Lose Your Religion and Find God: Thomas Merton

"Let no one hope to find in contemplation  an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial "doubt". This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious "faith" of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.

This false "faith" which is what we often live by and which we even come to confuse with our "religion" is subjected to inexorable questioning. This torment is a kind of trial by fire in which we are compelled, by the very light of invisible truth which has reached us in the dark ray of contemplation, to examine, to doubt and finally to reject all prejudices and conventions that we have hitherto accepted as if they were dogmas. Hence is it clear that genuine contemplation is incompatible with complacency and with smug acceptance of prejudiced opinions. It is not mere passive acquiescence in the status quo, as some would like to believe-for this would reduce it to the level of spiritual anesthesia. Contemplation is no pain-killer. What a holocaust takes place in this steady burning to ashes of old worn-out words, cliches, slogans, rationalizations! The worst of it is that even apparently holy conceptions are consumed alone with the rest. It is a terrible breaking and burning of idols, a purification of the sanctuary, so that no graven thing may occupy the place that God has commanded to be left empty: the center, the existential altar which simply "is".

In the end the contemplative suffers the anguish of realizing that he no longer knows what God is. He may or may not mercifully realize that, after all, this is a great gain, because "God is not a what", not a "thing". That is precisely one of the essential characteristics of contemplative experience. It sees that there is no "what" that can be called God. There is "no such thing" as God because God is neither a "what" nor a "thing" but a pure "Who". He is the "Thou" before whom our inmost "I" springs into awareness. He is the I Am before whom with our own most personal and inalienable voice we echo "I am."                    ~ Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Merton is not suggesting losing reverence towards Scripture or faith in the God of the Bible but what he is saying here is to experience God we have to strip away from the layers of our consciousness preconceived notions that we have acquired and absorbed through our culture of who God "is".  As our souls open up to the light and love of God the awkward silhouettes of our illusions start to rise forth and we must have the courage to let them pass by so that we leave our minds and souls empty of them, thus making room for the true knowledge and experience of God. Our faith is to be active, perhaps interactive is a better word to use. We are to interact with God and not just be  passive, accepting truths and knowledge from others and not testing the validity of such claims by asking questions and experiencing the truth for ourselves.

It is not a comfortable process, in fact it can be quite painful and in some ways it can feel almost like we are losing our faith because we are stepping out of the complacency we have rested in for so long, cradled by the words and assumptions of man and plunging into the reality of God through our own experiences with Him, relying solely on the Spirit to guide us.

As he says, " It is a terrible breaking and burning of idols, a purification of the sanctuary, so that no graven thing may occupy the place that God has commanded to be left empty: the center, the existential altar which simply "is". "

I don't know about you, dear reader, but I seek with my whole heart to clear the clutter that rests buried deep beneath layers of subconscious at my soul's center and make my soul a wide and empty space, a space exclusively reserved for God to fill and dwell within it. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for bringing us safely into a new day. We thank you for your love and compassion and for the wonders of creation that surround us. Every beautiful sunrise, every smile joyfully etched on a child's innocent face, every mountain gilded with glaciers and wildflowers sings out in praise to the God who creates and sustains all of life. Thank you!

Help us to open up our hearts to you more and more. May we see reality as it is, clear our minds and hearts so that we may experience you more fully and not be trapped and mired down in the illusions which distract us. Help guide us in our journey for we seek you above all else. We desire to delight in your glory. May we give you all glory, honor and praise.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Mindfully Approaching Scripture

"Praying scripture is not judged by how much you read but by the way in which you read. If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee that penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar."

