Tag Archives: prayer

Daily Riches: The Difference Between Thinking and Praying (Donald McCullough, William O’Malley, and John Donne)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Being the Beloved, Contemplative Prayer, Embracing Losses and Limits, Prayer, Striving and drivenness, The Love of God

“I don’t understand why God loves me–or anyone else, for that matter. But does a minnow have to understand the ocean to swim in it? Does a goose have to understand his instinctive urges to fly south in winter before taking flight? Does a hawk understand the physics of hot air rising to soar atop the currents? Do I really need to understand the height and breadth and depth of God’s love to throw myself upon it? Authentic spirituality, it seems to me, does not depend on understanding everything about ourselves and God and then using that knowledge to hoist ourselves to a higher level of experience and achievement. …Authentic spirituality confidently assumes that God is up to something good, going ahead of us, calling us, embracing us, and it seeks simply to participate and delight in this.”  Donald McCullough

“Prayer begins with being connected to God. One way I find helpful to remind myself of the ever-present God is to say over and over again, ‘God, my great friend, … somehow you’re alive in me.’ At times, I am sure, you will need nothing more than that. But the essential difference between thinking and praying is the conscious ‘connection.’ The goal of these prayers is connecting with and resting in God, not trying to learn anything or to make ‘progress in the spiritual life.’  Remember, God will lead us as God will, and God’s faithfulness, goodness, and love for us are infinite.” William O’Malley

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love
may … grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and know this love that surpasses knowledge….”
Ephesians 3:18,19

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you believe more knowledge can hoist you to “a higher level of experience” with God? How can striving for more knowledge be helpful? how can it be harmful?
  • Do you pray in order to “make progress in the spiritual life” or to “connect with and rest in God?” What’s the difference?
  • Do you experience God’s love mostly as fact or feeling? Does it “surpass knowledge?”

Abba, take me to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
John Donne

For More: Daily Prayers for Busy People by William J. O’Malley

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Being the Beloved of God (Henri Nouwen) *

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, Loving Listening, Prayer, Silence, Simplicity, Solitude

“Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, ‘Prove that you are a good person.’ Another voice says, ‘You’d better be ashamed of yourself.’ There also is a voice that says, ‘Nobody really cares about you,’ and one that says, ‘Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.’ But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, ‘You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.’ That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us ‘my Beloved.'”  Henri Nouwen

“The silence of solitude is nothing but dead silence when it does not make us alert for a new voice sounding from beyond all human chatter.” Nouwen

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love,
and to know by experience this love that surpasses knowledge —
that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness from God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19 (my trans.)

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • I’ve heard all these other insistent, noisy voices, with their deceiving and devastating counsel. Have you?
  • Just how “wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love” for you? Do you actually “know by experience” about God’s love for you, or is this something you merely believe or confess?
  • Are you spending sufficient time in the silence of solitude to hear for yourself that you are God’s “beloved?” If not, what specifically can you do about that?

Abba, may I be rooted and grounded in Christ’s unfailing love for me, comprehending that which surpasses knowledge as I experience it in the deepest part of who I am. Help me to protect silent spaces where I can listen to your voice.

__________

For More: The Still, Small Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen

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Thomas Merton expresses my heart for Daily Riches: “If I dare, in these few words, to ask you some direct and personal questions, it is because I address them as much to myself as to you. It is because I am still able to hope that a civil exchange of ideas can take place between two persons — that we have not yet reached the stage where we are all hermetically sealed, each one in the collective arrogance and despair of his own herd.” I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. (Psalm 90:14) . I appreciate your interest! – Bill

Daily Riches: Instructed by God in the Morning (Andrew Bonar and Charles Spurgeon) *

Posted on by under Contemplation, Daily Office, Meditation, Prayer, Solitude

“By the grace of God and the strength of His Holy Spirit I desire to lay down the rule not to speak to man until I have spoken to God; not to do anything with my hand until I have been upon my knees; not to read letters or papers until I have read something of the Holy Scriptures.” Andrew Bonar

“With the earliest birds I will make one more singer in the great concert-hall of God. …I will give my best time, the first hour of the day to the praise of my God.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house
and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

“As for me, I call to God
and Yahweh saves me.
Evening, morning and noon,
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.”
Psalm 55:16,17

“In the morning bring me word
of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.”   
Psalm 143:8

“The Lord Yahweh …
wakens me morning by morning,
    wakens my ear to listen
like one being instructed.”
Isaiah 50: 4

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • When is your “best time” to attend to God and his Word? What would be the value in making this your first “conversation” of the day?
  • This is no doubt an area where to “fail to plan is to plan to fail.” Do you have a plan to make sure that you attend to God during your day?
  • I’ve found the ancient practice of the “Daily Office” very helpful in this regard. Here’s more about that.

