Thursday, August 11, 2011

Put Your Mind at Ease

 By Dina Sleiman

15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. ~ I Corinthians 14:15

Last year I led a ladies Bible study for a few close friends. One of the ladies had a hard time praying. She would feel anxiety and even panic when she prayed. How sad! For this woman prayer was scary. A performance of sorts. As if God was judging her words and deciding if he would magically grant her wish or strike her with a lightning bolt for her shoddy job.

If you've been following my bi-weekly series on prayer, hopefully you already understand that prayer is not a performance. Once this woman realized that simply basking in God’s presence, merely listening to his voice, or dwelling on a scripture could be a form of prayer, things began to go much better for her.

Paul instructs us to pray with both the understanding and the spirit. There are a number of prayer techniques, used throughout the ages, that allow our minds to rest and our spiritual awareness to blossom. Let me begin this next section by saying that any hard-core conservative evangelicals might want to skip this post. Or at the very least, I would request that you remove any large rocks from your vicinity before proceeding ;)

Spontaneous Creative Expression
Risen! - by novelist Lisa Samson

Let’s start with one that shouldn’t be too scary. Art. Art is a form of communication. Anything we can do with speech, we can do through singing, dancing, painting, writing poetry, etc... And yes, through these means we can pray.

Letting your mind flow free to worship God and express your heart spontaneously through the arts can provide an amazing experience in God’s presence. Little wonder most churches begin with music. And while planned music or dancing can work well as worship and prayer, how much better to engage in our own personal artistic prayer experience. Allow your emotions to well up from within and express them to God through your chosen medium, engaging your spirit and giving your mind an opportunity to rest. Bask in the tone of the music, the color of the paint, the texture of the clay.

Some churches even allow for such expression on Sunday morning. But I encourage you to consider adding your favorite form of artistic expression to your personal time of prayer. And take a moment to enjoy this worshipful art by one of the Inkies' favorite novelists, Lisa Samson.

Repeated Scripture
Choosing a significant scripture and repeating it in a rhythmic pattern in time with your breath is a prayer technique that was used by both the ancient Hebrews and medieval Christians. This method of prayer is one of the most soothing techniques I’ve ever experienced. And it gives one a sense of entering the kingdom of God deep within.

Here are some of my favorite scriptures that I like to pray:

~“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty”
~“King of Kings and Lord of Lords”
~“In Him I live and move and have my being.”
~“Be still and know that I am God.”
~“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..”

Any short scripture of personal significance can work. As you repeat these scriptures, allow your mind to dwell on them, to picture them. Imagine what your life would look like if these scriptures were fully at realized in it. Allow them to do a work deep in your heart. Imagine the change that will take place when you truly begin to believe them.

Prayer in the Spirit
When reading I Corinthians 14:15 in context, you will discover that Paul is specifically referring to…dare I say it? I'm tempted to just call it the "t-word," but that doesn't seem right considering the New Testament refers to it on numerous occasions. Speaking in tongues had taken a bad in Christendom. And for good reason. Despite the fact that I was raised in a charismatic church, even I have held reservations about this technique, mostly because it has caused so much division in the body of Christ.

However, just because something causes controversy doesn’t make it wrong. In fact Christianity itself is quite controversial these days. The only theological argument I’ve ever heard against praying in tongues is a single scripture. And I would argue that a single scripture not taken in light of the entire word of God, at the very least, begs for reconsideration. Many churches avoid tongues not for theological reasons but because it is hard to control and has been abused. But that does mean it cannot be done decently and in order. Or even just privately at home. And who’s to say God would not like us to give up our control from time to time and give him the reigns.

As I’ve been doing this series on prayer, I’ve felt God prompting me to reexamine speaking in tongues. And it occurred to me that speaking in tongues serves the same purpose of many other prayer techniques. It eases our mind, it allows us to pray God’s words and not our own, and it is a way for the Holy Spirit to speak through us and to us. Paul prayed in tongues more than anyone around him, and maybe there is something to be learned from that.

Praying in tongues can seem intimidating because it by definition can’t be understood with the logical mind. We might worry we’re speaking gibberish, or something we heard someone else pray rather than an actual earthly or heavenly language. But Paul says in Romans 8: 26, “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” And I suspect it might be the release from deep in our spirit that matters more than the specifics of the words themselves.

Maybe speaking in tongues isn’t the thing for you. That’s cool. No worries. The important thing is to be open to how God is leading you to pray. However you choose to pray, remember that prayer is not a performance. Remember to pray both with your spirit and your understanding. And remember that it’s okay to put your mind at ease.

Are you able to put your mind at ease when you pray? Have you ever tried or had an experience, positive or negative, with any of these techniques? How is God leading you to pray?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


 Dina Sleiman writes lyrical stories that dance with light. Most of the time you will find this Virginia Beach resident reading, biking, dancing, or hanging out with her husband and three children, preferably at the oceanfront. Since finishing her Professional Writing MA in 1994, she has enjoyed many opportunities to teach literature, writing, and the arts. She was the Overall Winner in the 2009 Touched by Love contest for unpublished authors. Her first novel, Dance of the Dandelion, will release with Whitefire Publishing in 2011. She has recently become an acquisitions editor for WhiteFire as well. Join her as she discovers the unforced rhythms of grace. For more info visit her at http://dinasleiman.com/


8 comments:

  1. i appreciate your post. i especially like the quoting of scriptures part as prayer. i've found myself doing that at times - and it tends to be the scriptures that have been turned into songs, so i'm more singing my prayers at times.
    i've used speaking in tongues especially when i've had no clue how to pray. i've discovered after praying in tongues for a few moments, words come to my mind and i pray them. i do know that it helps me feel like i'm praying more in line with what the Lord wants me to say to Him. does that make sense?

    thanks for your postings in this series. you've given me lots of good pondering material.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I needed this today!

    Btw I should be seeing Dina in person pretty soon. Thankfully a quiet drive to Philly this morning and I'm just trying to get situated and relaxed before sessions start. Good timing for this post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Two Debs this morning. Deb H., that's exactly how I use speaking in tongues. If I can get back to my computer, i'll add a cool story later. Deb M., looking forward to seeing you soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for another great post on prayer. I'm so enjoying this series.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, my quick story about praying in tongues is that when the twin towers crashed, after staring at the t.v. dumbstruck for a while, it occurred to me that I should pray. Except that no one knew what was going on, and I had no idea what to pray. So I tried praying in tongues and after a few minutes I started praying in English, "Lord, if there are any other planes, please bring them down before they do any harm." This would have been shortly before the passengers took down the plane in Pennsylvania.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dina, lovely and encouraging as usual. I really appreciate this so much. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, Suzie. Glad you're enjoying it. I hope it gives people a new energy and excitement for prayer.

    ReplyDelete

Share This Post

How Our Giveaways Work: The Official Rules

We, the ladies of Inkwell Inspirations, would love to give free stuff to everybody. Since we can't, we will often have a giveaway in conjunction with a specific post. Unless otherwise stated, one winner will be drawn from comments left on that post between the date it was published and the end of the giveaway as determined in the post. Entries must be accompanied by a valid email address. This address is used only to contact the commenter in the event that he/she is the winner, and will not be sold, distributed, or used in any other fashion. The odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

Pinterest