                                        ~ Madame Guyon, 7th French mystic

I have to admit there was once a time when I approached God's Word rather causally. Flipping through it randomly, reading passages that I hardly remembered afterwards and feeling content that at least I had opened my Bible in the first place! I never really had a moment of insight, a moment where I thought God was revealing something to me, a moment where peace descended upon me and my heart opened up to embrace the reality of God and where I experienced the realization of the fullness of His glory.  If anything the Bible seemed kind of...well...bland and disconnected to my modern experience. I hate to say it, but in such a state as I once found myself in, I viewed certain books, especially in the Old Testament, as well...obsolete! (I reluctantly write these words because they are not easy ones to admit!...but somehow I don't think I'm alone.)

God has an amazing way of revealing in time His truths to the believer and when the heart is ripe, the harvest will come. I suppose my heart wasn't ripe during those earlier times.  If I was given the seeds of mindfulness to plant into my practice and approach I am afraid they probably would have only sprouted a bit and then wilted. No, it wasn't until I was already aware and deep into the practice of mindfulness meditation for quite sometime, not even considering or thinking of incorporating the practice towards reading and praying scripture, when I read Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline. It was then when I saw the connection.  I have found this practice truly transforming. And honestly, mindfulness applied to anything, whether it be washing the dishes, taking a shower, walking in the woods or meditating, enriches one's experience opening up whole new dimensions of experiencing reality. I encourage all to explore this approach and apply it!

To experience the present more fully is a beautiful way of watching life and reality unfold itself before you. To experience Scripture more fully and plunge into the Word of God and enter the depths of its riches is an experience that leaves one changed and charged with the glory of God. 


As Madam Guyon shares with us, Scripture is unique and shouldn't be read in a trite and flighty manner. Richard Foster supports her view of this and shares his own with these words:

We cannot read Scripture the way we read the New York Times or an article on Wikipedia. The Bible is not susceptible to skimming, to summarizing, to speed-reading; there is a fundamental difference between Google and the gospel. Scripture is deep, rich, complex, and multi-layered. It speaks through nuances and details. It yields its fruit slowly and gently. (Renovare, November 2008 - Vol.15, No. 3)

When we take a few moments before reading Scripture to quiet our minds, pray and then open the holy words of God with a heart leaning forward with eager expectancy, ready to dive into the words and truths they contain, God blesses us for coming to Him with eager and seeking hearts. To be mindful simply means to be fully present. To not be distracted by wayward thoughts that oftentimes compete for our attention and muddle our thoughts, obscuring clarity and hindering perception. May we all be inspired by Madame Guyon's illustration and approach God's Word as bees digging for the sweet and living nectar of God's truths and in doing so, be touched and transformed by His amazing presence and reality.

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for safely bringing us into a new day. We know there are factors in our lives that worry us, pleasantly distract us and otherwise take our attention off from experiencing you in the present moment. May we learn to shed ourselves from such illusions, for nothing compares to your Glory and your Word and the life it offers. When we open the scriptures we ask you to help us be fully present and plunge into its depths. May it refresh and restore us, giving us hope and strength, light and new truths and a deeper sense of compassion and love so that we may, every time our Bible closes, be more and more transformed by your love. May we take the blessings and truths you give us and use them as tools to bring glory to your great name and reflect your love and light to a dim and dark world. May we shatter the darkness that surrounds us with your love and draw others closer to you.

In Jesus' name,

                                           Amen.                                                



Reflections of Compassion

When we meditate, we enter the mind of Christ by entering into meditative states of awareness of all that we hold in common as human beings. We sit, silent and still, and learn the intimate texture of thoughts, feelings, memories, and bodily sensations that all of us as human beings experience. In doing so we drop down into levels of oneness with others that transcends the differences between us. I am not you. But if I have intimately tasted my own aloneness, my own experience of thoughts arising and passing through my mind, my own breathing-then I already have in my intimate awareness of myself an intimate awareness of you.

This knowledge is not that of the words written on the pages of my mind, rather, it is a knowledge of the human experience of the mind itself. The experience is not simply my personal feelings about this or that. It is rather the intimate understanding of the texture of my own heart as feelings play across its surface, flow through it, and alter its state from one moment to the next. Grounded in this self-knowledge, I am grounded in awareness of oneness with you at a level that precedes and transcends the differences between us. I know you with an empathatic, heartfelt knowledge of what it means to be a human being.

