Prayers of Intention (Dr. John H. Coe)

The 30 day challenge (starting 3/6/11)

Some of the community at Solidarity are planning on trying this prayer for the next 30 days.  The Prayers of Intention do not bring immediate results, but allow us to sit and be with God over a period of time and grow in our depth with Him.  Join us for the next 30 days, practicing this prayer.  It can be as quick as 5 mins or as long as 1 hour.  Just leave the time open to what ever God may choose to do.

Here is a little bit of instruction (and someone to ask questions if you need more direction)...

Intro to the Prayer

     We don't only want to love God through musical worship, prayer to him, or acts of service but we want to find a way to submit to His will and know, deep down in our hearts, that what He has for us is truly good and the best thing for us. But we are human, and we have our own desires and a stubbornness that fights for our desires. The Prayers of Intention (by Dr. John H. Coe) are four different prayers, meant to do daily, which opens our heart to God's will in various facets of our lives.

     However, before you consider whether this prayer is worth your time, please know that this is not a remedy for your problems or a way to be a better Christian. The Holy Spirit works according to God’s divine wisdom and timing. Our part is simply to open our hearts to His presence and stirring in our heart. Unfortunately, the work of opening our hearts to Him is often easier said than done. Take courage though and may this prayer be a tool God uses to draw you ever nearer to Him!

    It is highly recommended that you walk through this prayer with someone who has done it before. Please feel free to contact Jay Wu at jaywu@solidarityrising.org for more information.

Further details to help you facilitate your time.

1) Familiarize yourself with the actual prayer, which are the four italicized sections labeled Prayer of Intention and the John 15:5 verse. You may need to read through these prayers several times before you get comfortable to pray through it without reading it off the paper.

2) First thing in the morning, before you get out of bed, pray through these prayers. If you need to wash up first to wake yourself up that’s fine. The prayer can take as short as a few minutes to pray through or up to a significant length of time.

3) Being consistent with the prayer will help in the exercise as we turn our focus on the Spirit’s work in our heart.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16:13-14)

4) Take note of what surfaces in your heart through this prayer exercise. During our next WNSF gathering we’ll provide space for those who participated in the exercise to share with the group.

 ...and onto the actual prayer ( Printable Prayers of Intention )

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 Prayers of Intention

Ways to Pray without Ceasing 1 Thess. 5:17

Dr. John H. Coe

Director, Institute for Spiritual Formation, Talbot School of Theology

© Copyright 2010 John H. Coe. All rights reserved.

To protect the heart from moralism and the flesh

To protect the heart from under-effort and the flesh

To open to the filling of the Spirit in all things and no longer be alone

1. Prayer of Presenting Oneself as a Sacrifice (Rom. 12:1-2): the spiritual discipline of presenting oneself to God as a living sacrifice, open to Him and His will in all things.

Prayer of Intention: “Lord, I am here, I present myself to you. Here I am.”

This protects the will from becoming asleep to the will and Person of God.

2. Prayer of Recollection (Phil. 3:7-9): the spiritual discipline of reminding the self of its true identity in Christ (full pardon, full acceptance) and “Christ in me” (that I am not alone).

Prayer of Intention: “God, whatever I do today, I want to do this in you. I don’t want to do this alone, in my own power or as a way to hide and cover. I don’t want to find my identity in anything but Christ. I am in Christ and that is my true identity.” (Confess any idolatry)

This protects the life from idolatry, false identities and moralism or making decisions from false guilt, shame in life in the power of the self.

3. Prayer of Honesty (Ps. 15:1-2, Ps. 139:23-24): the spiritual discipline whereby we open to God and ourselves in what is truly going on in our heart in order for truth-telling to take place in our relationships and life in general.

Prayer of Intention: “Lord, what is going on in my heart right now with You, with others, with my life, my situations? Search me, O God, and know my heart. Open my heart to you today in truth, lest I deceive myself.” (Confess any idolatry)

This protects us from superficial obedience, from presenting ourselves in arrogance, closed heartedness, dullness of heart, etc. Let the heart be a mirror to the truth and open to God.

4. Prayer of Discernment (Eccles. 7:13-14): the spiritual discipline whereby we learn to watch what the Spirit is doing in us and not merely our work, to “consider the work of God,” what His will is in all things versus ours or the devil’s so that we can better cooperate with the Spirit. Here we seek wisdom on how to respond to His work that is ongoing within us.

Prayer of Intention: “Lord, what are you doing and what is it that you want me to become and do if I am to do your will?”

This protects us from responding to false calls of guilt of what to do in our life, to fantasy, to the demonic, to our grandiosity, to working alone. Here we learn to wait on God and watch His work more than our own.

