Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Prayer of Adoration

How do you pray?  Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath.  So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms.  Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.

At first glance you may think thankfulness and adoration are the same, but there is a difference.

Adoration is the outpouring of love, worship, honor, and praise to God. Richard Foster writes, ”In one sense, adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims…In adoration we enter the rarefied air of selfless devotion. We ask for nothing but to cherish him. We seek nothing but his exaltation. We focus on nothing but his goodness.”

In thanksgiving we give glory to God for what he has done for us; in adoration, we give glory to God for who he is.

The Psalms can be a great help in the prayer of adoration. So can music. Praying the names for God or his characteristic is another approach. Walking among nature crated by God draws us into adoration. Often just contemplating God without words is enough.

A prayer of adoration and praise should flow naturally from a heart fully aware of God's great blessings.  “I love you, Lord” may be all that is prayed.

History tell us that Francis of Assisi would frequently spend an hour or two in prayer on the top of Mount Averno, where the only word that escaped his lips would be ‘God’ repeated at intervals. He began with adoration and often stopped there.

“To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.”  Martin Luther

How do you praise and adore God?

Thankfulness to God – Lectio Divina

Therefore, my heart sings to you without ceasing; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalm 30:12

I will give you thanks forever.

Lord, the more I offer you my thanks and praise, the more I see the depth of Your blessings.

Lord, the more I pay attention to Your gifts, the more words of thankfulness burst from my heart.

Lord, the more I dig though the mud and muck of life, I find Your treasures and nuggets of love surrounding me.

Lord, the more I try to express my gratitude to You with inadequate expressions, the more I fall before you with wordless tears.

Lord, I will give you thanks forever.

Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Thankfulness

How do you pray?  Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath.  So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms.  Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.

The more I pray with thankfulness, the more I realize the power in gratitude. I have read that love and gratitude are the two most powerful emotions for humans.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart

We are taught from childhood to say thank you, but as I get older I have discovered I never can fully thank God enough for all the blessings from Him.

Each night before sleep I pause and review the day: What am I most grateful for and what am I the least grateful for?

To be honest when I first began this form of prayer, I expected to spew lots of negative experiences and have to search deep for the good stuff each day. Surprisingly, the opposite occurred. Each night I was overwhelmed by the countless moments of blessings and often had to hunt and sometimes never find unpleasantries.

Thankfulness, counting your blessings, is powerful.

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons."
--Ruth Ann Schabacke

What are you most grateful for?

Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Simple Prayer

How do you pray?  Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath.  So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms.  Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.

We make prayer too complicated and difficult at times. God wants us as we are – coming to Him in open honesty, with our defenses down and our ego set aside. 

I like what C. S. Lewis wrote, “The prayer preceding all prayers is ‘May it be the real I who speak. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.’”

Simple prayer is coming to God just as we are, with all our faults, problems, and imperfections. We tell God how frustrated we are, angry or discouraged. Richard Foster says, “Sometimes this prayer is called the Prayer of Beginning Again.”

We are not alone with praying this way. The Bible is full of examples of people calling out to God with raw emotions: Moses, David, Ruth, Peter, and John for example. Simple prayer is ordinary people bringing ordinary problems to an extraordinary and compassionate God.

God meets us where we are and begins a new work within us. C. S. Lewis also counsels us to “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

We allow our helplessness, our inadequacies, and our past failures to pray to block our relationship with God. He welcomes us all the time like the Father running to love the prodigal son. Ole Hallesby wrote, “Whether it takes the form of words or not, does not mean anything to God, only ourselves. Only he who is helpless can truly pray.”

“To prayer is to walk in the full light of God and to say simply, without holding back, ‘I am human and you are God.’” Henri Nouwen.

Radical thought: learn to pray by praying.  God can handle it!

God Can Do All Things – Lectio Divina

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Job 42:2

You can do all things

All things, Lord.

You can do all things – even what the ones I think are overwhelming and impossible.

You can do all things – even the unattainable that the world shouts, “It’s out of the question.”

You can do all things – restoring hope for our bleak circumstances

You can do all things – whatever is Your will, will be done.