It takes time, but little by little we enter the social dimensions of the mind of Christ in awakening to how perfectly one we are with everyone living and dead. As this awareness slowly seeps in, we are able to grow, day by day into a more patient, gracious recognition and acceptance of and gratitude for others. Little by little the graciousness of Christ’s emphatic mind of oneness with others is translated into a thousand little shifts in the way we think about people, our attitudes toward them, and the way in which we actually treat them day by day.

As we learn to see ourselves through the eyes of Christlike compassion we start to see others through the eyes of Christlike compassion as well. In learning to be compassionate towards ourselves as precious in our frailty, we learn to be compassionate toward others as precious in their frailty.”
                                          ~ James Finley, Christian Meditation, p. 96



I've come to believe that compassion is a crucial component in glorifying God and bringing glimpses of His Kingdom to the world.  Jesus lived with great compassion-healing, preaching, teaching and extending himself out to the margins of society where many wouldn't dare to go. To be instruments of His peace and love it's essential as we grow with God to reflect Christ's compassion to others. As important and central as that is in our mission towards service to others, I think sometimes it's often overlooked to invoke that same compassion we extend to others to ourselves as well. It seems that sometimes we are more willing to forgive others and less willing to forgive ourselves. When we harbor guilt, feelings of unworthiness, etc. against ourselves that can only serve as a stumbling block in our mission to help others.

We become imprisoned by our own illusions about ourselves instead of being liberated from them. God offers us full liberation and redemption from our sins! As Christians, I feel it's important to take hold of the offer God holds out in His hands and allow Him to break the chains that bind us from serving Him more fully and living a more joy-filled and productive life. In fact, it should be one of our prerogatives! God wants us to find pleasure in Him, joy in Him. How can we find joy in God if we are trapped by our own prisons we have built around our hearts?

I love this passage from Finley because I can relate to so much that he says. Contemplative prayer, or Christian meditation,  has been an invaluable experience for me in so many different ways. To experience the unfolding of your consciousness, to see more clearly with objectivity your thoughts and realize them for what they are...oftentimes impermanent illusions built upon the shaky foundation of attachments and other impermanent illusions, is transforming. It allows one to enter into and experience a new diminsion of God's reality. When stillness of one's mind is acheived and all of one's desire stretches towards the depths of God and is then enveloped in union with His love and peace...one does not walk away unchanged! It is also a beautiful way to realize profoundly the interconnectedness that we have with all of life that surrounds us. To treasure it, for it is a manifestation of God's glory, it is His love breathed out.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for bringing us safely into a new day. I pray that You guide our hearts to an ever deeper and fuller understanding of Your love, Your Grace, Your compassion. May You illuminate the areas in our lives where we need to come humbly before You in repentence and help us walk as free sons and daughters of God so that we might reflect Christ's compassion and love fully and boldly in all the corners of the world.

May we give You, and You alone, all glory, honor and praise.

In Jesus' precious name,

Amen.

Centering Ourselves in Silence

Psalm 62:5-8

(5) For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

(6) "He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

(7) On God rests my salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

(8) Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

I love Psalm 62 and these particular verses really stand out to me. I have found moments of profound love and connection with God when I simply open my heart to Him in silence. When my heart pours out its cry to it's Author and then waits, in the stillness with attentiveness and expectation. When we sit, opening ourselves up to the reality of God, with expectation of union with Him, abandoning self and our attachments to the world, reaching out in our heart's desire for one thing-to know and love God, He blesses us and transforms us in His light and Love. 

Verse 6 says, "He ONLY is my salvation and glory."...When we recognize that nothing else in life can save us from ourselves, (and that certainly includes ourselves!) and our hope lies only with Him, it is easier and easier to see the things of the world as they really are. Cheap compared to the incomparable beauty and riches found in our Father.

