Kicking Around Notions of Belief

Spirituality Column #257
October 11, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Kicking Around Notions of Belief
By Bob Walters

Here’s a recent newspaper quote from an athlete who came off the bench and made a humongous play to win a humongous game:

“I believed in myself. I said a little prayer … and it went in.”

Kudos to the athlete’s success. What an admirably innocent and humble comment. I’d never criticize an athlete who is that sincerely succinct.

Yet, a question leapt into my mind because that particular sentiment – “believed in myself” – is omnipresent in our culture, and prayer is omnipresent in our souls. So I wonder: If one truly believes in oneself, to whom does one pray?

Let’s consider the magnitude of our cultural and educational bluster about the sovereignty of rational thought, self esteem, and the removal of God from public sight. We are cheered on by our secular institutions to irrationally “believe in me,” but under no circumstances is it tolerable in a public institution to pray to God … and mean it.

Pity, because God is where the real action is.

Secular irony brooks no boundaries. For all of modern culture’s self-glorifying bravado – “I believe in me,” “I am special,” etc. – our secular institutions just as vigorously attack the notion that any one of us actually is special. That’s because truly special requires God, and God is generally outlawed if not outright ridiculed.

Look at public school and university science classes, desperately teaching the reasonableness of a universe that – they swear – happened for no reason. “Life is totally an accident, but you’re special.” Huh? Really? Schools teach facts and things, but shy away from truth. To wit, “God? Oh, that’s just your opinion.”

Imagine a public schoolroom where the self-esteem poster says: “The eternal Creator God took an intentional, special, eternal moment to specifically form you in your mother’s womb so He could love you, prosper you, and make it possible for your life to glorify His holy existence. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to save you and His Holy Spirit to comfort you. Trust this: You ARE special. God says so. Believe Him.” Powerful.

The modernists – the intellectuals running our academic institutions under the premise that man’s knowledge supersedes God’s knowledge – would panic, weakly wheezing “You are special” but lacking God’s authority, ability and passion to prove it. (Postmodern intellectuals would dismiss all knowledge and specialness, period, but that’s another column.)

What is revealing and reassuring about the athlete’s quote above is that regardless how much we “believe in me,” most of us down deep crave the peace of even a little – but honest – prayer to the God who made us.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) longs for a day when “I pray to God” means more than “I believe in me.”

Binding Arbitration

Spirituality Column #152
October 6, 2009
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis North Suburban newspapers)

Binding Arbitration
By Bob Walters

Sorry if this upsets any well-meaning prayer warriors out there, but what in the Devil – if you’ll excuse the phrase – are we talking about when we pray to “bind Satan”?

It sounds sincere, comforting and authoritative to pray to “bind Satan,” “bind the enemy” or “bind demons,” but it is an arrogant, gross misreading of scripture – and a violation of scripture – to think we as Christians have that kind of power.

Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ with the authority of the Cross – i.e., God – has the power to bind Satan. And Satan is as “bound” as he is going to get until Christ binds him completely forever and ever in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). Until then, Christ has bound Satan only to the extent that the Gospel can not be extinguished.

On Earth few of us will personally deal with Satan; he has bigger fish to fry. Still, we have no power to further bind Satan or even the lesser demons who most definitely “mess” with us any time we give them an opening.

What we can do is bind ourselves to Christ, talk to Christ, praise God and stay as far away as we possibly can from addressing Satan or demons or evil spirits. Even the Archangel Michael, who handles Satan (Jude 9, Revelation 12:7), is careful to only rebuke Satan, not accuse him. Accusing Satan is exclusively God’s job.

Yet Christians bend Bible verses to errantly claim Godly authority over Satan.

For example, the commonly cited “bind” and “loose” language in Matthew 18:18 is specifically about early church discipline, not empowering humans to enforce prohibitions on Satan. That Heaven will “bind” or “loose” the unrepentant or repentant describes the authority of the early church to discipline its members.

In context, Matthew 18:15-22 has nothing to do with Satan, or for that matter, with binding/loosing sickness, wealth, angels or poverty.

Christ uses the same words in Matthew 16:19, describing the establishment of His church. Heaven will respect the founding of the church, not give Christians individual dominion over Satan.

