I needed to be caught. HOW one can possibly fool themselves into thinking that they are ‘running away’ when actually all they are doing is helplessly being acted on by the forces of the gravity of sin I do not know, but that was not the only evidence of my insanity by a long shot.
Any other posture before Him except on my heart’s face is a lie; a misrepresentation of who I really am, and, conversely, Who He really is. If I do not bring myself to the altar, and die in His presence, I am not really there. Dying does not have to be hard, and dying does not have to be un-enjoyable, either, but those new places are all founded on trust, and trust is founded on believing the correct things about Him, and about me. Still learning!
“ If I did not regularly pray out of a sense of obligation to pray, I do not think I could pray at those times when I truly want to do so.”
“Since prayer requires the capacity to be in awe and thankful, the immodest and arrogant personality simply cannot pray because he has no sense of awe or gratitude” p4
“’In the word for to pray, l’hitpalel, meaning – to judge oneself – lies the clue for the real purpose for engaging in prayer. Whether we petition God to give us what we need, or thank Him for whatever good was granted, or extol Him for His awesome attributes, all prayer is intended to help make us into better human beings.” -taken from Rabbi Hayim Donin, “To Pray as a Jew”
Judah Halevi (Kuzari 111:5) : “prayer is for the soul what nourishment is for the body” – thus we can all become richer and healthier .
“קָרוֹב ה’ לְכָל קֹרְאָיו — לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָאֻהוּ בֶאֱמֶת.” (תהלים קמח:י”ח)
“God is near to all who call to Him — to all who call to Him in truth.” (Ps. 145:18)
What does it mean to call to God “in truth”?
This phrase describes prayer that is sincere and from the heart. However, this refers not only to how we should pray. Even more, it indicates for what we should pray.
Falsehood is transitory and fleeting. Truth, on the other hand, is eternal and enduring. The World to Come is called “the World of Truth,” reflecting its eternal nature.
We call out to God ‘in truth’ when we pray, not for the fleeting and insignificant, but for that which is true and eternal. Prayer in truth aspires to uncover the inner meaning of our existence, the very essence of our lives. “Return us, our Father, to Your Torah. Draw us near, our King, to Your service” (from the Amidah prayer). When we pray to find our purpose in life and our path to serve God, such a prayer is an authentic reflection of the soul’s inner desires.
God answers prayers that are ‘in truth,’ prayers that express our true inner will. As the psalm continues: “He fulfills the will of those who revere Him” (145:19).
May we all actual start to pray and not just talk about prayer and be with people that are seeking in need not just watch them fall and reach out to ask it may involve a little of your time efforts and mess up your idea of being in his image and be his prayer on earth.. To all his creation!! not just the seperate anti semitic country club.s in kingdom of pride and superiority. . Amen
(adapted from Olat Re’iyah vol. I, pp. 226-267)