  

I love how Thomas Merton put it:

"Silence is God's first language; everything else is a poor translation." 

I've heard many say that they couldn't possibly etch out every thought, every attachment from their mind's canvass in order to achieve such silence. This is true for most of us in the beginning I think. It takes practice. The Cloud of Unknowing offers a prescription of sorts to aid us in our journey into  union with God, into the silence of our own minds and the emptying of our egos and attachments. Into focusing our hearts into reaching out to God in one uncomplicated, earnest cry. Many who visit this blog are familiar with this approach, but for those who aren't...here is what the book instructs us to do...it all starts with one simple word...



“If you want to gather all your desire into one simple word that the mind can easily retain, choose a short word rather than a long one. A one syllable word such as “God” or “love” is best. But choose one that is meaningful to you. Then fix it in your mind so that it will remain there come what may…Should some thought go on annoying you answer with this one little word alone.”

… “ Why do you suppose that this little prayer of one syllable is powerful enough to pierce the heavens? It is because it is the prayer of a man’s whole being. A man who prays like this prays with all the height and depth and length and breadth of his spirit. His prayer is high, for he prays in full power of his spirit; it is deep that he has gathered all his understanding into this one little word; it is long for if this feeling could endure he would go on crying out forever as he does now;
it is wide because with this universal concern he desires for everyone what he desires for himself.”…

It is with this prayer that a person comes to understand with all the saints the length and breadth and height and depth of the eternal, gracious and almighty God as Saint Paul says, not completely of course, but partially and in that obscure manner characteristic of contemplative knowledge. Length speaks of God’s eternity. Breadth of his love, height of his power, depth of his wisdom. Little wonder then that when grace so transforms a person to this image and likeness of God, his creator, his prayer is so quickly heard by God.” 

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for bringing us in safety to the beginning of this new day. May we find no limits to our relationship and union with You. May we reach out to you with everything we have so that Your light and love will fill our hearts. May we carry that light and love to others around us that need to hear your message of grace, of mercy, of redemption.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

In the Silence of a Prayer

Praying
by Mary Oliver


It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for bringing us into a new day. May we walk in this day with souls that are filled with the peace of Your presence. May our praises and prayers rise up to You as fragrant offerings. May we  keep our prayers simple. May our words be few yet meaningful, may they be like golden apples in a setting of silver. Help open our hearts up to the silence where we can learn to hear Your gentle whispers of love, of instruction, of truth. Let our prayers not just be a list of petitions, but intimate conversations with You. Help us carry Your truth into this world in ways that lift up others and glorify Your holy name.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

The Present Moment: A Living Prayer

"Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?"
           ~ Brother Lawrence

Life isn't always glorious. In fact, most of the time, for many of us, our days are consumed by pretty much the same routines. If we think God can only be found in the "glorious" or "extraordinary" moments , we will surely be missing out in experiencing more of the peace that surpasses all understanding, the peace that we are blessed with, when we enter into His presence. God's reality is in the present moment. His will manifests itself there, and to find union with Him, to praise Him, worship and experience Him, in the here and now, brings Him glory and helps us grow in our walks with Him.

God never denies the seeker, and if you seek God and His love, He will bless you with it in more ways than you can even imagine. Let our lives, every moment of them, be an expression of simple devotion and love for our God.

The present moment is like an ambassador who declares the will of God. The heart must ever answer, “Let it be so.” Then the soul will go steadily on by all means towards its target and goal – never pausing in its course, spreading its sails to all winds. All routes and methods advance it equally in its journey toward the great sea, the infinite. Everything becomes an instrument of sanctification. The soul always finds the “one thing needful” in the present moment....

...the one thing needful is simply what comes to the soul each moment by the will of God. This includes the stripping, the self-denial, the renunciation of earthly things, in order that the soul may be nothing in itself or live for itself, but may live wholly by God’s will, and at His good pleasure content itself with the duty of the present moment, as though that were the one thing in the whole world.

