Spiritual musing

Praying is about maintaining a close connection with god.

It is difficult to keep our mind stayed on god when we live in a busy world. Jesus gave an example of what we could or should pray when he said “don’t pray as the pagans do when they recite meaningless repetitive prayers.”

I think the key is meaningless praying. It is talking with god but not really thinking or feeling what you are saying. The danger of repeating prayers is that they become like a rote recitation of just words when the mind and heart are not fully engaged with god. I think we all know that meaningless words can be vocalized. 

Most of our lives are spent NOT connecting with god in a meaningful way.  A walk in nature may be wonderful, but this is not the same as conversing with god while you walk. It is difficult to do 2 things at the same time, but we can learn it.

Take walking for instance. If I like to walk and I want to make it for god, either one of the activities suffer. I can either focus on the physical walking and the surroundings, or I can focus on prayer. One of these has to suffer. 

So the way to do this is to keep your heart and mind stayed on god while you walk. The experience of walking will suffer, your focus will not be on the walking but the mind and heart will be worshipping god.

One way to develop a connection with god that will be generally unbroken while you walk is to have a meaningful prayer that becomes somewhat automatic. This is not meaningless repetition because the prayer naturally draws the heart and mind to its right place, while you walk.

Jesus suggested the Lords Prayer. I think Roman Catholics use a method of praying the Lord’s Prayer over and over in order to maintain a constant connection with god, but it is quite long and the mind wanders. 

I use a little Prayer called the Jesus prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ

Son of God

Have mercy on me

A sinner

Over the years I have ‘locked’ each part of the 4 parts with inhaling and exhaling. So (inhale while saying) Lord Jesus Christ….(exhale while saying) Son of God….and so on and then repeat it all over again. Two full inhale/exhale cycles.

As I say the prayer, my heart is actually feeling the meaning of each part.

The benefit of saying Jesus name is paramount. It’s not a magical thing, but the name of Jesus has a positive influence on every part of us. You can also feel you are asking Christ to be in you. The ‘have mercy and sinner’ parts are a constant reminder that we stand before god in a position of submission and that we fully embrace that we are lost, which we are!

As an alternative, you could just say the name Jesus over and over, but don’t waste your time and breath! You must with your full heart and mind and body, every part of you, be focussing on the “meaning” of the word you are saying.  You are lifting your heart and mind and your whole self as a sacrifice or offering to god.

I would strongly suggest that you do not use any other name than Jesus name. The bible does not tell us to pray to anyone but Jesus or God. Would you want to lift your mind and heart to anyone else?

Where your heart is your treasure is also. 

Is Jesus your treasure?