Why do I doubt you?

Why do I fear?

Why do I hesitate to fall fully into Your more than capable arms?

Once again I return to you with gratefulness and only through Your grace and mercy and place my trust in my God, my Creator, who can do all things.

All things.

All.

Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Breath Prayers

How do you pray?  Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath.  So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms.  Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.

The Bibles teaches us to “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)   How do we do this?

One type of prayer that has helped Christians across the ages to fulfill this command is the breath prayer

A breath prayer is a very short prayer that can be said in one breath and repeated throughout the day.  It is an ancient form of prayer, found in writings as early as the second century. The prayer communicates a sense of nearness with trust and dependency on God.

Perhaps the best-known breath prayer is called the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." This prayer had its origin within the Christian tradition of the East and can be traced back to the sixth century. At the time, monks and other people who were seeking a deeper relationship with God sought some disciplined form of prayer that they could pray at any time in any place.

Discovering your own breath prayer is another approach. Often people find certain scriptures become breath prayers or even just one or two words, like “peace’ or “Jesus.”

Sample breath prayers are:

Show me your way, O Lord.

Give me strength, O Christ. 


Father, show me your love. 


The Lord is my shepherd

My God and my All. (Saint Francis)


Come, Lord Jesus!

I love you, Lord

Holy one, heal me. 


Holy Wisdom, Guide me. 


"This way of simple prayer, when we are faithful to it and practice it at regular times, slowly leads us to an experience of rest and opens us to God's active presence. Moreover, we can take this prayer with us into a very busy day. When, for instance, we have spent twenty minutes in the early morning sitting in the presence of God with the words "The Lord is my Shepherd" they may slowly build a little nest for themselves in our heart and stay there for the rest of our busy day. Even while we are talking, studying, gardening, or building, the prayer can continue in our heaert and keep us aware of God's ever-present guidance. The discipline is not directed toward coming to a deeper insight into what it means that God is called our Shepherd, but toward coming to the inner experience of God's shepherding action in whatever we think, say or do."
Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart, pp. 82-83.

We are created for companionship with God. God does want to connect with us on a moment-by-moment basis. When we pray once a week or even once a day, we fail to take advantage of everything God has for us.  Breath prayers are a great way to keep in contact with our Heavenly Father throughout our day.

Anthony deMello tells this story:

Said one traveler to another, 
"I have come a great distance to listen to the words of the Teacher, but I find his words quite ordinary."



"Don't listen to his words. Listen to his message."



"How does one do that?"



"Take hold of a sentence that he says. Shake it well till all the words drop off. What is left will set your heart on fire."



Set your heart on fire this week through prayer.  

Praying – Exploring Different Types of Prayers – Prayer Quotes

How do you pray?  Often my prayers slip into comfortable routines, predictable patterns, yet prayer is all around us – like our breath.  So many different ways to talk with God are waiting to explore. The following is a part of a three-week series on prayer and its many forms.  Come explore with me ways to address God when words are inadequate and let’s get to know God better by spending time with Him.

What is prayer?

Prayer has been defined in many ways. Here are a few great quotes describing prayer to start our series:

“True, whole prayer is nothing but love.” St. Augustine

“A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.” Soren Kierkegaard

“Prayer fastens the soul to God.”  Julian of Norwich

“For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.” Saint Teresa

"To pray is to work, to work is to pray." 
Motto of the Benedictine Order

"Praying is simply a two-way conversation between you and God. It is not the body's posture but the heart's attitude that counts when we pray. Prayer is not our using of God; it more often puts us in a position where God can use us." 
Billy Graham

"If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly, we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not the exercise, it is the life.” 
Oswald Chambers

“When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing - nothing.”  ~Saint Francis of Assisi

“Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer.” --François Fénelon

Do you have a favorite quote about prayer?

Giving God my Entire Attention – Lectio Divina

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:34 (The Message)

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now.

My entire attention?  You want it all?  But I am so good at multi-tasking God. Couldn’t I just sort of listen, kind of pray, and pretend to fully love you and continue to work on my all important to-do list, cling to my worries, and fiddle with what I think is best for me?