To hallow the name of God is, in the language of Scripture, to love Him, adore Him, and to recognize His holiness in all things. Things, like words, do indeed proceed from the mouth of God. The events of each moment are divine thoughts expressed by created objects. Thus, all those things by which He makes His will known to us are so many names, so many words by which He shows us His will. In itself, this will is one, singular; it bears but one unknown, ineffable name; but it is multiplied infinitely in its effects and takes on their names.

   To hallow the name of God is to know, adore, and love the Ineffable One expressed by this name. It is also to know, adore and love His blessed will at all times, in all its effects, seeing all things as so many veils, shadows and names of this eternally holy will. It is holy in all its works, holy in all its words, holy in all its forms of manifestation, holy in all the names it bears.

...How insignificant is this precious moment in the eyes of the world, yet how great to the eye enlightened by faith! And can I call that little which is great in the eye of my Father who reigns in heaven? All that comes from there is most excellent. All that decends from there bears the imprint of its origin.

         ~ Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade - Purchase The Joy of Full Surrender



Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your great mercy and Your great love. A love that manifests itself in the reality of every moment. May we seize each moment as an opportunity to experience Your presence, to have by Your grace the eyes of our hearts opened so that we may see Your Will for us, that we may serve You to our fullest and bring you great glory. Help us not get caught up in the things of this world. Let us lay down our attachments, our egos, the things of this world which we cling to, and simply open our hearts to You so that they may be filled with Your light and love. May everything we do, every seemingly mundane task, be a living prayer to our great God. May our lives be an expression of our devotion and love for You.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen.

The Silence at the Center: Thomas Kelly

"Over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by. We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all of this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center! If only we could find the Silence which is the source of sound!"

         ~ Thomas Kelly, 20th Century Quaker

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for your unending mercy and grace. For your love and faithfulness.

May you be soveriegn over our hearts, over  the plans we have for our lives.

May your plans become our plans.

May our will become your will as through your Word and through prayer we come to know you more.

May we seek out and embrace time each day where we find you in the stillness. When our hearts cry out to may you draw us deeper into your presence, into the serenity and peace that only you can offer our souls. May we be children of God attentive to the whispers of your Spirit and may those whispers refresh our souls with your truth, light and reality so that we may radiate your love and the hope of your salvation to a fallen world.

May we never cease to bring you glory, honor and praise.

In Jesus' name,

Amen 

Breaking the Chains: The Path to Liberation (Part 1)

The following verses in Isaiah speak of what God calls the spirit filled believer to do-to preach the good news, to speak to others about the freedom that is found in Christ, to break the chains that bind our fellow brothers and sisters to the world that bars them from experiencing the true freedom and peace in Christ that is meant to be experienced.

Isaiah 61:1

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners

But what happens when we are not yet free from all the chains that bind us? Or perhaps we are experiencing a dry spell, a dark night of the soul where we are feeling distant from God?  How, then are we to announce the freedom promised to others when we, ourselves, are experiencing captivity, being bound by our own sins, letting the things of this world steal our peace?

 

Christ does set us free but it isn't as if once our hearts have been awakened by faith we will never have obstacles. I've found that it is a freedom that we have to nurture and sustain through continual refreshment and nourishment in His word.  If you've never had a dry spell in your faith or never had an unguarded moment where sin or lack of peace and restlessness crept into your soul, you might not relate well with this post. For those of you that have, perhaps you will relate!

 

I could write a book about this topic! There is so much to it, so much so that I am going to break this post down into four parts. I've found personally a few things that have been instrumental for me in guiding my heart in moments of waywardness and restlessness back to firm ground and I'd like to share some of them with you so I hope you join me in all four parts and contribute your own thoughts in the comments section.

