Lately I was asked to 'bring a thought' for the start of a meeting and as I thought about it (last minute as usual) it struck me that perhaps most people would be thinking - 'OK so I need to prepare a 'thought' to bring to the meeting', but instead of this, I thought it was probably better (risky probably) to simply bring my thoughts to the meeting as they were. Surely it's better to bring your thoughts than to go and get some thoughts to bring! I guess it depends on what's in your head to start with!I've had a similar kind of thought about prayer lately. Someone asked me what my prayer life is like and about my 'quiet times'. The fact is, I don't really do 'quiet times' and haven't for quite a while but I do have plenty of times that are quiet if you know what I mean... probably not! What I mean is that I talk to God when I feel like it and the thing is... I feel like it quite a lot! I do talk to God a lot each day and bring my thoughts and feelings to him as often as I can. But I don't organise these times or plan them necessarily. Sometimes that can be useful and if I or one of my mates spots that my relationship with God seems to be slipping in some way then a new habit or structure might be useful to help change me a bit. But as it is (and I'm way from perfect!) I feel like organised quiet times would quite honestly get in the way of my relationship with God! Me and God talk regularly. I pray and I read his word in the Bible but these days it's more like a natural thing than something I make myself do.
I realise very quickly that all this sounds very arrogant and like I think I've got some kind of special sorted relationship with God that means I don't need to prepare anything or have any special time for prayer etc but if you know me, I hope you'll know that I'm not an arrogant person and neither am I a perfect person!!! Anyone who knows me will know enough of my secrets and failings to know that I struggle with sin as much as anyone and God has a lot of work yet to do on me to make me into the person he wants me to be. I guess my point is that although the process is a lifelong one, nonetheless it is happening slowly but surely, bit by bit. And it's encouraging.
Here's some possibly useful questions to think about...
- How would you describe your relationship with God?
- How effective are your patterns of listening to him by reading the Bible and in other ways?
- How much do you choose to share with him in prayer?
- How might certain patterns or structures of prayer and Bible study help you at the moment?
- How might they hold you back or make you miss the point?