Abba, the temptation to rush into my day, with all of its demands and stimulation, is strong. Help me to seek you first in stillness, silence and solitude so that I can hear the word of your “unfailing love” before I do anything else.

__________

For More: Diary and Life by Andrew Bonar

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Being the Beloved (Henri Nouwen)

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, Prayer, Silence, Solitude, Stillness

“Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, ‘Prove that you are a good person.’ Another voice says, ‘You’d better be ashamed of yourself.’ There also is a voice that says, ‘Nobody really cares about you,’ and one that says, ‘Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.’ But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, ‘You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.’ That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us ‘my Beloved.'”  Henri Nouwen

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love,
and to know by experience this love that surpasses knowledge —
that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness from God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19 (my trans.)

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • I’ve heard all these other insistent, noisy voices, with their deceiving and devastating counsel. Have you?
  • Just how “wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love” for you? Is this something you “experience” or something intellectual or doctrinal?
  • Is the amount of time you spend, just listening in the silence of solitude, enough for you to really hear that you are God’s “beloved?” If not, what can you do to change that?

Abba, may I be rooted and grounded in Christ’s unfailing love for me, comprehending that which surpasses knowledge as I experience it in the deepest part of who I am. Help me to protect silent spaces where I can listen to your voice.

__________

For More: The Still, Small Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Impossible Prayer (Thomas Merton)

Posted on by under Contemplation, devotions, Meditation, Prayer

“Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and your heart has turned to stone. If you have never had any distractions you don’t know how to pray. For the secret of prayer is a hunger for God and for the vision of God, a hunger that lies far deeper than the level of language or affection. And a man whose memory and imagination are persecuting him with a crowd of useless or even evil thoughts and images may sometimes be forced to pray far better, in the depths of his murdered heart, than one whose mind is swimming with clear concepts and brilliant purposes and easy acts of love.”  Thomas Merton

“How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?”
Habakkuk 1:13-17

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Merton’s words convey hope. He says that when we would otherwise probably quit in prayer (when our hearts have “turned to stone” or when our imagination is “persecuting us … with evil thoughts and images”) – that we should persist, and not only that, but that then we may “pray far better.”
  • Can you continue to pray when your heart feels dead?  … when your prayer is interrupted over and over again with sinful thoughts?
  • What do you suppose there is to be gained or learned by persisting in these times?  … and the danger in not persisting?

I love this prayer of Teresa of Avila in this regard:

“Let me not be afraid to linger here is your presence
with all my humanity exposed.
For you are God –
you are not surprised by my frailties, my continuous failures.”

__________

For More: Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Meditation (Andrew Bonar & Charles Spurgeon)

Posted on by under Contemplation, Daily Office, Meditation, Prayer, Solitude

“By the grace of God and the strength of His Holy Spirit I desire to lay down the rule not to speak to man until I have spoken to God; not to do anything with my hand until I have been upon my knees; not to read letters or papers until I have read something of the Holy Scriptures.” Andrew Bonar

“With the earliest birds
I will make one more singer
in the great concert-hall of God. …
I will give my best time,
the first hour of the day
to the praise of my God.”
Charles H. Spurgeon


“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house
and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning.”  Psalm 143:8a

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • When is your “best time” to attend to God and his Word? What would be the value in making this your first “conversation” of the day?
  • This is no doubt an area where to “fail to plan is to plan to fail.” Do you have a plan to make sure that you attend to God during your day?
  • I’ve found the ancient practice of the “Daily Office” very helpful in this regard. Here’s more about that.

Abba, the temptation to rush into my day, with all of its demands and stimulation, is strong. Help me to seek you first in stillness, silence and solitude so that I can “hear your lovingkindness” before I do anything else.

__________

For More: Diary and Life by Andrew Bonar

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Solitude (Richard Baxter and Jurgen Moltmann)

Posted on by under Prayer, Solitude

“We seldom read of God’s appearing

by Himself or His angels
or to any of His prophets or saints in a throng
but frequently when they are alone.”
Richard Baxter

“… what are virtues for the mystic are torment and sickness for the modern man or woman: estrangement, loneliness, silence, solitude, inner emptiness, deprivation, poverty, not-knowing, and so forth …. What the monks sought for in order to find God, modern men and women fly from as if it were the devil.” Jurgen Moltmann

“…Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida,
while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them,
he went up on a mountainside to pray.” Mark 6:45,46
“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them,
whom he also designated apostles:”  Luke 6:12
“About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him
and went up onto a mountain to pray.”  Luke 9:28

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Why do you think God most often makes himself known to someone who is alone?
  • Are you regularly alone before God, or would that represent “torment and sickness” for you?
  • What plan can you make to regularly escape the “throng” as Jesus did, and give God more of your undivided attention?

Abba, help me to learn to leave the crowd behind and make myself available to you – not focusing on my problems or needs, but simply giving you my affection and undivided attention.

__________

For More: Experiences of God by Jurgen Moltmann

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)