My entire attention?  What would that feel like? Would it hurt me that much to let go of my ego and fully dive into Your presence?

My entire attention?  Divert my eyes from what I think is important – the shiny, the urgent, the busyness jumping up and down demanding my time?  Look closely for You, Lord? 

My entire attention?  If I did that I would have to let go of old habits, worldly desires, and comfortable ways.  You may ask me to think in new ways, be nice to others who haven’t always been nice to me or – gasp! – even ask that I love them.

My entire attention? Lord, I feel guilty. I know You are a God who gives Your entire attention to the birds, the flowers, and to us, yet I rarely return the favor.

For at least one moment, at least for today – I will turn my heart to You in total self surrender.  You know me, Lord, I will have to do this again and again and again.

My entire attention?  Yes, Lord.

Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite writers.

An internationally renowned priest and author, respected professor and beloved pastor, Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books on the spiritual life.

Born in Nijkerk, Holland, on January 24, 1932, Nouwen felt called to the priesthood at a very young age. He was ordained in 1957 as a diocesan priest and studied psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1964 he moved to the United States to study at the Menninger Clinic. He went on to teach at the University of Notre Dame, and the Divinity Schools of Yale and Harvard.

For several months during the 1970s, Nouwen lived and worked with the Trappist monks in the Abbey of the Genesee, and in the early 1980s he lived with the poor in Peru. In 1985 he was called to join L’Arche in Trosly, France, the first of over 100 communities founded by Jean Vanier where people with developmental disabilities live with assistants. A year later Nouwen came to make his home at L’Arche Daybreak near Toronto, Canada. He died suddenly on September 21st, 1996, in Holland and is buried in King City, Ontario.

Every time I read something written by Nouwen I learn, grow and am nourished by God. Here are some of my favorite quotes by Henri. May they nourish you today:

"Dear God,

I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!

Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?

Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?

Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own,

but what you want to give me.

And what you want to give me is love, unconditional, everlasting love. Amen."

"Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it."

“Why is it so important that you are with God and God alone on the mountain top? It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved. To pray is to listen to the One who calls you "my beloved daughter," "my beloved son," "my beloved child." To pray is to let that voice speak to the centre of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being.”

“If you really want to know God, go to his people. Go to your barber and talk about God. Tell the carpenter about what you're experiencing. Take time to read the lives of the saints . They always knock you off your feet because they tell you the preoccupations you have aren't the ones you should have. Get in touch with those women and men who did crazy things like falling in love with God.”

“You are confronted again and again with the choice of letting God speak or letting your wounded self cry out. Although there has to be a place where you can allow your wounded part to get the attention it needs, your vocation is to speak from the place in you where God dwells.”

“We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.”

“To pray is to walk in the full light of God, and to say simply, without holding back, "I am a human being and you are God." At that moment, conversion occurs, the restoration of the true relationship.”

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

Spiritual Discouragement – a Messy Muck

   Recent newscasts show the growing tragedy of the geysers of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Perhaps the scene that breaks my heart the most is the wildlife struggling to survive, drenched in thick brown muck.

      Some float and most barely walk, no, they weakly stagger, under the weight of the heavy oil. The only signs of life we can see is their desperate eyes pleading for help. They know they cannot save themselves. They seek hope.

      The cleaning process for these exhausted birds begins with covering them in Canola oil, followed by a thorough bath in dishwashing detergent and water. Volunteers spend at least one full painstaking hour of scrubbing, rubbing, and rinsing to get each bird clean.

     I thought of these pelicans this past weekend when discouragement overwhelmed my heart. I dragged with a heaviness of spirit, weighted down in the messy muck of this favorite tool of the devil.  The evil one knows too well my Achilles heel and attacks me, especially when I am tired.

    What is the cleaning process for discouragement?

     Just like outside hands comfort the frightened pelican, gently clean their feathers and nourish them with food and water, God’s hands will protect and sooth my frazzled desperation. I draw strength from His presence and healing oil knowing I am His child. I snuggle into His arms in prayer and rest, knowing He will and has already saved me.