Other misinterpreted “binding” verses include Revelation 12:11, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9. The Biblical message isn’t “bind Satan;” it is “resist Satan.”

It’s smarter, then, to pray fervently in Christ’s name for wisdom and discernment in detecting Satan’s lies; but we should never, ever think our prayers bind Satan.

Look around; are anyone’s binding prayers working?

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com) suggests Googling “binding Satan,” or searching the topic at BrentRiggs.com. Cling to Christ; rebuke Satan. Amen.

Richness in Short Bursts

Spirituality Column #139
July 7, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Richness in Short Bursts
By Bob Walters

We worry when we don’t pray enough.

My pastor friend Dave told me of a life-long, vigorous churchgoer – steeped in his Christian walk – who came to him in a panic because he, the churchgoer, didn’t think he was praying enough.

Knowing the man’s deep and active faith, Dave advised him to write down – with the time – every thought he had about God. Dave got a call the next day. The man’s panic had been allayed within hours when he realized he was thinking about and talking with God all the time.

When we are serious about our faith, we discover God is rarely far from our thoughts, even if we aren’t on our knees.

There is no substitute, of course, for a block of uninterrupted quiet time in prayer, meditation, Scripture study or contemplation. Contemplation is the deep “prayer without words” where we focus on the glory of God, the sacrifice of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is when it is easiest for us to hear the Creator God – the Holy Trinity – talking to us.

My scholar friend George was mentored by a monk named Philemon at a monastery in the Egyptian desert. Philemon would sit in his cell for days or weeks in isolation, listening for his Lord’s voice to bring light to the most deep, difficult or confusing elements of Scripture, the Cosmos, human life, relationships, even God’s Existence and Being.

George’s faith and teaching are unusually rich in the fruits of his encounters with Philemon’s dedication to and depth of prayer life.

It’s important – critically important – to note that Christian prayer is directed outwardly, to the Creator of the Universe, to the Godhead. That’s the source and place of the Trinity in the Christian faith. Even as the Holy Spirit dwells within us, Christian prayer reaches out to the community of the Holy Trinity.

Be aware that a “Mantra,” popular in some faith systems, is not an outward, God-directed prayer; it points inward, only to our consciousness.

And don’t just talk endlessly … Matthew 6:7 makes that very clear.

It is the relationship each of us has with God the Father through Christ the Son in the Holy Spirit – and the relationship that exists within the Trinity – that is unique to the Christian faith.

Only our prayer life – even in short bursts – can capture the richness, peace and joy of that relationship.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) was reminded that Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (ACTS) is a terrific prayer mnemonic.

Pray As You Go

Spirituality Column #138
June 30, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Pray As You Go
By Bob Walters

God is constant, unchanging and eternal, while our mortal lives often change by the minute.

Prayer puts us in touch with God’s world, a peaceful and safe place. Yet we pray in response to the joy and pain, the hope and horror, the love and despair, the blessing and need, the goodness and sin, of daily human life.

We pray as we go, constantly striving for a Godly prayer connection that lifts us out of confusing human dualities and into the clearheaded, divine sphere of faith, hope and love.

It’s that wonderful place where we can “Be still, and know that [God is] God.” (Psalm 46:10)

The most beautiful and effective of prayers, to me, focus on God’s goodness, Christ’s sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of our hearts.

Traditional, denominational books of Common Prayer are filled with these eloquent offerings. For example, here is the opening “Collect” (prayer) from the Episcopal Church’s Order of Holy Communion, circa 1952:

“Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Wow. I think God deserves our best, most eloquent and sincere effort when we pray. Many of us are not especially eloquent – not like these liturgical prayers developed over centuries – but I do believe God always honors a heavenly-directed, focused, sincere prayer.

Satan, I’m pretty sure, prefers that we pray about ourselves.

The liturgical churches – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant – become nervous when prayer and/or worship go off script. Conversely, the more freeform, Bible-based and widely varying Baptist, Wesleyan, Nazarene, Brethren, independent Christian churches, etc., are often suspicious of prayers written down before they are actually prayed … scripture, of course, excepted.

I see both sides. I grew up in the liturgical Episcopal Church, did not go to church for nearly three decades, then came to Christ, was baptized and joined a non-liturgical Bible-based Christian church.

