Monday, November 22, 2010

Word-less prayers

David Benner writes: "Only prayer can order a disordered inner life. While this may seem overly simplistic and possibly overly spiritual, it is absolutely true.

"Prayer sorts out our desires. Notice that I did not say that in prayer we are able to sort out our desires. No. The sorting work is God's, not ours. Our job is to sit in God's presence and allow God to purify our desires. If this does not seem practical enough, you have not spent enough time sitting in silence in God's presence. Words may be coming between you and God.

"Silence in the presence of God belongs to the core of prayer. It deepens our awareness of both ourselves and God. For it is in the stillness of silent prayer that we learn what our own desires most truly are. It is here that God reveals us to ourselves. "Examine me and know my heart, probe me and know my thoughts" (Psalm 139:23) is not, as it appears, a request that God would know me but that God would show that known self to me. And where God does this most dependably is in silent prayer where we center ourselves in God."  (Desiring God's Will, Benner, p. 87)


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