5. In receptivity to the Spirit, hear the Word of God (Lectio Divina [Heb. 4:12])

(Jn. 15:5) “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

 

Forgiveness Meditation (unknown original author, revised by Jason Philllips)

Forgiveness Meditation

Take some time to center yourself and sit in the presence of God.

Place yourself in the middle of God’s heart and love for you.  Ask God to forgive you.  Allow God to forgive you.  Ask, “God, allow me to see myself the way you see me, as your beloved child dearly loved by you.”  Stay in God’s presence and allow that identity in Him to saturate your life.

Bring into your heart the image of someone for whom you feel much resentment or anger.  Take a moment to feel that person right there in the center of your heart and then place them in God’s heart as well.

In your heart, say to that person, “For anything you may have done that caused me pain, anything you did either intentionally or unintentionally, through your thoughts, words, or actions, I forgive you.”

Slowly allow that person to settle into your heart.  Take your time and move at your own pace.  Say to them, “I forgive you.”  Gently open to them.  If it hurts, let it hurt.  Begin to relax your grip on your anger and resentment.  Say to them, “I forgive you.”  And allow them to be forgiven.

Now bring into your heart the image of someone you wish to ask to ask for forgiveness.  Say to them, “For anything I may have done that caused you pain, my thoughts, my actions, my words, I ask your forgiveness.  For all those words that were said out of forgetfulness, fear, or confusion, I ask your forgiveness.”

Don’t allow any resentment you may hold for yourself to block your reception of that forgiveness.  Let your hear soften and accept forgiveness.  Open to the possibility of forgiveness.

Breath Prayer

“Breath Prayer reminds us that each breath we are given is God’s gift and that God’s Spirit is nearer to us than our own breath.”  - Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

The Breath Prayer is broken up into two parts.

            Inhale:  Speaking the name of God, calling on Him

            Exhale:  breathing out a God given desire

What it is

1.      A repetitive one sentence prayer.

2.      A tool, a prayer to constantly remain with God and be present with Him. 

3.      A way to pray without ceasing (1 Thes 5:16-18)

4.      A prayer that is not just intellectual (head) or emotional (heart) but involves the physical (body).

5.      A defiant act against hurriedness.  A way to fight a world that is screaming at you to accomplish, produce, and constantly DO.

What it is NOT

1.      Magical instant connection with him, you have to practice

2.      God Himself, it is a tool in order to engage Him.

Examples (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook)

1.      Breathe in “Abba,” breathe out “I belong to you.”

2.      Breathe in “Healer,” breathe out “Speak the word and I shall be healed.”

3.      Breathe in “Shepherd,” breathe out “Bring home my lost son.”

4.      Breathe in “Holy One,” breathe out “Keep me true.”

5.      Breathe in “Lord,” breathe out “here I am.”

6.      Breathe in “Jesus, Son of David” breathe out “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

7.      Breathe in “Breath of life,” breathe out “Breathe on me.”

Practice (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook)

Get comfortable and breathe deeply.  Intentionally place yourself before God.  In rhythm with your breathing, gratefully inhale the breath of life.  Exhale remembering that Jesus gave His last breath for love of you.  Gently and thankfully repeat, “Breath of life, breathe on me.”

Now write your own...and practice repeating it over and over until it becomes a part of your normal routine.

Spiritual Direction

Importance of journeying with another
In his book Healing Grace, David Seamands points out the importance of friendship:
We talk a lot about being honest with ourselves and with God. And we sincerely – sometimes desperately – try to do this in our times of Bible reading and prayer. But the kind of honesty and self-knowledge which will bring about lasting changes in our lives almost always requires another person. It is when we disclose our true, private selves to someone else that we fully come to know ourselves for real. Down deep we may dimly perceive the truth about our real selves, yet we go on denying or covering it with our superselves – even in prayer. However, once we have actually put the truth into words and shared with another, it becomes increasingly difficult to continue deceiving ourselves.
[David A. Seamands, Healing Grace (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1988), 180.]
In the twelfth century, Aelred of Rievaulx (1109-1166) wrote Spiritual Friendship. In this book he writes:
What happiness, what security, what joy to have someone to whom you dare to speak on term of equality as to another self; one to whom you can unblushingly make known what progress you have made in the spiritual life; one to whom you can entrust all the secrets of your heart and before whom you can place all your plans.

