Prayer

Prayer is powerful. I know that. Unfortunately it is kind of like knowing that exercise is good for me. Like exercise, I do much better in groups. Put me in an exercise class, and I enjoy it and actually go back for more. Surround me with people who want to pray, I could pray all day. I am even very comfortable praying with/for another individual that asks right on the spot. Heck, I even prayed with my 5 year old last night to help him go "potty" (he was constipated - is this blog personal or what?). So why is it that individual prayer is almost an afterthought to me? Don't get me wrong, I pray every day, but I usually have to remember. So what is so different? I found my answer at the blog Letters to God yesterday.

I know that the correct blogger etiquette would be to just link to the post but I felt it was powerful enough to warrant a direct quote.

Practicing the presence of God
I pause for a moment, aware that God is here.
I think of how everything around me,
the air I breathe, my whole body,
is tingling with the presence of God.

Freedom

I try to let go of concerns and worries
that may be dragging me down at this present moment.
I place any concerns I have in Gods hands
- at least for these few minutes of prayer.

Consciousness

I remind myself that I am in the presence of the Lord.
I will take refuge in His loving heart.
He is my strength in times of weakness.
He is my comforter in times of sorrow.

The Word

God speaks to each one of us individually. I need to listen
to hear what he is saying to me. Read the text a few times, then listen

What struck me about this is that last part. It is the listening that is the hard part. When you are praying aloud in groups, it is generally a one way conversation. Most individual prayer is like that too. Talking to God is easy and safe. It is the listening that is hard and scary.

I can remember a few times where I really felt I was having a conversation with God. It was the coolest and freakiest thing. It is also easy to rationalize that the voice I was hearing in my head, that I could not distinguish from my own, was just that - my own voice. Some how I know differently.

Listening to God is hard and scary. What did hearing the voice of God ever bring? Hardship, turmoil, even death. Moses had the coolest experience in the burning bush. Where did that lead? Plagues, leadership of the stiff-necked Israelites in the desert for 40 years. Jeremiah 20:7 put it best, "You duped me, Lord..."

Of course, listening to God is also the most amazing thing. Look at what Moses was able to do with God's help. Through Moses, God revealed his power and his wonders. Would we all be like Moses and the prophets or Blessed Mother Teresa or John Paul II, if we took the time to listen and didn't think we were crazy when we heard his voice?

"If today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts..." - Psalm 95

Excuse me. This reminds me. It is time for me to shut up and sit and listen.