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being born again, encouragement, experience, God's guidance, God's love, God's voice, inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther, Michael Clark, prayer, rest, Søren Kierkegaard, Teresa of Ávila, The Lord's Prayer
This is another entry Michael Clark and I wrote together which springs from our own experiences with prayer and its effects on our soul and spirit.
It has been for three days now that I, Susanne, wanted to write a blog post about prayer. But since I had neither time nor inspiration to do so, I only gathered a few quotes on prayer yesterday in the late evening. Afterwards I shared these quotes with Michael and we prayed about writing together about how our times alone with God affect us. We realized that be both usually wake up in the flesh and urgently need to pray in order to feel God’s presence in our life again. Michael made an observation I really liked. He said, “I need to pray first thing or my day is trashed.” Yes, indeed! Here are the quotes that sprang somehow out on me. 😉
To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. – Martin Luther
Prayer is […] a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart…Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. – Mahatma Gandhi
Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love. – Teresa of Ávila
The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. – Søren Kierkegaard
Real prayer is an act of love. We spend time with those whom we love. Whether we are happy to be with them or we are hurting and calling out to them for help, it is still an act that comes from the bond of love! But when we were Catholics, they tried to get us to pray “canned prayers,” memorized and sanitized words that would not offend God. I, Michael, even had to memorize prayers in Latin that I had no clue what they meant! Prayers that come from the mind or heart of another are not from our hearts and as a result Jesus called them vain (empty) repetition.
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Mt 6:6-8 ESV)
You know what comes next? The following verses introduce The Lord’s Prayer. (1) Do we really believe that Jesus taught His disciples first to not heap up empty phrases and then commanded them to repeat The Lord’s Prayer again… and again…. and again? In churches it has become a ritual of sorts, together with many other prayers. We could compare it with reading a phone book in order to get the proper connection without ever using a phone. We might be able to memorize all the numbers and names, but will we ever hear a voice without calling anyone? Of course, it might happen that God uses a pre-formulated prayer, psalm, or hymn and makes them alive to us (even if it is only one word!). However, that does not mean He keeps making the same things alive on every occasion.
Actually, in a certain sense we as human beings long for rituals in order to feel secure. Whether it is the cup of coffee in the morning, the daily walk with the dog or a phone call with someone whom we love, or if it is a ritual we do not want to share with anyone but with God alone, rituals somehow offer a room of protection for our souls. But on the other hand, here lies a danger as well. As Michael pointed out above, if we give into the temptation to flee into rituals regarding prayer, we cannot be sure we will meet the Eternal God there. As God’s ways are always surprising for us, His leading can never be predicted since it is like the wind that “blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8 ESV)
To me, Susanne, that fact has not always been something I was able to rejoice about since I do not like surprises that much. But being a Spirit-led and newly born believer changes the heart completely and you cannot delight in rattling out repetitive prayer rituals any longer. Although I pray in the morning, in the evening and in between if possible, I never know beforehand what will happen during my prayer times. Will I hear God’s voice clearly? Or will I enjoy God’s rest and His love without words? Is He going to give me a prayer burden for others? Or will the Holy Spirit’s bring to light another poorly healed wound in my heart that makes me cry before He heals me? I do not know. But I know that God is here. He is there with you and He is here with me. Even though we do not always feel Him, God is closer to us than anyone else on this earth. And He loves us more than we can imagine right now, far more than any human being ever could.
Let’s pray, dear brothers and sisters. He is worth it all and His love makes all the difference in our life. Or in other words (Paul’s),
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God… “(Rom 15:30, nrs)
(1) https://www.lords-prayer-words.com/lord_traditional_king_james.html
Entering the Promised Land 
Thank you, Susanne for this lovely reminder to take time to communicate with God and Jesus each day. I find that if I pray before I have any interaction with other humans, I am less apt to cave into the whisperings of the devil and will have a lot fewer words that I wish I could shove back into my mouth once I see the hurt that they cause. I also find that my actions are more motivated by the love of God. He really is there with us waiting for us to ask Him for all our needs during each moment of the day. What amazed me was how God even knows about technical things and I often called on His help to troubleshoot computer and electrical circuits that had malfunctioned during my work day before I retired 🙂
As a side note to you men, there is nothing more perplexing to our natural minds than communicating with a woman. In the past I always blamed them for being so different, but in my more recent years I find that without prayer for the wisdom of God, what I say will always be either wrong or taken wrong and I will not understand what they are saying, for most of what they speak is not straight forward and blunt like us guys talk, but hidden in their words. God is love and the language that women most understand is love. We need to always go to Him and seek His help and words if we are to have successful relationships and communication with the women in our lives for they respond to His love.
I had a great aunt in Texas that loved to pray this psalm from her heart each day…
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps 19:14, nrs)
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You’re most welcome, Michael! Thanks a lot for your edifying words. 🙂
Your deliberations on the consequences we need to face if we choose to not pray are spot-on. I believe we get more and more sensitive to the hearts of others, the closer we are to the heart of God. And without prayer, we cannot get closer to Him. It is indeed amazing that God is interested in every tiny detail of our lives. He wants to help us all the time – in all things. I often need to remind myself to ask Him regarding “nullities” (in my view) too since to Him everything that concerns us is equally important. Imagine that! 🙄
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Lk 12:6-7 KJV)
Aren’t the very hairs of our head a nullity to us somehow? But not to God…. He is truly amazing and wonderful!