What spiritual direction is NOT:
• Pastoral Counseling- They come with a problem with and not seeking an experience of God. The focus becomes not the God but the pastor who is giving the word.
• Accountability – Does not hold some one to a certain prescribed way of living. It’s rather a space where people come to explore their relationship with God. It’s a constant invitation to a deeper relationship not guilt for failed attempts.
• Psychological counseling- Not necessarily a problem-solving ministry. Direction is more spirit centered than problem centered. Direction could be initiated by crisis or a problem but its goal is growth in one’s relationship to God, not resolution to a particular problem. The problem is merely the place where one meets God it is not the focus. Counselors usually seek to be empathetic to the counseled while directors are empathetic to the Spirit.
• Authoritarian – The term direction implies telling someone what to do. The true spiritual Director is the Holy Spirit. It’s one Christian accompanying another as he or she seeks to increase attentiveness to the presence and direction of the Spirit of God
• Advice Giving- Some people come to direction so that the director will tell them what to do to get their life on track. It’s not at about providing the correct spiritual answers this is secondary. It’s about the mysterious unfolding of life in God.
• Discipling - Discipling usually implies accountability. While direction may involve a certain degree of accountability it is more editing. Discipleship has more structure and usually follows a curriculum with information to be passed. Discipleship is usually more valuable and needed for those new in the faith.
• Preaching – Does not involve telling them what I think God wants them to do. “God has a plan for your life and let me tell you what it is.” Scripture may play a place in the relationship but it is not the primary to or concern for deepening one’s relationship with God.
• Just friendship - Not two good friends getting together to talk about God

Spiritual Direction is:

Spiritual Direction is a prayer process in which a person seeking help in cultivating a deeper personal relationship with God meets with another for prayer and conversation that is focused on increasing awareness of God in the midst of life experiences and facilitating surrender to God. (David Benner, Sacred Companions)



What happens in Spiritual Direction:
• Listening- Not an opportunity to share our own journey. It’s helping them discern if they are moving towards God or away from God. Holding the mystery of their STORY. What does it feel like for that person? What are they experiencing?
• Affirmation-affirm others GIFTS. “I have noticed this in you…. Etc.”
• Clarification- Asking the questions to find the answer that person already has in them.
• Integration- Is to ask the question: “So what are you going to do now, how are you going to integrate this into your life? “
• Discernment- focuses on moving towards or away from God.
• Prayer- Always a dynamic of spiritual direction.

Two essential qualifications of a spiritual direction.
1. Director is also a directee
2. And has a deepening relationship with God - We need to walk the journey ourselves it’s out of our journey that we minister.

The function of the spiritual director is to bear witness, living testimony, to the directtee that what he or she seeks is real. You do this by being transparent to what God is doing in your life.

Reading Resources

Sacred Companions: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship & Direction, by David Benner
Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction, by Margaret Guenther
Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction, By Jean Stairs

Resources for Finding a Spiritual Director:

Jason Phillips contact info

Center for Spiritual Development
www.thecsd.org
434 S. Batavia Street, Orange, CA 92868-3907
(714)744-3175 | (714)744-3176 fax | csdinfo@csjorange.org

Evening Prayer: North Umbria Community

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences

My soul waits for the Lord

more than those

who watch for the morning,

more than those

who watch for the morning.

Call: Out of the depths I have cried to You.

Response: O Lord, hear my voice.

Call: With my whole heart I want to praise You.

Response: O Lord, hear my voice.

Call: If you, Lord, should mark iniquities:

Response: Who could stand? who could stand?

I will wait for the Lord.

My soul waits,

and in His word

do I hope.

Expressions of faith

Lord, You have always given

bread for the coming day;

and though I am poor,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always given

strength for the coming day;

and though I am weak,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always given

peace for the coming day;

and though of anxious heart,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always kept

me safe in trials;

and now, tried as I am,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked

the road for the coming day;

and though it may be hidden,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened

this darkness of mine;

and though the night is here,

today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken

when time was ripe;

and though you be silent now,

today I believe.

Scripture

Prayers for others

Canticle

In the shadow of Your wings

I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

The Lord is my light, my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the refuge of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

In the shadow of Your wings

I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

One thing I ask of the Lord,

one thing I seek;

to dwell in the presence of my God,

to gaze on Your holy place.

In the shadow of Your wings

I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

I believe I shall see the goodness

of the Lord in the land of the living.

O wait for the Lord!

Have courage and wait,

wait for the Lord.

In the shadow of Your wings

I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

Blessing

See that ye be at peace among yourselves, my children,

and love one another.

Follow the example of good men of old

and God will comfort you and help you,

both in this world

and in the world which is to come.

Lectio Divina: Michael Bischof

Lectio Divina (pronounced LEX-ee-o-dih-VEE-nuh) is a Latin phrase for the sacred readings of Scripture

History

-  It is a method or reading Scripture that innumerable monks, nuns, and followers of Christ have used since the earliest days of the church

-  For both the Israelites and the earliest Christians, the Psalter (Psalms) was their song book.

-  It was St. Benedict (ca. 480 - ca.550) who cemented the practice in Western monasticism, and Guigo II (ca. 1115 - ca. 1198) who articulated the practice even further in his book Scala Calustralium (The Ladder of Monastics). 

