Prayer: Essay 1

Presence, Transformation, and Petition. Postures of prayer to change your life.

When you’re close with someone, you can sit in their presence with an ease and a familiarity that speaks loudly of the intimacy of your relationship. Their presence changes the context of your situation. Their presence gives you strength, comfort, and reliability; it colors in some light in the darkness around you, or perhaps makes the brightest day even better. Christians often use the token phrase, “it’s a relationship, not a religion,” when we talk about our faith. And while this is very true, it’s usually just spoken and not lived out. In fact, I think a relationship is sometimes the last way we ought to characterize our faith, if we’re being honest. It’s easier to do check-list-Christianity, or inconsequential-Christianity. Whatever spectrum you find yourself on, from viewing God as a strict boss or a flippant step-parent who just wants you to be happy, you’re really just reinventing new versions of agnosticism – or, in the very least, a “He’s my Dad but we’re not talking right now” kind of relationship. 

The first posture of prayer I want to discuss here is Presence. Whatever your current relationship is with God, imagine what it ought to be. After all, we’re talking about the cosmic Creator of the universe who makes Himself available to us every second of the day, sent His Son to die for our sins, and adopted us as sons and daughters in His kingdom. That’s who we’re talking to when we pray, not some distant ideal or old white bearded man in the clouds. If we embody this truth, shouldn’t prayer – talking to God – be a state of complete awe at who He is, what He’s done for us, and genuine gratitude that we even get to talk to Him? Shouldn’t sitting in His presence be enough? 

Instead, we often jump to what we want from God. We bypass awe and wonder, and pray small prayers about who we should date or what job we should take or if we’ll get a raise. I don’t mean to belittle bringing anything to God, and I know many of you have prayed deeply for a loved one’s health or freedom from oppression, and those are not unimportant! But I think the problem is that we spend a lot of time treating God like a genie, and when we do come to Him with those deep-felt, emotional requests, we aren’t sure He’s listening. We haven’t really learned how to experience His presence. And so the big prayers we pray when we have nothing else to turn to are riddled with unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and very little listening. 

But what if we did learn to pray into His presence? What if we began each prayer remembering who God is, what He’s done for us, and just getting real about a relationship? What if being in God’s presence was enough? What if the vast majority of our 21st Century American problems just fizzled away when we sat in the presence of the Everlasting God? 

King David seemed to have this practice woven into his very bones when he wrote much of the Psalms. He was “like a tree planted by the rivers of water” drinking in God’s presence, which enabled him to find strength, faith, and direction as both king and fugitive (Psalm 1:3). I think the Psalms as a whole is the perfect example of what prayer can and should be like, holding truths that Jesus echoed in Matthew when He taught the disciples how to pray. So how can you try to seek this practice in your prayer life? What does it look like? Well, I don’t claim to be an expert, I simply want to share what it has been like for me; and it really has changed things. 

Begin your prayers just earnestly seeking God alone. Feel the joy, gratitude, and humility of being in His presence. Feeling love and actively loving. David said, “In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord … I remember God … I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:2-3, 11-12). Before we ask Him to move in our lives, we must remember His previous faithfulness to aid our belief; before we ask Him to make us like Him, we must know His characteristics. And don’t just ponder what God has done in your life; think of what He has done in the lives of your neighbors, in the lives of people in the Bible. 

You may not feel like pondering these things, though. Your heart may not be in it, and you might be unsure. But don’t let this persuasion hold you back! Sit in His presence anyways, if not for anything other than building the discipline and trying to find comfort. Our human flaws and broken hearts don’t define God’s goodness; it’s there, as immovable as a mountain, and we’re simply welcomed to experience its majesty. With time, dedication, and (of course) the power of the Holy Spirit, your time with God will change you. 

In Psalm 63, David wrote, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life,” (verses 1-3). Do you think David felt this way in the immaturity of his faith? Probably not. David spent years growing in closeness to his God, and these powerful emotions and yearnings are a result of that. How incredible would it be to say with confidence that feeling God’s steadfast love is better than life? David grew to love God’s love through the hours and years he spent seeking God’s presence! That alone is enough to dispel many of our present problems with discontentment, joylessness, purposelessness, anxiety, and loneliness. 

My prayer for you is that your “soul will be satisfied” with the richness of God’s presence (Psalm 63:5). We live in such a deprived, lonely, discontented world. The presence of the world will never leave your soul satisfied, only hurt and wanting more of the wrong things. I want you to find relief. I want you to stop shouldering the heavy burden of anxiety. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest … you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). He didn’t say argue for me, work hard for me, ask me questions, make money, be happy; He just said “come to me” and “find rest for your souls.” He’s inviting you into His presence because He knows you need it so desperately. And it’s there, in God’s presence, we find Transformation

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