Prayer, first of all— is crying out to God from our heart. “Give ear to my words, O Lord, & cons
Prayer, first of all— is crying out to God from our heart. “Give ear to my words, O Lord, & consider my sighing” is a prayer from the heart. “Listen to my cry for help, my King & my God, for to You do I pray” ( Psalm 5:1.2 ).There is so much fear & agony in us. Fear of people, fear of God & much raw, undefined, free-floating anxiety. I wonder if fear is not our main obstacle to prayer. When we enter into the presence of God & start to sense that huge reservoir of fear in us, we want to run away into the many distractions that our busy world offers us so abundantly. But we should not be afraid of our fears. We can confront them, give words to them, cry out to God & lead our fears into the presence of the One who says– “Don’t be afraid, it is I.”Our inclination is to reveal to God only what we feel comfortable in sharing. Naturally, we want to love & be loved by God, but we also want to keep a little corner of our inner life for ourselves, where we can hide & think our own secret thoughts, dream our own dreams & play with our own mental fabrications. We are often tempted to select carefully the thoughts that we bring into our conversation with God.What makes us so stingy? Maybe we wonder if God can take all that goes on in our minds & hearts. Can God accept our hateful thoughts, our cruel fantasies & our bizarre dreams? Can God handle our primitive urges, our inflated illusions & our exotic mental castles? This withholding from God of a large part of our thoughts leads us onto a road that we probably would never consciously want to take. It is the road of spiritual censorship—editing out all the fantasies, worries, resentments & disturbing thoughts we do not wish to share with anyone, including God— who sees & knows all.– Henri Nowen / Uncensored Prayer#uncensoredprayer #vineyardfullerton -- source link
#vineyard fullerton