The Power of Prayer

by Clarice Bowman and George Harper

Chapter 6

Aids in Achieving "Disciples' Disciplines"

"Your thinking this very day has helped make the world what it is. When you think in perfect harmony with God, the titanic forces of the universe bend like gravity to pull things and people your direction, because you are going in God's direction." Laubach

What Does it Mean to "Pray without Ceasing"?

"Pray without ceasing," (1 Thess. 5:17) admonished Paul. Swift thoughts of God spring upward like brief exclamation points. They may be petitions: "God, help me in this." Or, they may be little prayers of thanksgiving: "Father, that was a lovely time" ... or, in the words of the old Negro woman, "God, you're gonna spoil me with your goodness!"

All phases of life become hallowed with a sense of Presence; and take on new importance when prayer is thus a part of them. All acts of our conscious life - eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, walking - become as "sacraments." The student thus attuned finds the power of God demonstrated a hundred times in one session in the chemistry laboratory. Fair play on the football field underscores a Christian tenet. Brother Lawrence, whose very name recalls the phrase, "practicing the Presence of God," stated:

"The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen while several persons are at the same thus calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament."

Dr. Frank Laubach, a modern mystic, may have had in mind a similar level of spiritual achievement, when he spoke of "being aware of God one second out of every minute during the day" (Game). A young person observes, "Those little moments when quick arrow-thoughts dart Godward are real prayers."

Are these arguments against having a definite time and place each day for more extended prayer? Those looking for an excuse for not observing daily disciplines might like to believe that. Paul's admonition has been quoted as an excuse for not having regular periods of prayer.

But once a person begins to make excuses, he will likely excuse himself from prayer altogether. True, he can associate walking, eating, and other events of his day with prayer - but will he? True, he can make of the kitchen a sanctuary, as did Brother Lawrence - but will he?

Brother Lawrence did not find it easy. It took him eight long years of unremitting disciplines before he was able to "practice the Presence" there in the dirty kitchen. To be a practicing Christian, one must work at the job. There is no short cut. Can a musician interpret Beethoven without first mastering his scales?

"Disciples' Disciplines"

We are going in training now, to become spiritual athletes. We will set up certain daily practices for ourselves. One will be that we set aside certain periods of time each day for prayer. Another will be that we will find and use such materials as will aid us in our spiritual growth. Another will be that we will adopt those customs of meditation and prayer that will enable us to make progress.

Yet we will make none of these an end in itself. We will remember at all times that God is not so much interested in observing rigid rules as in our growing in understanding of Him and in willingness to cooperate with Him. Should we "slip" on one day, we will not waste time in discouragement, but will seek out the cause for the failure and purpose to do better next time. We will build a framework for these disciplines, yet keep it flexible.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher, in the novel "Rough Hewn" makes one of the characters, an old actor, say,

"By changing the very fiber of your being; that is the only way to become anything worth becoming. And you cannot change the fiber of your being without dying a thousand deaths and knowing a thousand births."

One of the mysteries of life is the ability in persons to grow in skills. Memory can be strengthened. Will power can be developed. Intellectual faculties can be sharpened. Emotions can be controlled and regulated. If this be true in regard to other phases of life, how true in regard to prayer which makes use of all these faculties.

In proportion as you are willing to put disciplined effort into your prayer life will be your results. "Discipline" is not a pretty word, nor always a welcome word. We all prefer ease. We tend to follow the line of least resistance. We want to get results without paying the price. By habit and inclination we tend to remain on lower levels when we could be ascending towards the heights.

Our lives have grown complex. That simplicity of faith and singleness of purpose that was in the first disciples is harder for us to attain, probably, than for those Galilean fishermen. By effort we need to free ourselves from "the tyranny of things," to become at heart as little children. It takes discipline to focus our lives in prayer. It takes discipline to find a quiet place and quiet moments for prayer each day. It takes discipline to shoulder new tasks of service as outgrowths of our prayer. Discipline means the "ordered control of outward action and inward mood." Discipline is the path of discipleship.

I. Time

Prayer takes time. How much depends upon the person and his felt needs. At the beginning, you would not want to make your time-period so long as to be mechanical or tedious. Consciously watching the clock takes attention from the prayer itself. The time should be definite, unhurried, and guarded against intrusion.