 

I am no theologian or anything, this is just what I've learned personally through my own walk with God.  And frankly, most of it is common sense, but some of us, like me anyways, find it helpful to be reminded of some of the mose obvious things sometimes. It's amazing how sin can blind us to what is so readily available before us.

 

These are the four steps that were revealed to me that helped my soul transition itself from being  a desert to blossoming once again into a garden, drenched in the light of the Spirit, bearing fruit once again.

 

1. reading scripture

 

2. repentence (serves as  an active step of obedience which bears fruit)

 

3. prayer ( where we openly have discourse with God, admitting our shortcomings and asking Him to help us trust Him more)

 

4. meditation (where we can enter into the presence of God, receving peace that surpasses all understanding, being washed in His spirit and given precious insight and revelation)

 

I'd like to think if we are struggling  with a particular sin that repentence would be our first step towards freedom. For some it might be. And I've read places where it is, but there are times where we are so entrenched in our sin that it's easy for others to just tell us to repent, and less easy for us to follow their advice.

 

There is a time when our hearts aren't ready for repentence. This can be a scary and dark time, when we know we are willingly disobeying our God, and sometimes don't even care (yikes!). How the world has a tragic way of hardening our hearts! Or perhaps God does...for His own purposes..that will be discussed later! This is why I put reading Scripture as the first step. Because it softens the heart that has been hardened.

 

There was a time when I really felt disconnected with God and I felt like I was at a crossroads when it came to my faith. God didn't seem real anymore. He seemed more like a concept whose truth I accepted but less as a reality to be experienced. The advice I got from a trusted source to overcome all of this: read Scripture, starting with the gospels.

 

I almost scoffed at such a suggestion! I mean I had come up with real theological questions and concerns, many of them involving God's character. How could reading the Scriptures turn all of that around? In fact, I had come up with a lot of my concerns in the first place by reading the Bible! I was doubtful, but I trusted my source, for we should always find others that are more spiritually mature (pastors, elders) that we can trust to come to for guidance.

 

All that I can say is that I am so glad I humbled myself and listened to the advice given. I had read a great book by Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, where in one part he talks about reading scripture mindfully and with imagination. I used some of these techniques when reading through the gospels again during the drought that my soul had found itself in. I was amazed at what I experienced!

 

Foster talks about putting oneself right there in Scripture while reading it. Not using imagination in the sense of perceiving what you are reading as imaginary but rather using your imagination to sense the things going on in what you are reading in the fullest sense. (He explained this so much better than I!) For example, when the gospels talk about Jesus preaching by the Sea of Galilee, let your senses smell the salt air, stand there, listening to Jesus as he preached. Feel the crowd press in around you, hear their shifting feet, feel the sand brush up against your ankles as the breeze beside the sea lifts it, sending it about in swirls. It can be a powerful way to read Scripture. And when done mindfully, each word carrying weight as you read Scripture slowly, the reality of God's truth opens itself before you, unraveling like a red carpet, welcoming you to walk the pathway back home to the inheritance you've already been granted since your heart first awakened to faith.

 

I remember when I first read through Matthew this way, I couldn't stop. I was picking up so many truths that in earlier times when I read that book I had failed to notice. Truths and insights were lifted from obscurity and became real and defined. I began to feel my heart soften and my soul feel that blessed assurance it had longed for and had not felt for quite some time.

 

I also came to know Christ a lot better. I came to know the God who is love and compassion, the gentle shepard of our souls that one shouldn't flee from, but run to. I began to trust him again as he became more and more real to me.

 

I don't want to write too long of a post and lose some people so I will end it here. But I would suggest, and this is just from my experience, that if you are feeling distant from God, if your faith doesn't seem as real as it used to or if you are struggling from a sin that you don't feel you are ready to repent from yet, read Scripture. I would suggest Richard Foster's book. Another practice I've started doing before reading the Bible is lighting a stick of incense or a candle. It helps differentiate reading Scripture from the other things I read. It helps prepare me for the special time I am now entering into with God and His Word. It's a great way to start prayer too. Also praying before reading Scripture is a good idea too! :)

There is a great verse in Galations:

Galatians 5 ¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

We need to stand firm against sin, we need to stand firm on the rock that God provides for us for refuge. But if you've found yourself off that rock or your knees buckling a bit trying to balance yourself once again upon it, I would heartily suggest you begin to find that strength once again by entering into God's presence through reading His Holy Word.