Prayer at first was difficult. I knew the Lord’s Prayer, didn’t know scripture, and couldn’t imagine an uncharted personal prayer path. But we pray as we go, using old prayers or new praises, but always with the Holy Spirit’s help directed toward God in Jesus’ name.

Can’t miss.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes for the Fourth of July that the word “liberty” isn’t in the Bible, and the word “freedom” isn’t in the Declaration of Independence.

Covering All the Bases

Spirituality Column #137
June 23, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Covering All the Bases
By Bob Walters

We are advised by both scripture and tradition to lead a prayerful life, but it is often hard to know how to pray.

The Bible has plenty of advice on prayer – look up pray-prayer-praying in your Bible’s index. Make sure not to miss Matthew 6:5-15 in the Sermon on the Mount. That is Jesus’ advice on praying.

To learn how Jesus Himself actually prayed read John 17, where Jesus prays powerfully and beautifully in the Garden of Gethsemane for Himself, for His disciples, and for all believers.

Catholic, Orthodox and the varied Protestant denominations have spent centuries perfecting their prayer books, and the prayers are magnificent to recite, majestic to hear.

Some people are hooked on rote prayer – prayers we memorize. Some people think rote prayer is akin to an Eastern mantra or the “babbling like pagans” mentioned in Matthew 6:7.

Rote prayer, I think, is incredibly helpful when we don’t know where to start praying, or aren’t quite sure what it is we are personally trying to say to God. The Orthodox “Jesus Prayer” – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” – is often my jumping-in point for prayer.

The key to prayer is to focus on God, on Christ, and on the Holy Spirit … not on our personal needs. In John 14:26 Christ promises that God will send us the Holy Spirit to act as our Counselor. And what is prayer, really, other than seeking divine Counsel?

Ask the Holy Spirit how to pray. Ask the Lord Jesus how to pray. Ask God Almighty how to pray. You’ll find their answers will all be identical. Only by focusing on Them, however, can you possibly hope to hear Their counsel.

When my prayer focuses on me … guess whose advice I get? Mine. And if my advice were all that great, I wouldn’t be praying.

A prayer formula can be helpful. I like “PTA” - Praise, Thank and Ask.
- Praise God for being God and for all the ways He lets us know it.
- Thank God for His blessings.
- Ask God for greater closeness to Him and understanding of His will.

I think it is safe to say we are all inclined to ask God for material things or physical/emotional comfort, but it is God’s closeness and our understanding of His will that brings the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) advises the inclusion of “Confession” in prayer as well. We can’t surprise God, and confession properly tempers our requests.

Praying Continually

Spirituality Column #136
June 16, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Praying Continually
By Bob Walters

If “praying continually” isn’t something that seems practical or doable given life’s demands, responsibilities and temptations, is it more likely the Bible is wrong, or that our priorities and practices are wrong?

1 Thessalonians 5:17, like the rest of the Bible, is not passive in its language. “Pray continually,” (NIV), “Pray without ceasing,” (KJV) and “Pray all the time” (MSG), three versions of this same verse, leave no wiggle room.

So … shall we all become silent monks and nuns?

There is a place for that, certainly, but not for most of us. God gave us our lives and He gave us free will … and He is eternal so He already knows how everything is going to turn out.

No matter how much we debate predestination vs. free will, we can’t surprise God or create a truth God doesn’t already know. But we can surprise ourselves by how close we can truly be to God 24/7 if we learn to think about God first and ourselves second.

Prayer doesn’t have to be complex. It’s easy to say or think the words, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” If you mean it, that’s a prayer.

The wonderful Orthodox “Prayer of the Heart” or “Jesus Prayer” is similarly spare but powerful:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

This simple prayer lands an enormous theological punch. In 12 words it identifies Christ as Lord, God as His Father, me as a sinner and requests my most urgent, perpetual and all encompassing need: God’s mercy.

Effective prayers can be unspoken and even unformed by words. A prayer can be a momentary awareness or mental image of God. See Christ on the Cross and use that image to battle Satan’s constant incursions into our inner peace and outer well-being. Invoke the Holy Spirit; ask how to pray.

If we desperately fear sin – and we all should – praying to Jesus Christ as Lord should be an all-day, all-night, all-encompassing attitude, not just an early-morning activity. Satan never sleeps. Thankfully, neither does God.