"The establishment of an unbreakable relationship with God is the most important thing in our lives, therefore we must never permit it to become secondary to some other concern." Kirkland

Some claim they are too busy to pray. But having experienced the values from prayer, Stanley Jones remarked of a particularly busy period in India, "We were so rushed those days that we had to spend three hours a day in prayer."

Too busy to pray? Such a statement suggests that we consider other activities of our day more important than prayer. Each person is awake almost 1000 minutes per day. Would it be too much to ask that one-thirtieth of that time be scheduled for fellowship with God? Martin Luther wrote:

"By the grace of God. I desire to lay down the rule not to speak with man until I have spoken to God; not to do anything with my hand until I have been upon my knees; not to read letters or papers until I have read something of the Holy Scriptures."

A beginner in regular prayer-habits will find it a good idea to keep a little notebook for jotting down the excuses he offers himself for failure to observe his prayer-times.

Some prefer to spend fewer minutes more often during the day in prayer and meditation. Some feel that there should be at least one "block" of time for deeper prayer; then brief ejaculatory prayers at odd times during the day.

Surely ten minutes a day is as little time as the beginner could set. One group of youth, most of whom were students with extremely busy schedules and limited privacy, felt that each could easily find twenty minutes a day, and that this should be their minimum.

When is the best time for prayer?

The answer is to be found by each individual as he studies his own schedule. One prefers the early morning. Another finds that he can be alone at a later time during the day. All of us can take advantage of odd moments: the few minutes between bells, waiting for a bus or train, waiting for a caller, waiting for the water in the bathtub to run.

How can daily prayer-time be best used?

Leaders vary in their suggestions. Take a look at some of the opportunities during your day. Answer the question for yourself.

a. Early morning, as soon as you awaken. In these first moments of returning consciousness, let your greeting be to God. Many a day is made or marred by what you let "steal" your mind during these first formative moments. Worries, plans, temptations will try to come in and take over. But training, even for a few mornings, will enable your mind to hold the reins, and your will to turn actively to God. Making a choice at the beginning of one's day colors the whole day; and makes other choices easier.

b. Morning meditation. Early in the day (before breakfast if possible) take from five to fifteen minutes for meditation. If you can be alone and quiet, good. If not, think and pray while walking or while washing dishes. This is your opportunity to offer the day to God; to go over its possibilities with Him.

"Be ready in the morning and come up ... present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain, and no man is to come up with you." (Read Exodus 34:2, 3, and Matthew 6:5-15.)

This is your morning "watch." You must never face the day until you have faced God, nor look into the face of the people you meet until you have looked into His. Meet Him alone as Moses did, as all the great religious men and women have done. Take time in the morning to read His story in the Bible until His personality and enthusiasm become a part of you. Take time to ask yourself, "How would Jesus have me live this day?" Ask Him to keep you from trivial things and wasted time.

Mystics have called this a "prayer of intention" - placing ourselves and our work in the hands of God.

c. Food should be taken at mealtimes as a gift from God, and in remembrance of persons everywhere who experience the same physical needs. Let a sober reminder cross your mind of persons who are hungry, near and far; and with that reminder, let there be a swift winging prayer that all may be given what is needful. Answering that prayer may mean going without something yourself. The earth brings forth her fruits and enough has been provided for all - if all share in brotherhood.

d. During the day. Walking, with the blood pounding healthily in your veins, may remind you that God's way is full of abundance, vigor, joy. Breathing fresh air may remind you of the "atmosphere" of God's love all around you. Instead of seeing crowds who frustrate your progress, see individuals with problems and dreams - some weary, some anxious, but all your brothers. Can you radiate poise and serenity to at least one person who may be a stranger?

A leader of students offers some practical suggestions:

"Instead of spending the few minutes between bells worrying about whether one will get an invitation to that formal or reviewing notes for an exam (nothing is usually learned then if it hasn't already been learned), why not look out the window at a pretty tree and recall the devotional thought read that morning, or think of some person who needs your prayers and thoughts? Minutes spent waiting to see professors, or for a practice room to be idle, or for the mail to be put up, need not always be spent in idle talk. They may be precious opportunities for turning thoughts inward and upward to, God." (Roberta Dillon)

A temptation comes. A need arises. Ask God for help. You make a mistake. Seek forgiveness. You rejoice in some success. Breathe a prayer of thanksgiving. Such prayers may take place without changing your position or stopping what you are doing. These little "grace notes" will enrich your life.

e. Middle of the day. Some take the stroke of noon as a special time for prayer. At that moment, the shadows are vertical, symbolic that the sun's rays fall in impartial angles over all. What more appropriate time, then, for intercession, for remembering persons over the world and gathering them into a prayer-impulse of love?