 

 

 

I wrote a poem after I felt my chains around my heart and soul loosen and finally break free. I'd like to share it with you. In Closing, I pray the Lord's peace over all of you. May your day, this day, and every day until God calls you home, be filled with His light and love.

Freedom

Freedom leaps within me, like flames within a fire,
Fed by Your Word, sustained by Your promise,
I feel it grow ever higher.


The garden of my heart, once barren, color hard to find,
Blooms within, now a rainbow of life,
Held together by love that binds.


The bronze doors of my soul now openly ajar,
As you shatter the barriers between us,
Breaking in two the iron bars.


May my prayer be like burning incense,
Ever rising up to you,
A joyful fragrance, an offering to my King,
in its darkness the world once slew.


And when the pressures of this place,
Crowd around me once more,
May I bring your name glory as I seek your face,
That all may see the love upon your faithful you doth pour.

Enter the Gates

"The present moment is a wide-open gate leading to the depths of God."
 James Finley, Christian Meditation, p. 230

There are most likely as many ways to come before God and enter into His presence as there are people. Everyone is so unique, their souls and person stitched together in a unique and differing pattern. I would suggest ,though ,that we are all stitched together with the same thread, for we were all made in the likeness of God.  Those of us that have claimed our inheritance have God within us and if we learn to still our minds we can learn to open up to experience the presence of God and experience a peace that surpasses all understanding.

There is an immense amount of freedom I've found in experiencing the present moment. And I've found that using the tool of mindfulness in worship and prayer and in every moment is a powerful way of experiencing God's presence. I am going to write more on this, but perhaps this is sort of an introduction to this subject on my blog. Oh, and I just want to mention, these are just my own thoughts and reflections on this subject...I'm no way an expert (as this blog's intro states!). This is just an area that fascinates me, that I've experienced personally though am still a novice in fully comprehending and practicing.

I was reflecting the other day that our consciousness is like an onion with different layers. As we peel back the layers less of the onion remains but what does become even more real are the intangible qualities-it's scent and sometimes our physiological responses to it (like involuntary tears!). The more we enter into different levels of consciousness, peeling back the more superficial layers, peeling away our attachments, the ramblings of our mind, the more we start to get to the core of things. I would suggest, God is at our core.

When we let go of ourselves, or who we think are ourselves, and still our mind so that we are an observor to our illusions, to our mind's wanderings, we start to see things more clearly and we start to open our hearts up to God's reality more and more as we become less and less cluttered and hindered by the insufficient things we sometimes cling to for security in our ever-shifting worlds. The fact is, life is impermanent and sometimes it can be downright full of despair and suffering, filled with uncertainty, etc. That is why it is much to our benefit as well as salvation that we cling to the only sure rock there is in which to steady our uneven gait through this life...and that is God. And I believe there is much benefit in centering ourselves and our mind on God and in His presence. It provides us with peace, with direction and with a sense of compassion that we most undoubtedly will extend to others.

On this topic John of the cross wrote:

A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of attachment. By uniting its will perfectly to God's; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. When this is done the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God.

There are many great writers who speak a lot more eloquently and with more experience than I on this subject. I will be sure to quote passages from them over time on this blog so that maybe we can learn together some of the wisdom and insight God has revealed to them. We all have much to learn from one another, but ultimately God is our infallible source of truth and all His truth is in His Word, so we will explore what His Word has to say about all of this as well.

What are your thoughts? Your experiences, if any on contemplative prayer and Christian meditation?

~many blessings