Session 2 - Adoration (The Prayer Course)

 The Prayer Course

See my introduction to The Prayer Course here and my notes on Session 1 here.

The Prayer Course

Session 2: Adoration

 

What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?

I was very convicted by the notion of using God as a slot machine; how often do I forget or not have it on my mind to pray for several days and then come to Him, cap in hand, asking for something or other?im, cap in hand, asking for something.

 I enjoyed the illustration of the microscope and the telescope. The idea that when we worship, we swap our microscope for a telescope; we no longer focus entirely on a tiny area in front of us but we look up into the vast expanse and notice that there is something greater than we are. Psalm 8:3 says, “When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place” – how would we ever know this if we never took our eyes away from the little microscope and spent a moment discovering and enjoying God’s vast creation all around us?!

 From the session notes, I particularly enjoyed the points on praying creatively. I never realised before that my poetry is my own offering of creative prayer, as, I suppose, are my drawings. Some of my poems are so raw, I consider them as having written themselves, however I would never make that claim legitimately in fear of it being misconstrued as meaning some kind of occultist “spirit-writing” practice. No, I simply mean that I’ve been in moments of absolute worship, or need, or whatever, and I’ve sat with my notebook and began writing. Words flowed through my pen, right from the very depths of my being, seeming to bypass my brain and conscious thoughts, and when I looked down, there was a complete poem before my eyes. Obviously, I wrote them, but I didn’t sit down “to” write it, nor did I try to write it in terms of searching for words or rhymes (most of my poetry doesn’t rhyme for this very reason). This is why I very rarely edit my poetry. They’re the words my lips can’t speak; the prayers my heart prays when my mind can’t find the words. They’re a direct offering from my soul to God’s.

 

Why do you think that we most often associate prayer with asking, rather than worship and adoration?

I think that in this modern day and generation, we humans have become much more self-absorbed than ever before. We are told in the media and society that we are important and that our own happiness and beliefs are more valid than anyone else’s. We are offended at the tiniest thing, and we are fighting amongst ourselves for superiority (oftentimes masked under the guise of equality). We are given permission to be selfish and proud, and our struggles are allowed to define us. Social media is littered with insincere “faceplant” and “ashamed” emojis (no judgement; I overuse them, myself!) and we joke about our #FirstWorldProblems when our hairdryer blows up or the local artisan deli doesn’t have the spelt rye bread we like.

We want what we want, and we want it now, with hardly a please or thankyou in sight, much less a display of adoration or worship.

 

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions

with all kinds of prayers and requests”

-Ephesians 6:18

 Whilst I believe that God is interested in the tiniest concerns that we have, and He enjoys our sharing of the inconsequential things as much as the earth-shattering things, I fear that we have started to lose sense of the reverence we owe to Him. As described in the accompanying video for this session, we risk treating the Almighty God as our Magic8 Ball or ethereal slot machine.

                              “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him”

– C.S.Lewis

 

Do you enjoy spending time with God? When are the times that prayer feels most enjoyable?

I suppose that the times I actively enjoy my prayer time are when I’m thanking the Lord for something specific. I do struggle with prayers because I am so easily distracted or, as happens increasingly often in all aspects of my life lately, I struggle to find the right words and end up losing my train of thought. If I’m specifically coming to God with a prayer of thanksgiving, I know what I want to say and why, and I feel I can just gush about how awesome and wonderful He is without having to think too hard.

 Psalm 46:10 tells us to, “Be still, and know that I am God!” and Psalm 37:7 tells us to “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him”. Other translations of these verses use the words: ”Be silent”, “Cease striving”, “Be in awe”, “Be patient”, “Wait patiently”, “Surrender yourself”, and “Let go [of your concerns]”. Essentially, we are told to stop looking through the microscope of our own lives and instead, look through the telescope; focus our attention on God.

I struggle to “be still” and meditate on the Lord. Probably a causality of this modern, fast-paced, self-absorbed life we live in, but my mind is constantly racing. Scenarios, plans, memories, I even practice future conversations or replay old social encounters in my mind, analysing them for no apparent reason. Even when I do actively try to sit and empty my mind and focus on God and what He might be trying to share with me, distractions pop up and my imagination takes over. I don’t think I’ve ever been still enough to hear from God.

Pete had some good advice in the video for overcoming distraction in our prayer time: Use a short and simple “prayer phrase” and repeat it to displace any distractions that come up, and help you to become aware of the presence of God. He said that distractions happen to everyone, but the best way to overcome them is to wait it out: sit still and wait. Stay in that place of stillness. Wait for the distraction to pass you by like a speeding car passing you by on the motorway. It will pass, and then you’re free to continue on your way.

 I really enjoyed the session notes on Christian meditation, particularly the description of Ignatiius of Loyola’s spiritual exercise where we are encouraged to use our imagination to place ourselves in a scene in the bible and take note of all of our senses – what do we hear, see, taste, smell, feel? Follow this exercise by responding in worship and praying out our love for the Lord. Use our body as an offering; bow our heads, kneel, raise our hands, whatever we feel appropriate, and then reflect on anything the Lord may be revealing or unveiling to us about His character and how we are being changed by it.