Noontide is a fitting time for praying for missions over the world. "Thy kingdom come." When it is remembered that time-belts change all over the world, a time-chain of prayer may be established and a twenty-four-hour-a-day prayer-watch kept regularly.

Prayer at noon may also be a time for reaffirming basic beliefs. You may say over in your mind a chosen creed or your own personal statement of beliefs. Repeat with Paul, "I know in Whom I have believed." Let the heart rise in a "Te Deum" of thankful affirmation.

f. Evening prayer. Prayer-time in the evening can be both restful and invigorating, in spite of fatigue. Look back over the hours of your day. Note how God has shown Himself in all its events, in the people you have met, in the beauty of nature, and in new ideas that have challenged you. Note how He has shown Himself in that which has been difficult or disappointing. Recall the events of the day and the conditions that made you realize anew God's love, and that led you to give yourself more fully in service.

Evening is also a time for confession. In sincere penitence we can lay our sins and short-comings before Him and leave them there.

"Remember when you've got to the end of your tether, there always stands the Savior, understanding every problem, stronger than any foe, the overcomer of every evil, your friend, Jesus Christ." Lester

Offer your night hours, before going to sleep, to God for His certain watchful care. Some find it helpful to repeat a chosen word or phrase or bit of a hymn or scripture verse - what Gerald Heard calls a "song-word" - such as "love," "joy," "peace," "In Thee I rest," "The peace that passeth understanding."

"Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease."
 
"0 love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee."

Not only is there great psychological and spiritual value in this act of letting God calm our spirits. But who knows but that spiritual growth takes place even during unconscious hours; or that, in Brother Lawrence's word, it may be true that "those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep?"

Whatever your time-period for prayer each day, use it well and use it all! Nothing is gained by dawdling, or wool-gathering. In fact, bad habits are being engraved upon your sensitive personality.

First establish "stillness" around your prayer-time. Make preparation for it, as carefully as you would prepare for a worship service in which you are to lead a group. Even if you have only a few minutes when you can be assured of aloneness for prayer, spend a third of the time, if need be, in preparation of spirit. Begin, not with nervous agitated sentences, but with inner stillness and relaxation. "Let go ... let God."

II. Place

Finding a place for personal devotions is sometimes as difficult as finding time.

Youth at camps and conferences have been asked what to them was an outstanding worship or prayer experience. Almost invariably they mention first, an experience in the out-of-doors "when I felt God near."

But prayer is more than a mood of enjoyment of the wonders of nature, more than feeling an expansion of soul. It must be an active, willed experience of at-oneness with God. The vestibule of nature may invite one to seek the living Presence.

Churches also are vestibules for the worship of God. But where is the church kept open during the day for a lone worshipper to bow before his God? Is there some time during the week when the organ may be playing and when persons may drop in for meditation guided by music? Churches should serve the worship needs of people, not alone one hour per week, but seven days a week. One group of youth took turns opening the church and looking after lights and music, and announced to the community the hours for meditation.

In an increasing number of churches and on an increasing number of campuses are to be found upper rooms or prayer chapels. In youth and student meeting rooms worship centers are prepared. Outdoor chapels or green cathedrals are set up at camps. On one campus, a small garden plot that was secluded was chosen as the place for prayer.

Some persons have a special prayer corner in their rooms at home or in the dormitory. They can fashion their own settings, using such reminders as will help them "center" their thoughts upon God. [But beware of elevating "reminders" into idols!] A small picture may be used on a shelf or desk. In a corner of a mirror may be placed a brief poem or inspirational thought. Housewives may paste bits of poetry or scripture above their sinks, on their eye-level as their hands are busy about dishes. A young person who is skilled in crafts may make small wooden crosses or triptychs or simulated stained glass windows for the prayer-corners in rooms. Small luminous crosses are available which will glow for a while after the light has been turned out.

Times remembered when prayer has taken place amidst beautiful surroundings will help the individual when he tries to pray amidst unbeautiful surroundings.

What did Jesus teach about places for prayer? Interesting clues may be found in such references as Mark 11:15-17; Luke 4:16-19; 6:12; 10:17, 21; John 4;19-21; 23-24.