Description

-  It is a method of reading the Bible in a devotional way (as opposed to literal, moral, or allegorical) - believing that because it is God's inspired Word, it is a living and active text, that has something to say to each individual believer.

-  Lectio divina assumes that, by entering deeply into the text of God's holy Word, God will be made known to us, speak to us, and shape our lives.

-  It is reading the Bible with no agenda and no presuppositions.

-  One needs to purposefully shed the common methods most individuals use in their every day (such as reading for entertainment or information)

Practice 

-  Find a Bible translation or paraphrase that is easily readable.

-  Use a Bible without notes, underlining or study helps - anything that will distract you from what God is saying to you in that moment.

-  Pay attention to your surroundings - you want quiet or silence, enough light to read, but not so bright that it is distracting and no other distractions like phones.
-  Choose a time of the day when you are wide awake and set aside enough time to hear from God.

-  Pay attention to your surroundings - you want quiet or silence, enough to light read, but not so bring to be distracting, and no other distractions like phones.

-  Choose a text of Scripture that you sense will be a good source of devotion for you.  While all Scripture can be used for this, as you are beginning it might be best to choose a Psalm, something from the gospels, or a short paragraph from one of the epistles.

-  You might begin with a prayer requesting and expecting God's presence and direction 

Structure

- Reading a passage of Scripture (lectio)

    -  Read the scripture slowly, repeatedly, and aloud if possible

    -  Allow the text to trigger memories and associations that reside below the threshold of awareness

    -  Be calm, deliberate, gradual, and listening hard for what God has to say to you

    -  Imagine what your temperament will be in heaven sitting at God's feet

    -  Listen for a word or phrase that rises above the rest of the text ("rings") and grabs a hold of you

    -  Reading aloud helps the words and phrases resonate in the ear

-  Meditation on that passage (meditatio)

    -  This is the "interior intelligence" of the text - what seem to be the values, the underlying assumptions and presumptions of this passage?

    -  How is my life touched today by this passage?

    -  What is this passage inviting me to do?

    -  As you attend to those deeper meanings, begin to meditate on the feelings and emotions that are conjured up in your inner self

-  Prayer (oratio)

    -  Although it is all prayer, here one deliberately asks God for illumination

    -  Respond to God, telling your desire to respond to the invitation or asking questions

-  Contemplation (contemplatio)

    -  Silent waiting on God

    -  Where  your prayer moves beyond words and intellect into a place where time and eternity almost touch

    -  This final step takes patience and practice, and is often the most difficult to achieve

    -  It may be merely a moment of silence, peace, and rest in the midst of 10 minutes of struggle to quiet your mind

Group Lectio

-  After an opening prayer, a passage is read two or three times, slowly and deliberately, and participants are asked to find the word or phrase that speaks to them (stands out, or "rings," or rises above the others)

-  Share that word of phrase with the group

-  Read the passage two or three more times (different reader)

-  Participants again reflect on the word or phrase that speaks to them, this time attending to the emotions or feelings that it conjures.

-  Share these emotions or feelings with the group

-  Read the passage two more times, again in a distinct voice, with a longer period of silence asking God why this word or phrase provoked this feeling.

-  A final and more lengthy time of sharing ends the session with each person telling the others what God is saying to them through the text

For more information go to:  www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html

Ignatian Meditation: Jason Phillips taken from Jan Johnson's seminar

Ignatian Meditation is another tool designed to draw us into deep relationship with Jesus.  During March's Spiritual Formation night we used this discipline as means to be with God.  Jason helped lead this station during that evening and asked us to be present within the scripture and allow our imagination to take us to places God intends us to go.  Here are some of Jason's notes on Ignatian Meditation.

Why meditate on scripture?

-  Meditation helps us to become "careful to do everything written in the Word" (Joshua 1:8).

-  It is mentioned more than 15 times in the psalms. (Ps 48:9, 77:2, 143:5 145:5, 119:15)

-  It is a spiritual discipline, which is practicing how to become attentive to that small voice and a chance to be willing to respond when we hear it.

How is meditation on Scripture different from study of Scripture?

In the Study Method You...

-  Dissect the text

-  Ask questions about the text

-  Read and compare facts and new ways of applying the facts.

In Meditation Method You...

-  Hear the text and enter into it

-  Let the text ask questions of you

-  Read and let God speak to you

How Do We Do This?

-  Be a "fly on the wall."  If you had been present, what sights, sounds, tastes, smells and textures would you have experienced?

-  Let God put you in the passage, perhaps becoming the person Jesus is speaking to.  Let Jesus look you in the eyes, sitting face to face, and speak to you.  What do you sense as Jesus speaks to you?  What facial expressions do you notice?

-  Use your imagination, but still be WORD-centered

- Approach Scripture in a non-controlling manner:  Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls (James 1:21).