Sure, find time in your day to focus on God on your knees in private. Read a devotional. Read scripture. Participate in a Bible Study. Serve others. Go to church. Worship. Volunteer at church. Give to the church and the needy.

But learn to glimpse God without ceasing.

You will find yourself praying continually.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has discovered praying for money is less effective than praying to know and follow God’s will.

Praying Without Ceasing

Spirituality Column #135
June 9, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Praying Without Ceasing
By Bob Walters

The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” Our Lord wept over Lazarus, whom He soon raised from the dead.

The only other two-word verse in my New International Version (NIV) Bible is 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray continually.”

Traditional Bible versions like the King James say, “pray without ceasing.” The woefully obtuse but politically correct and idiomatically familiar “The Message” paraphrase says, “Pray all the time.”

In context, St. Paul is telling the still-tenuous Christian church at Thessalonica – in Macedonia around A.D. 51 where Paul had earlier begun his ministry but abruptly left – “(v16) Be joyful always, (v17) pray continually; (v18) give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.”

Notice Paul doesn’t say “Be joyful when you are happy.” Or “Pray when it’s convenient.” Or “Give thanks when God gives you what you want.”

Our personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit is a fulltime affair. Joy is not a function of happy circumstance. Prayer is not reserved for a set-aside time. Thanksgiving isn’t just a Thursday in November.

We must have perpetual joy that Jesus is Lord. And say it.

We must pray continually to be with God continually. And know it.

We must be thankful for Christ’s sacrifice restoring us to communion with God. And live it.

Joy and thankfulness are attitudes we mentally and emotionally command. By living those attitudes, people around us interpret them as an expression of Godliness … as long as the glory for those Godly attitudes is given to God, not taken pridefully for ourselves.

Prayer, though, isn’t so much an attitude. It’s an action requiring discipline and willful engagement. Our closeness to God depends on it. When we aren’t praying, we’re drifting away from God and instead drifting headlong toward ourselves, the world, and Satan. Our faith waivers.

We pray to connect with God. To know He is there. To glorify Jesus. To praise Him. To thank Him. To confess to Him. And, of course, to ask Him.

As for “asking,” try this: Ask God for “stuff” last. First ask God how to be closer to Him, how to glorify Him, and how to help others know Him. Mean it. Ask God for deeper faith. As Morgan Freeman said to Jim Carey in the movie Bruce Almighty: “Now that’s a prayer.”

Walters knows that no matter how much or what we pray, we can’t surprise God.

Next week: Praying Continually (click here for link)

The Ultimate Prayer Partner

Spirituality Column #117
February 3, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

The Ultimate Prayer Partner
By Bob Walters

Fourth in a series on The Lord’s Prayer

When my childhood church modernized its liturgical language in the 1960s – goodbye “thy” and “thine;” hello “you” and “your” – I remember saying the updated Lord’s Prayer only once or twice in Sunday services.

“Our Father in Heaven, Holy be your name …”

It simply didn’t have its divine “oomph.” The rest of the new liturgy soldiered on, but the traditional “Which art in heaven” Lord’s Prayer was back in the service almost immediately.

I like the “which art,” “hallowed,” “thy” and “thine” version for its sheer linguistic pleasure and familiar, poetic cadence. In the Sermon on the Mount version from Matthew, the Greek text plainly says “debts.” In Luke 11 it’s “sins.” I like Origen’s “trespasses.”

The Protestant Lord’s Prayer ends with “…forever, Amen.” I have always said, “… forever and ever, Amen.” Catholics stop at “… deliver us from evil.”

Minor points. The prayer, and more importantly the love and trust relationship with God Almighty, are the major points.

We all have our favorite versions and styles, prayers and verses, prayer partners and prayer leaders. I know certain people who, when they pray – inside or outside of a liturgy – seem to supernaturally just reach out, grab the Lord and attach Him to the proceedings in a mystical, very nearly tangible way.

If you know someone like that, say a prayer of thanks for them right now.

What’s special about the Lord’s Prayer is that it is the prayer Jesus – Jesus as a prayer leader – teaches us to pray. He instructed his disciples in Matthew 6 against false prayers and publicly showing off, and reminded them that God – His and our Father – already knows what we need. So this, He said, “is how you should pray.”