You cannot always go apart. But each of us has that door marked "private." Only we have the key. No one need ever know - not even the persons with whom we may be conversing at the time

"Mid all the traffic of our ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein."
John Oxenham. Hymn, "'Mid All the Traffic."

III. Materials

Once you have established your time and place for prayer, what you will do and what helps you will use depend upon what you want to have happen to you.

If you wish to pick up hurriedly some piece of devotional literature or even the Bible, read a bit, feel a warm glow, and check off your duty for the day, then that is one thing. It looks easy. Scan a few lines of devotional material (some persons can read very fast), capture a thought, perhaps think about it for a minute, then go on your way. But is that all you want to happen to you?

The Bible and other devotional material should help us think of God. But all materials are tools. They cannot worship for us.

You have not prayed when you have merely read (or even assented to) a prayer someone else has written. Sometimes printed materials and pictures stimulate us to think our own thoughts, to pray our own prayers. Sometimes they merely lead us to the place where we are ready to do so. They may serve as a "spark" to set off a flame within us.

As you hold your Bible or bit of devotional material in your hands, think of it as different from ordinary printed words on pages. Each phrase comes from the heart of someone who himself was seeking earnestly to respond to "the impulse of God's love." Can life speak to life? Can God's Life speak through the life and words of some long-ago hymn-writer or poet, to your life in the here and now? Will you in turn express a thought, for someone who may come after you?

The use of carefully selected devotional materials can help widen our range of prayer. It lifts our eyes above our narrow horizons and concerns. It deepens our understanding of people far away. It reminds us of blessings we may have ignored in our thanksgiving. It teaches us more about God.

Just as, when worshipping in a group, we "unite our hearts" in prayer, so in using devotional materials and prayers of others we seek to unite our hearts with theirs in a fellowship no less real because it centers in Him.

a. The Bible.

More than any other book in the whole world, the Bible helps persons feel the need of prayer. The chief character in the Bible is God. The Bible prepares us to walk the way with others who have prayed. The prayer-life of Jesus stands before us as silent condemnation of our weaknesses and failures.

The basic source for our help on prayer is found in the biographical material about Jesus, especially the two long prayers recorded. We speak of the one as "The Lord's Prayer," but both are His prayers. In the one case, He was giving His followers a model; in the second, He was demonstrating by the spontaneity of the prayer that His concerns centered in God's will and in those He loved.

Probably no prayer has ever been used more widely or more thoughtlessly than "the Lord's Prayer." Never say, "let's repeat the Lord's Prayer." Prepare to pray it. Study it carefully, a phrase a day, until it prays itself through you. Within it are thoughts as dangerous for conventional Christian living as the power of an unexploded atom. Can you add with each phrase, "beginning with me, right now"?

You will find it helpful to have a Bible you can mark for use in your devotions. "A marked Bible is a loved Bible." When you discover some passage in the Old or the New Testament that helps you understand a little more clearly about the nature of God, read it over aloud and mark it so that you can spot it easily again. Take, for example, such passages as: Isaiah 55; Psalms 19, 138, 139; Matthew 5, 6, 7; Romans 12; Ephesians 6:1-20; James 1. Reading aloud may help bring out new meanings, or transport you into something of the mood the writer may have had. Can you read Psalm 148 or 150 without feeling your spirit lifted and the majesty of the whole universe thrilling your soul as you sing, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!"

Not all of the 66 books of the Bible are suitable for devotional use. Too often the procedure is to open the Bible at random, without stopping to think of the background, meaning, or type of literature of a particular passage; and then to try to squeeze from the passage meanings that may be too literal or not in harmony with the context. The same could be done with a book on physics or biography. One experiment will reveal how ridiculous is the custom.

Seek to find the truth that is there, with as honest and open a mind as you would take to any truth. Do not distort meanings. You will not need to. If you live with the Bible, until you know how to find and interpret, there will always be new vistas waiting for your eager eyes.

The new American revised standard version of the New Testament brings clearer focus and closer view. It should help particularly in understanding the life and words of Jesus. Let there be no qualms against using more "modern" versions. After all, all the Bibles in the English language are translations from translations. It stands to reason that with present-day scholarship we may be approaching more closely to the meanings Jesus intended than has been possible in any generation from His time to this! Moffatt's and Goodspeed's versions will help give new meaning to difficult passages.

