Need a little laughter to start your day? Igniter Media has some killer prayer tips that wrap up our last two weeks of exploring different avenues of prayer with a smile. Enjoy!
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
“This is the body like no other that my life has shaped. I live here. This is my soul’s address,” says Barbara Brown Taylor in An Altar in the World. Since I live inside a body, I often involve that body in expressing my heart prayers. My inner world is enlarged as my body communicates for my soul through voice and motion. Here are a few examples of letting your body speak for your soul.
Psalms is the prayer book of the Old Testament. Originally written as prayers to be sung, this book continues to give us wonderful lyrics for singing our prayers. Many of our hymns and worship choruses are right out of the book of Psalm. If musicians express their prayers through music, why can’t we? Try singing one of your favorite hymns or choruses his week to express your heart in prayer.
Lifting hands is the universal sign of surrender. When we do so in prayer, we are physically expressing our heart surrender to God (See Lamentations 3:40–42 and 1 Timothy 2:8).
Matthew 20:20–24 records the story of a mother kneeling before the Lord to request a favor for her sons. Her arrogant request was not granted—in fact, it got a lot of negative reaction from those standing by, but her posture shows an attitude of humility. She was obeying Psalm 95:6, even though her motives may have been too “motherly.”
One of the most moving expressions of prayer for me happens when I observe or participate in dance as a form of prayer. Getting past my self-consciousness to pour my heart out before the Lord isn’t easy, but I find that worship and intercession freely flows, whether in private or in public, when I dance (Psalm 149:3).
How do you engage your body in prayer, and how does what you do enrich your faith walk?
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
One of the most important tools that God provides to help communicate with him is our imagination. This little function of our brain can take us places in prayer that we never expected to go and give us prayer experiences that are deep and lasting. Warren W. Wiersbe states, “We think in pictures even though we speak and write with words.”
Think about it. What were you picturing in your mind as you read the above paragraph? I may be writing these words for you to read, but the thoughts going through your head as you read them are probably forming an emotion (interest or boredom) and some sort of mental picture. Our inner communication is not a tickertape of words, but of emotions and mental pictures.
Perhaps that is why God chose the Hebrew people as the means to bring his message of salvation to mankind through the Bible. The Hebrew culture and language are filled with pictures, vivid symbols, emotion, and imagery. God still uses imagery to communicate with us. According to Horace Bushnell, “God gave man imagination that He might have a door to enter by.”
Try using your imagination in prayer. Mentally picture yourself sitting on a hillside, or beside a brook, under the shade of a large oak tree with soft clouds drifting overhead. Imagine the Lord sitting next to you (even if you can’t see his face), and just begin talking to him. Tell him about the events of your day or share your concerns with him.
If you don’t like to sit still even in your imagination, picture yourself walking with Jesus beside a gentle lake. As you walk along, share your concerns with him. Then imagine Jesus handing you some flat stones to skim across the lake representing each concern that you need to release into his care.
Don’t be surprised if you find God enlarging your prayer time by adding more to the imagery. He may even use metaphors and similes to represent what he wants to communicate, or you may just hear him speak softly deep within your spirit.
What has been your experience with using your imagination in prayer? We would love to hear from you in the comment section at the very bottom of today’s post.
In Him together, Susan Gaddis
This is the first in a series of posts at Holy in the Daily exploring different avenues of prayer. I hope you’ll join us as we discover some new and old ways of praying.
Welcome to my blog. I post every Monday and Thursday. Please take a look around. If you like what you see, subscribe in the box to the right to receive my posts by email or in a reader.
To check out my latest books, click on a cover or title below:
Help, I'm Stuck With These People for the Rest of Eternity!
Eternal Foundations for a New Generation series
Intercessors, God's End-time Vanguard: How to Pray Effectively for the Things that Matter Most
Get a Holy in the Daily tip and ideas for building your spiritual legacy, Monday through Friday, when you "like" my Author Susan Gaddis Facebook page. Visit my Author page and click "Like." These tips will then be passed on every weekday to your own Facebook site:
© 2012 - Holy in the Daily is proudly powered by WordPress
Subscribe to Holy in the Daily by Email
Conversations