Romans 8:26 reminds us that humans know not “how to pray as we ought.” Maybe that helps explain why throughout Luke major events in Jesus’ ministry are depicted primarily as prayer events, to help instruct us in prayer. In Luke 11 on the way to Jerusalem, the disciples fairly beg Jesus to teach them how to pray the way He prays.

Jesus obliges them by sharing what Pope Benedict describes in his recent book Jesus of Nazareth, as “the interior dialogue of the triune love,” The Lord’s Prayer.

A prayer to God shared by Jesus. How’s that for a prayer partner?

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), who will eventually get to the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, here borrows various phrases and scholarship from Pope Benedict’s wonderful book, Jesus of Nazareth. Mea Culpa.

Amen to Brickyard Controversy

Spirituality Column #92
August 12, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Amen to Brickyard Controversy
By Bob Walters

I've been paying attention to the lingering controversy after NASCAR's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Days after the event, it was still a heated topic on local sports talk radio.

I'm speaking of course of the debate over the pre-race prayer. Eloquent, long-time Indianapolis Christian preacher Howard Brammer finished up his invocation praying "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

Brammer, Speedway CEO Tony George's now-retired pastor at Trader's Point Christian Church, has been doing the Brickyard 400 prayer since the race's inception in 1994, and has prayed in the name of Jesus every year.

You Bible-readers know that in John 14:13-14, 15:16 and 16:23-24, Jesus - who left mankind few specific instructions except to "follow me," "believe in me," and "love me and each other" - specifically tells us to "ask in my name" when we pray.

Many Christians think that prayers not specifically invoking Christ's name bounce back off of God's heavenly switchboard. Although that’s how I like to pray, in Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2 where Jesus himself provides the foundational pieces of what we know as the Lord's Prayer, it says nothing about praying in His name.

Anyway, I have a hunch every sincere prayer is patched through.

It is not a new idea for a Christian to pray in Christ's name, just to pester the politically correct. I expect a Rabbi to pray to God, an Imam to Allah, and a Christian preacher to pray in Christ's name. It's just the way it works.

The talk radio guy lamented the unconscionable inconvenience of having a public prayer mentioning Jesus Christ "jammed down my throat" (direct quote by one of the hosts). He agreed as the caller ridiculed NASCAR fans for being "intolerant and close-minded" about religion. I sort of chuckled about the irony of these guys calling anybody else close-minded and intolerant.

Y’know, 43 drivers - most of whom go to Christian pre-race chapel in the garage area with their families - navigated that 400 mile race on treacherous, shredding tires without major injury to anything but Goodyear and NASCAR's fixable reputations.

I'm of the opinion that the last thing anyone should complain about is the pre-race prayer. ‘Seems to me it worked.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has attended 28 Indianapolis 500s (including the last 25 in a row), 14 of 15 Allstate 400s, and went to all eight US Grands Prix. If you're marking a scorecard, yes, I went to church race morning ... 8 a.m. (2013 update ... now been to 33 Indianapolis 500s, this will be my 18th of 20 Brickyard 400s ... and at the moment sort of doubt I'll make it to church Sunday morning.)

Know the God You Pray To

Spirituality Column #67
February 19, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper

Know the God You Pray To
By Bob Walters

Pope Benedict was recently asked how Christianity is different from other religions.

He responded that in every religion, human beings seek God. Christianity, he said, is a religion in which God also seeks man.

As a Christian, I like the idea that God is looking for me because I am looking for Him. How do I know God is looking for me? Because He sent Jesus Christ to establish an eternal relationship with me, you … all of us (John 3:16).

I accept that my human pursuit of Christ is imperfect, but know that in my faith I have the assurance that God is on the other end of that relationship perfectly trying to find me. The Bible tells me so. So does the Pope.

A friend recently lamented to me that he was indeed trying to find God in prayer, but couldn’t. He cited an author he read who had searched Ashrams in India for prayer, meditation, enlightenment, etc.

When I asked him the name of the God he was seeking, I tacitly (and to my chagrin) went a little overboard it seems in challenging his interpretation of God. “You Christians always sound like that,” he said. “You won’t tolerate the thought that someone else might be right.”

Still, I asked him to name the name of the God he was seeking. If prayer is talking to God, isn’t it a good start, I reasoned, to know with Whom one is trying to talk?