A single verse may be as much as you will wish to read at some meditation period. Again, several chapters may be necessary for the telling of a story. Let your Bible reading be flexible; guided by your needs and by the meanings you are discovering, rather than by any mechanical "budgeting" of your plans.

A good concordance will give the key word for a particular problem or need upon which you may wish to find help. You may be amazed at the treasure-store of material thus opened up.

The prophet Jeremiah is sometimes called "the Father of true Prayer." Whereas other leaders spent their efforts on preaching and reform, Jeremiah records his deep-felt need of God, his cries to God for help and the answers God gave him. See Jeremiah 15:1-21; 17:5-19; 20:7-18.

Further passages with helpful guidance for the spiritual life are: Hebrews 11; Psalms 1, 8, 15, 23, 24, 27, 63, 91, 95, 98, 100, 103, 104, 121, 146, 148, 150; Isaiah 9:27; 11:1-9; 53:1-7; 12; Romans 8:31, 39; Philippians 4:4-9; Jeremiah 7:1-11; I Corinthians 13; Revelation 21:1-7. As you read, imagine yourself a part of each scene. Picture the way the men and women are dressed; imagine you hear their voices. Think how they might have felt - where their needs may have coincided with your needs now. Thrill to the artistry of expression in such a psalm as the 51st or the music of Isaiah 35.

You may wish to make your own devotional Bible by purchasing a ten-cent story copy or two, cutting the parts that appeal to you and pasting them in a blank notebook. Your "Short Bible" will grow as your knowledge of the Bible and its meaning for your life grows.

No difficult experience you may ever be called upon to face can equal the agony of Gethsemane. No joy or sorrow or problem may come for which you cannot find a "Word" in the Bible!

Yet to take the Bible seriously is no light matter. We find our own lives weighed in the balances and found wanting. As Kierkegaard says, "Being alone with God's word is dangerous business."

"Beyond the Sacred Page,
I seek Thee, Lord,
My spirit pants for Thee,
O Living Word."

Use your church hymnal too. In the hymnal is a treasury of prayer-hymns, coming out of as many different moods as a person might express in a lifetime.

Certain loved prayer-hymns may be learned from memory; associations built around them, both in group and individual worship, will come back "on wings of song" as they are repeated silently in the mind in time of need. The prayer-spirituals are among the most deep-felt expressions of the heart in all poetic literature: "Lord, I Want to be a Christian in My Heart"; "Every Time I Feel the Spirit"; "Were You There?" You may be tempted to select in the main the simple, intimate first-person-singular hymns. Yet you should also let your spirit be stirred and fanned to new challenge by hymns of social-consciousness: "O Young and Fearless Prophet"; "Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life"; "These Things Shall Be." Going to the days' work, keep rhythm to your footsteps in "Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I Go."

There are two types of devotional literature on prayer: books about prayer, that describe the process as others have found light; and books of prayers and direct devotional meditations. The student of prayer needs both - perhaps the former more than the latter. If he uses the latter only, he is tempted to depend too much upon it. There are certain classics of the devotional life with which everyone should become acquainted: Thomas À. Kempis "The Imitation of Christ"; Brother Lawrence, "Practice of the Presence of God"; Augustine, "Confessions."

Making your own devotional anthology is a meaningful practice. As you read, both from books about prayer and books of prayers, you will come upon certain arresting passages that you would like to come back to and think about further. Copy these, noting accurately the page and book source.

Books containing prayers and devotional thoughts from great spirits of the past and present, kindle our own spirits.

Music is another resource for prayer. Some of the classics of musical literature were composed in deep religious awareness. Themes (such as are found in many church hymnals) call the soul to prayer. By use of a record-player, or by recalling to mind such passages, you may use them as a "call to worship."

Good pictures likewise call to worship. Taylor's "When I Survey Thy Heavens" transports you to the hillside beneath the brilliant Syrian stars, until you stand with that lone shepherd psalmist. Cheap, gaudy representations of Christ have no place; but many have found it helpful to collect the works of various artists as they have sought to depict this greatest Life - that out of the composite, they might discover for themselves a way of picturing Him for themselves. Nature pictures have a place in the prayer-corner, along with nature-hymns.

In turn, God may be depending upon you, to speak a word from your heart ... or compose a hymn ... or paint a picture ... that will help someone else along the way.

IV. Customs

Man is a creature of habit. To the extent that routine matters can be reduced to habit, he can free his conscious mind for weightier considerations. Habit comes to the assistance of worship and prayer life.

