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Swallow Me Up


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Abba,
I long to abide in you
To dwell with you
To rest in you
But for some reason I can’t;
My mind wanders
My spirit is restless
My choices are divergent
My schedule unrelenting
Abba,
Sorrow and sadness cling to me
My soul is tired
I wonder if I’ve lost the story
But you remind me;
To be lost is to be found
To be known is to be loved
To wrestle with doubt is to find faith
To shed tears is to realize intimacy
Abba,
Pierce through my darkness so that I may see you
Forgive me
Re-align me
But most of all, don’t leave me;
You are all that is good
You are all that is true
You are all that I need
You are beauty painted with ash

Swallow me up in the ocean that is You.

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Prayer of an Anonymous Abbess

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There are prayers that, when you hear them, lift the corners of your eyes and the corners of your mouth into a knowing smile. The following is one such prayer. It seems to let a little of your inside voice out, if you know what I mean. May you be freed from prayers that are too sanitized.

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“Prayer of an Anonymous Abbess:

Lord, thou knowest better than myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from becoming too talkative, and especially from the unfortunate habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and at every opportunity.

Release me from the idea that I must straighten out other peoples’ affairs. With my immense treasure of experience and wisdom, it seems a pity not to let everybody partake of it. But thou knowest, Lord, that in the end I will need a few friends.

Keep me from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.

Grant me the patience to listen to the complaints of others; help me to endure them with charity. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains — they increase with the increasing years and my inclination to recount them is also increasing.

I will not ask thee for improved memory, only for a little more humility and less self-assurance when my own memory doesn’t agree with that of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.

Keep me reasonably gentle. I do not have the ambition to become a saint — it is so hard to live with some of them — but a harsh old person is one of the devil’s masterpieces.

Make me sympathetic without being sentimental, helpful but not bossy. Let me discover merits where I had not expected them, and talents in people whom I had not thought to possess any. And, Lord, give me the grace to tell them so.

Amen”

~Margot Benary-Isbert

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To Pray or Not To Pray

Need some inspiration to keep praying? Here are a few great nuggets to inspire and encourage you to keep the divine-conversation going!

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” 

― Søren Kierkegaard

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” 

― Mother Teresa

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” 

― Abraham Lincoln

“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.” 

― Kahlil Gibran

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ” 

― John Bunyan

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.” 

― Andrew Murray

“He who kneels the most, stands the best.” 

― D.L. Moody

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3-30 Prayer Challenge

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I am excited about the response received about engaging my 3-30 prayer challenge!

Just as a reminder, here is the plan:

To pray three types of prayers three times a day for the next thirty days!

Here is the prayer breakdown:

1. morning prayer: Start your day with a morning breath prayer like “Abba, I belong to you.” Breath in fully while you pray the name “Abba” for about 2 counts, and then breath out for 5 counts on “I belong to you” Abba is the word Jesus used to acknowledge God the Father. It is a very person word that means “Daddy” Isn’t that powerful that Jesus helps us relate at a far more intimate level with God as we embrace Him as Daddy.

I tend to pray this in a Trinitartian format of “Abba” (which speaks of God the Father as Daddy) “Yeshua” which is the Hebrew name which Jesus translates from. And “Ruach” Which is the Hebrew term for the Holy Spirit. So it goes like this:

Abba…I belong to you
Yeshua…I belong to you
Ruach…I belong to you…

The ancient church, going back to the first century practiced this kind of prayer which they called “The Prayer of the Heart” The most tradition prayer was” Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” That is still a prayer that i meditate on through the day as well. I also enhace the aforementioned prayer in this way:

Abba…I love you (please forgive me) (thank you)
Yeshua…I love you (please forgive me) (thank you)
Ruach…I love you (please forgive me) (thank you)

Feel free to select words that help you focus on who God is and align your heart through confessiona nd repentence…there is no wrong way to pray this!

2. mid-day prayer: Sometime around mid-day, pause and slowly pray through the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.

Here is The Message translation of the same prayer. Reading this translation helps you see the original thoughts in a more cureent way:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

3. Afternoon or later: Redemptive prayer:

What I mean by a redemptive prayer, is to simply pray God’s blessing on someone, escpecially someone with whom you might currently be struglling with, for example:

* pray for someone you are currently angry, bitter or struggling with.
* pray for your enemy, as jesus asked us to…who is your enemy?
* pray for the people you disagree with, politically, philosophically, theologicalley etc.
* pray for those you know who struugle with God or are anti-God 

So each day pick one person and pray the God would simply bless them, eve if you disagree with them!

I am excited for what God will be doing in you as you pray this way the next 30 days with me! I have already been receiving emails telling me that God started working on day 1!

Grace and Peace

Monty