He couldn’t say, but trusted the lady Ashram author as the more appropriate broker of his hoped-for, deeper prayer life with God, the Divine, or whatever. He just couldn’t say What or Who the Divine was.

I wonder sometimes why people make it so hard. Truly and too often, I lament my own inability to convincingly share the following wonderful news:

God is already looking for us, the Holy Spirit is already in us, and Christ has already created a bridge for us to an eternal relationship with God.

If we want that, all we have to do is ask, and then be still. We will know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is pretty sure that prayers are best delivered when properly addressed and not when sent out "General Delivery."

Thanksgiving and Forgiving

Spirituality column #54
November 20, 2007
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper

Thanksgiving and Forgiving
By Bob Walters

Thanksgiving, the holiday thing, got me to thinking about thanksgiving, the God thing. That led me to think that the most powerful thing we can do …

for God is to give thanks,
for Christ is to love our enemies,
for the Holy Spirit is to pray,
for human beings is to forgive each other.

Give thanks
It’s easy to thank God for the good stuff – “good” here meaning “comfortable.” At Thanksgiving dinner this prayer is: “Dear God thank You for this abundant meal before us, these loved ones present, and the warmth of this home.”

A great prayer, for sure, but in hard times we must be able to pray earnestly, “Father God, I give thanks for this opportunity to grow closer to You, and to seek Your glory amid this difficulty.”

Love enemies
Loving our enemies is tough, but less so if we recalibrate who we consider to be “our enemies.” Only Satan, the ultimate enemy, is the exception to this rule. Jesus wants to work with the good in each of us despite our sin. Can we work with the good in others despite their sin, and our sin?

Prayer
The Holy Spirit is in us to activate the whole of God’s presence: faith, hope, love, understanding, trust … and prayer. I really do believe the Spirit is in everyone, even though it is plain not everyone taps into It. The way to true prayer is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us pray, and the Holy Spirit knows when we really want the help.

Forgiveness
Forgiveness, when you think about it, is the opposite of pride. And pride – “me before God” – is the No. 1, most common, most debilitating, withdraw-myself-from-God sin in humanity. Pick a sin, and pride’s probably the root of it. A truly forgiving heart is a free heart. Freedom is the key to God’s love … and God’s love is the only completely eternal thing we can know in both this life and the next.

Funny, the deepest earthly victories we can win are things we have to give away freely – love and forgiveness. Wasn’t that Christ’s message on the Cross?

I’m thankful for that.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) thinks the most enabling, powerful things we can do for Satan are to doubt God’s existence, deny Christ’s power, reject the presence of the Holy Spirit, and hold grudges.

Talk to God … Then Listen

Spirituality Column #38
July 31, 2007
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Talk to God … Then Listen
By Bob Walters

Do we pray properly?

We pray for physical comfort which Jesus never promised, worldly prosperity which Jesus never had, and removal of challenges that Jesus assured us would never – in this life – be absent.

“Dear Lord … give me something” is an all too common prayer outline. I do it way too often.

We all tend to the see the world through the lens of our physical needs, yet the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are far more interested in our spiritual well-being.

With the Spirit (Romans 8:26) and Jesus (Hebrews 7:25) interceding for each of us ceaselessly with the Father, why do we need to pray anyway? The Holy Trinity already knows what we need.

We pray because it is part of our personal communion with God; communion that is unique to Christianity among all recognized theology. Other religions have laws and rites. Christ insists on faith and craves communion; prayer expresses both.

Prayer as an earthly shopping list is not in divine sync with God’s promise of eternal joy. If we are going to ask for something in prayer, why not ask for grace, understanding and wisdom to help us understand what He wants?

A great way to start a prayer is with praise for God, then thanks to God, and if you can work it in, confession before God.

And then … OK … go ahead and ask God. You can ask Him for anything, talk to Him about anything, laugh with Him, cry to Him, shout at Him … all the while knowing that there is no way you can surprise Him. Pray when you are happy, sad or scared.

But when you are finished – however you pray – don’t forget the most important part: listening for God’s voice with heart, mind and soul.

The key to prayer isn’t what you say … it’s what God says.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes the quality of our prayer life can’t be measured by our words, but by how God’s words return to our heart.