(Side note: I have never really been able to imagine what life was like in Jesus’ time, because life was so vastly different. I never understood what life was like for the people of that time and culture – what was so bad about tax collectors? Why did the Roman oppression change anything? Why were fish so important? What was the deal with Pharisees and Sadducees? – If this is where you’re at, please let me encourage you to watch The Chosen series. It by no means replaces scripture, and there are creative liberties taken (all the while remaining true and sympathetic to biblical and cultural-historical truth) but it really helped me to place myself in that time and place. It suddenly brought those scriptures to life and I now have a much deeper understanding and the ability to imagine myself in that place. I can’t recommend it enough, and no, I’m not affiliated with the series in any way, I just love it!)

"Christian meditation" is the listening side of an interactive relationship between ourselves and God. It is the place where we allow our souls to gaze upon God and deepen our intimacy and grow in reverent awe as we contemplate the Lord’s glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” If meditating on the glory of Jesus will lead us to transform into His image, then shouldn’t we all, as Christians, be doing it?

  

 Pete says that prayer is primarily about relationship with God: “It’s relational, not transactional”. How does this change your perspective of coming to God in prayer?

In the video, Pete gave an example of his son coming and just wanting to love on him for a few minutes, in a state of “being”, rather than “doing”. This reminded me of my own children – my eldest will go out of his way to look for heart shaped things and give them to me. I’ve never asked him to. If he has a little bag of Haribo sweets, he will save one of the heart shaped jelly sweets for me – I’ve never told him that they’re my favourites – he just does it because he wants to; it’s a tangible display of his love and affection, even when that means that he’ll only be left with 4 or 5 of his own to eat.

Pete also brought forward the idea of a marriage – generally speaking, when a couple is married, they often have children and create a home and family together, but this is not the reason they get married. The primary aim is because they want to spend time together – they enjoy each other’s company and want to continue enjoying one another for the rest of their lives. The primary aim of entering into a relationship and/or a marriage is not to get something out of it but to enjoy and experience it.

 I’ll admit that there have been times where I’ve sat and worried about what my ulterior motive is for loving and worshipping God. Without going off on a tangent, because I feel that this is probably worthy of its own post, but this is something I’ve pondered many times over the years. I’ve found myself questioning my character and even the depth of my faith and salvation when I considered that my main aim in following Jesus was simply so that I don’t go to hell when I die. Of course, this is not true. Yes, salvation from judgement and damnation is a very real benefit of pledging myself to God but I can’t say with any kind of conviction that this is my only, or even my primary, motive.

 

In the Acts passage, the early church put their own crisis into perspective by worshipping. What are the practical things could you do this week to foster an attitude of worship in your daily routine?

Being more aware would be a good starting point! Just being more aware of my surroundings and what is happening in my life. I do try to “count my blessings” and I remember reading something many years ago along the lines of, “If you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today, what would you be left with?” This really resonated with me and I do actively try to remain in a state of awareness and thankfulness for the many blessings in my life; from the specific and great blessings such as my children and my family, right down to the things we often take for granted, such as having a roof over my head and shoes on my feet, and the fact that I was born into a free and well-developed country. It’s so important to acknowledge our blessings and rejoice, even when it feels like a chore to do it.

 Psalm 8 is a wonderful prayer of worship and reflection of all that God has done and given to us, beginning and ending with the same, “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth” – I think that I will try to use this phrase in my own worship. There’s a song by Kari Jobe called “How Majestic” where she sings over and over, “How majestic is Your name? How Majestic is Your name? Powerful. Wonderful. You’re the Lord of all. How majestic is Your name?” – I love this song because I find it so freeing. I don’t have to think about the next verse or the words. I don’t even join in with the words for the most part; instead I just use it as a vehicle for me to focus on His awesomeness.

 Of course, when we pray the Psalm 8 way, we run the risk of telling God what He already knows, but I think that’s okay. Reminding God of His works and in doing so, reminding ourselves of all He has done, is a wonderful act of worship and adoration – we are telling Him, “Lord, I remember that you did this. I remind myself of your majesty and your power regularly. I am in awe of You. I know You!” In Acts 4:24-30, as Pete shared in the video, the disciples prayed a prayer of boldness, attesting to the greatness of God; telling Him what He had done and what He already knew, and yet in verse 31, it is written, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” – Wow! Telling God what He already knows is a powerful way to pray. I’m definitely going to start doing this!

 I'm ashamed to say that I’ve never actually read the Psalms all the way through – I’ve picked at them and may have read them all at some time or other but never consciously. I suppose you could say I use them as an occasional “picky” snack. But why?! This is the prayer book of Jesus! We should be devouring this and using the Psalms as valuable weapons in our prayer arsenal. The Psalms are written for us to read aloud, and not skim through. They are able to train us in a ‘conversion of language’ where instead of talking about God, we talk to Him. Indeed, Jesus considered them so valuable that He memorised and even recited them on the cross. I have a new-found reverence and admiration for the Psalms now and I’m going to start incorporating them into my daily reading and prayer time.