Through the centuries, customs for group worship and ritual have grown up. Their merit is not in themselves - for a loving God would not wait upon forms; but in their helpfulness in bringing the worshipper into the right frame of mind. The wealth of associations accumulated from previous experiences comes flooding back and enriches the moment. Your feet know well the pathway to your friend's house. In the same way a worship custom provides a well-worn pathway to your divine Friend.

In private worship, customs may be used as pathways, but should never be made ends in themselves. Never think that, after you have observed a ritual or custom, you have prayed. The goal is not mere observance, but fellowship with God.

Some of the customs suggested below, from various spiritual leaders of the past and present, have to do with "setting the conditions" around you, so that you can better pray; or "using reminders" to calm and center your thoughts. Seek, as rapidly as possible, to go beyond the need for any such aids. Seek to learn to enter the Presence directly, not depending upon any crutch.

Using interruptions as God's opportunities

Dr. E. Stanley Jones suggests making of interruptions "interpretations." He tells of looking up in the midst of his meditation and noticing that the clock had stopped. He thought, "It needs winding, and so do I. God, wind the spring of my life and set the hands to Thy timing and Thy purposes."

When the fleeting thoughts that come are definitely sinful, let them be the occasion of a deeper upsurge of prayer that God may lift you and your thoughts. Don't try to struggle against them yourself, for that will but carve them deeper into our mind. Again the formula, "let go ... let God."

In the midst of our prayer or meditation a thought may flash - say, of someone we haven't seen for a long time; or of something we might do that we had not thought of before. Who knows but that God may be bringing us a new concern, inviting us to share concern with Him? Of course, not all suggestions that may come into our minds are of the nature of "guidance." There is one test that can always be applied: "Is this thing that I am prompted to do completely loving?" If so, we can be assured that to follow the "leading" that seems to have come, would be in accord with the life and spirit of Jesus.

Our interruptions can be "God's opportunities" to use us in a deeper way. Perhaps the very way we deal with wanderings of mind in our prayer-life is building stamina into our Christian characters. Jesus' life was a constant stream of interruptions. Yet He never muddled, but always mastered them.

Using silence

"In deep mid-silence open-doored to God." Tyrell wrote to von Hugel, "God has often to undo all our work for Him and build it up again His own way." Reason? Not because we haven't tried or because we haven't worked hard. But because we failed to wait, in silence, for His leading first.

Silence is mighty. Christ before Pilate - in strong silence, until Pilate grows confused. He is the one judged. Peter Scott trying to give a "religious" talk to unemployed miners at Bryn Mawr in Wales, poor dirty fellows who had been out of work from seven to ten years. They say nothing as he talks and talks ... until their silence chokes him ... judges him ... and he decides to throw in his lot with them to rebuild through cooperatives. Jane Addams took a neighborhood woman from Halsted Street with her when she went anywhere to talk about Hull House. The woman sat silently. But Miss Addams knew that silence would keep her from exaggerating or leaving false impressions.

Silence can be adventure. Silence can be action, in the richest sense of the word. Silence can be God's chance. Only when we are silent enough ourselves can we hear Him speak.

Using symbols

An engagement ring is a symbol; it carries an emotional freight far beyond its worth in dollars and cents. A flag is a symbol. Traffic lights are symbols. They convey meanings without words. Our lives are full of symbols.

Coming to us through a rich Christian heritage are numerous symbols - some of which are familiarly used in church worship, and others of which may not be so well known. Imagine the early Christians, hunted, persecuted, discovering ways of conveying messages to one another through pictures and signs. Imagine the depth of fellowship-feeling that went with these symbols. With such a symbol as that of a youth fellowship, goes not only a consciousness of what this organization stands for, but a warm personal fellowship-feeling, a "belonging."

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers suggests a way of using the hands. He calls to mind first the picture of Jesus the lad in the carpenter shop, stretching after a hard day's work, his shadow forming a cross upon the wall. He suggests a way by which we may imaginatively enter more fully into the meaning of the cross -

"In between the past and the future you stand. Open your left hand. Look at your fingers one by one. Name each finger for a man or a woman in the past who kept the faith. Close your fingers and lock them with the thumb to represent the eternal Christ."

"Open your right hand. Name your fingers one by one with the great impassable obstacles of war, and race, and bread, and power. Think of those who will someday solve these problems. Close your fingers in the grip of the eternal Christ."

