The first time I read "Prayer" by R. Foster, I came across the section "Prayer of Action". I was delighted thinking that my daily activities can become prayers pleasing to God if I do things conscious of God's presence and with a heart of love. In other words, by His grace we can be in an ongoing attitude of prayer if what we do is an extension of our genuine affection for the Lord.
I pray you and I benefit from Foster's remarks -
A prayer makes sense only if it is lived. The work of our hands and of our minds is acted out prayer, a love offering to the living God
Every action performed in the sight of God, and in the manner that God wills, is a prayer and indeed a better prayer than could be made in words at such times...Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer of action...Everything that one turns in the direction of God is prayer... We pray the ordinary when we see God in the ordinary experiences of life.
No wonder Paul says -And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father - Col. 3:17
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Life from the Center...
Do you feel divided, rushing, frustrated...? This morning's reading from "Prayer" by R. Foster helped me reorder my thinking, desires, and activities. I pray it helps you as well. Foster quotes Thomas Kelley's thoughts on practicing the presence of God an the integrated soul -
"Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming"
"There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within , behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings"
As I read these thoughts I was reminded of Jesus' Word -
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you are joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. John 15:4-5 (The Message).
"Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming"
"There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within , behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings"
As I read these thoughts I was reminded of Jesus' Word -
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you are joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. John 15:4-5 (The Message).
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