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28
Jan
A Simple Celtic Prayer for Reconciliation

photo by Herman Hooyschuur

Here I stand;

and I say a prayer.

Celtic Christians were known for their simple, yet profound, prayers. Easily memorized for instant recall as a person went about his daily duties, Celtic prayers were learned at a young age and woven into every life situation. This Celtic prayer for reconciliation, from Celtic Daily Prayer, captures the strength found in such praying.

Lord, let our memory provide no shelter for grievance against each other.

Lord, Let our heart provide no harbor for hatred of each other.

Lord, let our tongue be no accomplice in the judgment of each other.

The mission of Jesus Christ to planet Earth was one of reconciliation–reconnecting man with God. Reconciliation between men flows out of the fulfillment of that mission. Shouldn’t reconciliation also be our prayer?

What’s your experience in the art of simple praying? What’s your experience in praying for reconciliation?

(For more posts on Celtic prayers click Celtic Christianity under the sidebar section “Posts by Topic.” You’ll also find Celtic Daily Prayer in the far right sidebar—a book I highly recommend.)

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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26
Jul
6 Humorous Killer Prayer Tips

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!

If you received this post via a RSS reader or by email and cannot view the video, please stop by the Holy in the Daily blog to enjoy it.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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23
Jul
Body Prayer–Part 6 in Exploring Different Avenues of Prayer

“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.

Sing your prayer

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.

Lift your hands 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).

Bow down or kneel in prayer

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.”

Dance your prayer

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

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21
Jul
Other People’s Prayers–Part 5 in Exploring Different Avenues of Prayer

Do you ever feel your prayers could use a little upgrading as far as their content and expression? Are you ever too tired to think through what you want to say in prayer? Try using prayers written by others and you might find a depth in prayer you have been missing. We all do this already when we pray a psalm, the Lord’s Prayer, or one of Saint Paul’s benedictions. These prayers were originally songs, instructions, or written in a letter.

Ancient and modern prayer books often contain a richness of prayer that our own words often lack. Some are organized by topic, so you can find a prayer to suit your situation, such as To Bless the Space Between Us, a Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue. Devotionals frequently include a prayer at the end of the reading.

I’ve written other posts on fixed-hour prayer, or praying the hours, and have found The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle and Celtic Daily Prayer to be faithful prayer companions. Such prayer books include a pattern of praise, confession, intercession, scripture reading, and blessing—each worded a little differently depending on the day or the week.

One of my favorite prayers from The Diving Hours a few months ago read, “Almighty God, you know that I have no power in myself: Keep me both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul, that I may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

We have a treasure trove of prayer available to us in the expressions of others past and present that connects our faith journeys.

Share with us a time when a prayer written by someone else enriched your spiritual journey. (My comment section is a blue link at the bottom of this post.)

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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16
Jul
Pray as You Go–Part 3 in Exploring Different Avenues of Prayer

Do you feel guilty because your prayer life takes a back seat to your busy life? What if you are a person for whom sitting still and praying takes more energy than jogging five miles? Simple problem solved: Pray as you go.

Headed for the gym? Going out for a jog? Put your ear phones on, turn the music down low, and use the motion of your body as a rhythm for prayer. Talk to God in your thoughts as if he was right beside you. Praise him for his creation and the ability to move your body. Discuss your day with him. Give him your concerns. Let him be your exercise partner.

Add a friend. For many years a friend and I would pray and walk together every Sunday morning at 5:00. Another friend helped me renovate my son’s room, and we prayed together as we rolled green paint across the walls.

Pray as you do the tasks that don’t take much concentration. I pray when I’m driving around running errands and when I’m cleaning the bathtub. The Celtic Christians were great at this type of praying—see my post on The Celtic Art of Knitting Work and Prayer Together.

Pray quick prayers for people as you encounter them throughout the day. This keeps you in a positive mood when the stresses people create threaten your peace. A short blessing spoken over a child as he leaves for school or a quick silent prayer for a co-worker add up to a lot of daily prayer!

Begin and end your day with a pillow prayer. When you first wake up in the morning and before you ever lift your head from the pillow, ask the Lord to oversee the events of your day. As you lay your head down on your pillow at the end of the day, thank God for five things that happened in your day.

I’d love to hear your suggestions for “on the go praying” in the comment section below. Join us next week as we continue this six post series on Exploring Different Avenues of Prayer.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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12
Jul
Can You Imagine This? Part 1 in Exploring Different Avenues of Prayer

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.

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