"Now let your arms be outstretched with the thought of holding on to the past and the future. The shadow of the cross! One is conscious, then, of the aching muscles of the spirit. - One sees why life pulled Him part at thirty-three." Chalmers

Some have drawn for themselves sketches of two hands, writing by each finger the name of some spiritual leader or much-admired hero of past or present; and, for the other, some problems or difficulties both personal and social. The clenching of the one hand signifying great souls in Christ, may represent the drawing in of power ... the clenching of the other may represent depth of conviction and purpose, or out-flowing of power from us into those problem-areas. When faced with a difficult situation, or when tempted to become angry, the clenching of the left hand may bring a fresh sense of power and strength.

Again, let us remind ourselves that any symbol can be misused; our prayer is not the symbol, but through it to God! Let it become a pathway - a quick "shortcut" to prayer. In describing a difficult situation in which the clenching of his hand behind his back opened a spiritual door, Dr. Chalmers observes: "Hours and hours of thought about His way went into that clasped hand."

The picking up of a pen - one we use to write to our friends, write our themes, write our checks - may become a symbolic act, accompanied by a prayer: "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon me, and establish Thou the work of my hands." The taking of a telephone off its receiver may be made a symbolic act, "God, be in this conversation." Each person should select his own symbols, and put into them whatever meaning he chooses, that his day may be full of little commonplace "reminders" that he has set himself upon the adventurous highroad of "disciples' disciplines."

Using mental pictures

God has given us imaginations. By them we picture the unseen.

Imagination is a more powerful character-builder than most people realize. What a person admires most and thinks about most often he tends to imitate and become like. The mind is like a sensitive photographic plate which reproduces what it visualizes. The more vivid the picture, the more drastic its effect upon mind and character.

How can this God-given faculty be turned to His service in prayer? When you telephone your friend, you mentally picture him. How do you "picture" Jesus? The mental image many persons have is distorted, sometimes untrue. No artist has ever done Him justice. Each has painted something that appealed to him; and probably each has felt that his representation fell short of what he wanted to express. Through careful effort, we can learn to "picture" Jesus - not in a static frame as in a picture, but moving through crowds. We can watch his electric effect upon them; their response, sometimes puzzled, sometimes laughing at his humor or catching a note of cheerfulness in his voice, sometimes sober as if awakened to new levels of living they had not dreamed possible.

Jesus painted for all men everywhere "the portrait of the Unseen God." He gave His life, His daily life. God is Christlike. Thus, if we could but "see" Him as He goes about His daily life, we would be viewing what the Father Himself is in His dealings with men. As Jesus met with men, God deals with them today; as Jesus loved them, God loves us today. When we pray, we can remember that God is Christ-like.

We have thought of that "inner sanctuary" each of us can build for himself in his heart. On the walls should be pictures of Jesus in action and in prayer. By spending time "seeing" Him, we shall grow more like Him.

Ronald Sinclair, in describing the method of "picture-prayer" advocated by Studdert-Kennedy, suggests one picture:

"In the case we are considering, we shall imagine the little band of friends climbing up the outside stairway of the house to the upper room. Their voices are raised in anger. They are tired and dusty and hot. They are very like tired children. We shall follow them into the cool upper room. What is it they are quarrelling about? Simon Peter says that he has always been the first, James and John argue that they are young and zealous, and so on. Instinctively we turn and look at Jesus. What will He say? He looks terribly sad. It is His last night on earth; on these twelve men He had lavished all His care; He had given them His most priceless teaching; they had lived day in and day out with Him. It all seemed to be in vain. Their minds were still dwelling on ambition rather than service; pride still ruled their wills. We watch Him. Quietly He lays aside His garments .... He takes a towel, pours water into a basin, and gently and lovingly washes each dusty foot in turn. It was the work of the meanest slave boy; but Jesus was ever among them as He that serveth. Slowly the work of love goes on and He comes around at length to Simon Peter. We hear the latter's protest, and the answer. At long last He comes to - Judas. We wonder what will happen now. Judas looks away: it is almost too much for him: he cannot bear it. `He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.' I think the moments which we have spent in that upper room - for we seem to have been there taking part in the picture - will have made us just a little more humble." Sinclair

A further step in "Picture-prayer" is to take some scene in our own lives which we must face in the near future, and upon which we need God's help. We carefully visualize it, in "technicolor," with all the main characters including ourselves. Now, in place of ourselves, we imagine Jesus in that scene. How would He meet the situation? Later, imitating Him as we go through that situation, we may find ourselves mysteriously empowered to meet it in His spirit. Using "props" or reminders

The "props" are an important part of every drama. Certain "props" may help you in your prayer life.