Yes, Michael, as a woman I understand the language of love since this is indeed the way how our God who is LOVE loves to communicate with His children. 🙂
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Reblogged this on A Wilderness Voice and commented:
I have never known a person like Susanne Schuberth who prays about everything all day long. Father and Jesus are her best friends. I hope you are touched by our need to pray in her words in this article.
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That was a sweet introduction by you, Michael. Very touching to read for me! Thank you so much for the reblog, my dear brother, and thanks a bunch for inspiring me to write more about my own prayer experiences in our common article. 🐱
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She is like a modern day Brother Lawrence. I have tried that and I am not good at it. I some times just end up talking to my self or practicing what I am going to say to some one else which very very rarely happens or maybe not at all.
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Thank you, Fred. What you said about talking to yourself and practicing what you might be going to say to someone else, I know that, too. We are all human and if God does not help us pray, we will end up in despair because our hamster wheels of thoughts can drive us nuts, can’t it?
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom 8:26-27 ESV)
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Susanne, what a timely quote from Romans! I am so glad that we don’t have to get our words all polished and perfect when we talk to our Daddy!
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Yuppers, Michael, we can always be who we are, can’t we? 😉
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Susanne, like the old black man said, “If you ain’t who you is, then you is who you ain’t!” And God calls this hypocrisy or putting on a false face with feigned words like the Pharisees did all the time with Jesus. If He never let them get away with it, how much more His Father? It is better to pray what we really think with Him for He sees our hearts. Once when going through many trials I prayed, “God! I think your whole system sucks!” Nope! He did not strike me dead, either. In fact after many years He finally brought my heart around to seeing the wisdom in how He goes about transforming us from the old Adam into the Last Adam, Jesus Christ.
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Yes, Michael. I do love what that man said!
Hypocrisy is trying to make the old self shine on its own without God’s help. That is always a ridiculous thing to do. We may have doubts and fears, we do not need to trust in God on our own, and we may even get angry with Him. If not, unconditional love does not exist. But you and I know it does, right?
God is not interested in improving our old self, He simply wants to see it DEAD. The new spiritual creation is made in heaven, not on the earth, and it can exclusively come from Him. As long as our old self gets in the way, we cannot shine as bright as Jesus did. But once we step aside and let Him do what He wants to be done, it is finished! Indeed, it is a gift to be born from above!
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Yes, we do, dear heart! Love that is not unconditional is not love at all! “God so loved the world…” NOT “God so loved the select few…”
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Indeed, we are no Calvinists, Michael! XD
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This was very touching and helpful. I always think I pray wrong as I was told by some to pray the lords prayer or some variation of it. Which I will admit never felt right. Although thinking about some of my prayers as of late they have gotten a bit ritualistic. So I thank you again for this post.
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You are welcome, Fred.
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Thank you for your encouraging response. Fred. We only need to do what feels right for us. As we begin to feel uncomfortable with a certain kind of prayer while another person wholeheartedly loves it, that should not disturb us. We are all individuals and God leads us in individual paths although we share the same WAY which is JESUS. Someone once said, “There is only one way that leads to God, but many ways that lead to Jesus.” (Unknown)
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I just simply like to talk to my Papa and tell Him how I feel and experience His caring response
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Wow! That is great, Ken. The simpler the prayer, the closer to God’s heart we are, I believe.
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I used to write Love letter prayers to God. They came from the heart. I need to get into that practice again. It was personal letters.
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Wowee! Impressive, Stacey!! ⭐
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Thank you Susanne.
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You’re welcome, Stacey. 🙂
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Susanne, your encounters with Jesus and our Father are so wonderful, though I also know how much pain you have suffered as He has done deep surgery on your heart as well. But, no matter what has happened, I know we can say with great gratitude, “It is worth it all!”
Stacey, keep looking up and you will find the direction you seek.
Michael
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Indeed, Michael, no pain, no gain. Not that I ever liked the painful part of that pruning process. But we will see that He is worth it all when He has raised our dead and dry bones to new life, even already here on earth (speaking spiritually).
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Yes you are all right! Of course I remember what He has said on the cross! YES! Of Course! Because I have felt the same way before! And I have shared this with many people who have said that they have felt abandoned. But to shout out in this house or in this remote area may get the police here in no time. I just got done reading Matthew 10. For me it is encouraging. Because it seems to answer what I needed to hear. And prepare for. I feel better today than in the last few days. In the name of Jesus, Yeshua Almighty God! Who was and is and ever shall be!
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Just for clarification, Stacey, since I have been walking by the spirit, I saw that it is indeed possible to talk with God without opening one’s mouth. When I was angry at him, I never shouted out loud but in my spirit only.
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