    I lay my hopes and desires in His will, not my unrealistic expectations, which often are the cause of the discouragement.  He alone is perfect; I am not. God is my hope.

     I have learned, like the unplugged geyser in the Gulf, discouragement easily gushes with negativity. I can focus on that or I can choose God.  I wish I could say I immediately turn to God but often let self pity overpower me for a time before, exhausted, I stagger weakly into my Healer’s hands. We can’t always avoid discouragement but we can, once we recognize it, ask for God’s help in walking away from its shackles.

Psalm 61:1-2 tells us “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'

Billy Graham

   How do you rise above discouragement?

Make a Clean Break – Lectio Divina

"Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:31-32 (MSG)

Make a clean break.

Lord, it is so much easier for me to be sarcastic than accepting. I am quicker to criticize than to love. I jump to conclusions, assuming fault in the other person and letting my self-protecting defenses rule my heart instead of You.

You tell me make a clean break. 

Reminds me when I am in my stained glass workshop in the garage cutting glass. I score the line on the glass and with one quick jerk, SNAP, the glass breaks evenly and precisely as designed.  If I don’t score completely or break quickly, the glass shatters with jagged edges that cut my fingers.

Lord, Your death and resurrection forever settled the score, so we could make a clean break with the world and its sin.

Make a clean break.

I will keep this as my prayer this week that with Your strength, I can break from the sarcasm, criticism, and assumptions and live as You designed – in love.   

Journaling for Discernment

Keeping a journal is a spiritual practice that often helps enlighten and guide when you are discerning a new step in your life. 

Words are powerful. Words clarify, provide direction, and offer a way to sort through the junk to find the treasure.

Several years ago I was in a dilemma. As county health commissioner, I no longer enjoyed the work that tipped more toward bioterrorism prevention than health promotion. My passion no longer lie with personnel and financial tensions overloaded with smallpox, plaque, and pandemic flu.

I had the opportunity to retire, but needed to decide when. This is where my journal helped in my discernment. I charted my feelings, my indecisiveness, my hopes and dreams over a several year period.  

After much turmoil, even some missteps in the wrong direction, I decided on July 2006 as the date. 

I discovered something really odd though, several weeks after making my final decision.

Rereading my journal, I jotted down these words TWO years before – “I think God is telling me I will retire in July 2006.”

God gave me the answer all along – was it my foolishness, blindness, ego that made me suffer in indecisiveness?  Or maybe God had lessons for me to learn on that path.

I don’t know the answer, but find it reassuring God knew long before I realized it.

My post on Monday about “You are who you were when you were ten” created some interesting comments.  Michelle wrote, “I think I'll try and remember when my two children are ten to create a journal for them of that year to look back on and see who they were becoming and how much they have grown since then!”

Michelle’s comment led me to remember my incident with journaling. She is helping her kids capture a key moment in time. Whenever we take the time to write in our journals, we help to turn on the light that will guide our daily walk. Writing IS a powerful spiritual discipline.

How have you captured your hopes, dreams and decisions in writing?

“For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me.” 
Jack Dann

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."  ~ Rudyard Kipling

God’s Fingerprints – You are who you were when you were ten

“You are who you were when you were ten,” my friend Diane said to me the other day. That statement fascinated and haunted me.  Is it true?

I think God wires us certain ways when we are created. We can learn outside and beyond those initial markings, but these often are our strengths and core passions.

Who were you at age 8, 9 or 10?  Thinking back I realized I was a writer and imaginative explorer. My fourth grade teacher called me a poet and gave me a special book of poetry at the end of the school year.  I remember summers playing in a make believe sailboat exploring deserted islands – in reality the boat was a smaller tree with great limbs to climb through and the island, the empty lot behind my house.

Now I don’t think we are locked into who we were at age ten, but if we take the time reflect on who we were as a child before all the adult masks were donned and the world told us who to be, we may discover our true selves – who God meant us to be.

What do you think?

Every life is a fairy tale written by the fingers of God. Hans Christian Andersen