One man takes a map of the world and divides it into six segments. Each evening in his prayers he concentrates on a sixth of the world. He tries to picture the people there and their need. On the seventh evening he tries to encompass the whole world in his prayer of intercession.

There is no magic in the use of the map. It simply helps bring more vividly to his mind and heart the part of the world he is lifting to God in prayer. It is in himself that the changes are wrought. He finds himself thinking during the day of these peoples; the newspaper headlines and radio flashes come alive with new meaning.

An individual may use whatever "props" he needs. One girl who was interested in athletics used occasionally her tennis racquet in her worship setting, in order that she might be reminded of her need for a true Christian spirit in her play.

The youth in a certain camp symbolized the constancy of the prayer-experience by keeping a votive light burning in their chapel night and day. Each hour a different camper or counselor kept watch, praying there not only for the camp but for persons over the world. A new spiritual dynamic was felt in the camp.

Music

Can you "sing mentally"? One who loves music found that to "sing over" in his mind certain passages of music helped prepare his spirit for prayer. Music may become the prayer, as in Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer, O Lord" or Bach's "Breathe On Me, Breath of God." Some hymn remembered from summer camp or conference may come to have special meaning in a person's life. One young woman has a photostatic copy of her favorite hymn framed on her desk. Memorization of hymns furnishes the mind and heart with unfailing helps for prayer. Listening to a classical or hymnic recording may prove a means of inspiration. All of us need variety in our meditation, to broaden and round out our experiences.

Making affirmations

In a world of much unbelief, Christians need to reaffirm their convictions. Pull yourself erect, square your shoulders, stand before an open window with feet firmly on the floor, and repeat the words of your creed - your church creed, or your own individual creed. Try to write what you believe and why in words a ten-year-old could understand.

Keeping diaries

Thousands have found it helpful to keep "prayer diaries," little "letters to God." Writing helps us reach up and catch thoughts that might otherwise be vague and express them in exact words. It strengthens our spiritual muscles, and sharpens our minds. It also tends to give us something definite from our prayer experience to follow through. Once an idea is written, its challenge is inescapable. We cannot fool ourselves. There it is before us. Diaries also help us look back and see how far we have come - or whether we have advanced at all.

Some occasionally write out their sins and failures in a prayer of confession and then burn these in the fire - symbolic of God's consuming forgiveness.

Making days meaningful

Days may have special meanings, as we link them with happenings in the ministry of Jesus on earth. Thursday may symbolize to us the Lord's supper. The question, "Master, is it I?" may be asked in our own hearts. [Actually on a Tuesday.]

Friday is commemorative of that first Friday - "Good Friday," the day of the cross. [Actually on a Wednesday.]

"Think what might happen if we took not one Good Friday a year, but Friday of each week as a day in which to stand before the cross, trying to fathom and share the tremendous love of God which is there revealed. Gradually the insight would dawn that Christ is bending in compassion over the need of all mankind today. Then we should see that wherever Christ bends over human need you and I belong. We should become sensitized to the pain and tragedy of our world. We should pour out strong prayers of intercession and rise to that high point of consecration in which we would say, like Christ, `For their sakes I consecrate myself.'" Radcliffe

Benedictions

In group worship, the benediction means a reverent withdrawal from the place of worship to everyday pursuits - in the words of a young person, "Asking God to go home with you."

Look again at Ephesians 4:7-13. "The grace ...' - His excellence of thought, word action ... "with you" - a part of you, until you can say with Paul, "For me to live is Christ."

"The love of God" - the love that passes all understanding, that is broader than the measure of my comprehension or yours; this love be with you, until you find yourself striving to love as He loves, and to give as He gives!

"The communion of the Holy Spirit" - that very personal contact with the Eternal that swells your heart and gives purpose, power, direction to your life ...

Twelve men received the benediction long ago. Great souls down the centuries have followed, and the world still shakes with their footsteps!

* * *

"More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friends?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."
- Tennyson

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Matthew 6:9-15Matthew 6:9-15 With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes. "In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part.  (The Message)