When I saw the description for this seminar, I was curious to find out what this talk was about. The description (see below) stated prayer might be limited.
What was said:
The speaker stated that prayer was
peace through connection. It how we center and ground ourselves. That we needed
to change prayer from petition and response to connection. To rethink,
re-frame, re-imagine what prayer can be. Prayer can be walking, gazing, and/or
chanting. That it is wholeness and shalom.
We in the sense can breathe prayer. By
centering our prayers with every breath we take by becoming one with our
breath. She stated spirit comes from the word to breathe and that we need to
practice breath as mindfulness, with every step. With breath we hold our
ancestors with it and have gratitude.
She then suggested to take some time to be in prayer with our breath. Moments when we’re catching ourselves not thinking is where we need to begin. By taking away from an intellectual pursuit, we are centering our prayer into a bodily practice.
She invited everyone to stand and said to recognize divine in all of creation by practicing chi gong. By centering our life energy within us and the earth around us and feeling and moving the chi. Feeling the presence of the energy of the divine. Not asking anything. Or petitioning anything. Only motion coming up and pulling down. This is prayer without words simply rethinking what our expectations of prayer are, re-frame our understanding what prayer is, since prayer is living, breathing with every step we take.
The truth of the matter:
Let’s take a look at the first
paragraph, the speaker stated we need to change prayer from petition to
connection and that we need to rethink what prayer can be. The truth is we
don't need to re-think what prayer can be.
The Bible explains exactly what prayer is. In the beginning, specifically Genesis 4:26 states, "To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord." but what does it mean to actually 'call upon the name of the Lord'? To "call upon" means to call out, to cry to, Psalms 17:6 states "I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words." Which means the Lord hears us when we call to him.
Now the speaker made a point to state
prayer isn't about petitioning or asking for anything but Philippians 4:6 states,
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God". Matthew
21:22 states, "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you
have faith.". Now this doesn't mean anything and everything. Jesus stated
within the Lord's prayer exactly how we should pray about these things. Matthew
6:10 states, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as
it is in heaven."
Now praying the Lord’s will in a situation is good. Especially when you don’t know what to pray for in a situation. James 5:13-18, on the other hand, gives us examples of what to pray for: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”
Now I want to take the time to highlight James 5:16b, “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Now what does it mean to be a righteous person? Romans 3:10a states, “as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one.”
Now that may seem defeating, to say no
one is righteous but there is hope. Romans 3:22 states, “The righteousness of
God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no
distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by
faith. This was to show God’s righteousness at the present time, so that he
might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Meaning all it takes to become righteous is to believe that Jesus died for your sins. Then, prayer will start to work.
I challenge you to pray and see what happens in your life. We, as humans, like to overcomplicate things, thinking we need to add something to prayer for it to work. In reality, we don’t. All we need to do is pray, seek the Lord, and watch to see what happens.