Category: Silence

Naked prayer

Ruth Kirk

You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing!” But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Revelation 3:17; NIV).

The Spirit, too, comes to help us in our weakness. For we don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit expresses our plea with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26; TIB).

Naked prayer: don’t prepare –
Spontaneity is all.
Ask the Holy Ghost to help you,
S/He will always hear your call.

Silent prayer: Christ will share
All your troubles, grief, and shame.
Like a child, with trust unfailing,
Praise and bless His holy name.

Honest prayer: God is there –
S/He is all you’ll ever need.
Let your words be short and simple,
God will always take the lead.

Wordless prayer: Threefold care –
Revel in the cleansing fire.
Spirit-led, just keep on seeking:
You’ll receive your heart’s desire.

Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desires (Psalm 37:4; NLT).

References

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21; CSB).

When you pray do not use vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7; NKJV).

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Luke 18:17; CSB).

Keep on seeking and you will find (Matthew 7:7; NLT).

 

Prayer is an adventure

Ruth Kirk

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19; NLT).

The Spirit, too, comes to help us in our weakness. For we don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit expresses our plea with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26; TIB).

Introduction
When we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, every prayer becomes an adventure into the unknown territory of our inner wilderness, desert, or darkness. The Bible offers us some clear examples of people who have done this in the past:

Jesus himself constantly withdrew into the desert and there prayed (Luke 5:16; WNT).

Moses went into the darkness where God was (Exodus 20:21; BST).

Many wonderful discoveries can be made in Spirit-led prayer:

I will give you treasures hidden in darkness – secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name (Isaiah 45:3; NLT).

What do we need to take with us?
There is no need to plan ahead for this kind of adventure, to cling to set prayers, or even to use words. Instead, we just wait with an open mind and heart to see where God’s Spirit will take us:

Be still before Yahweh, and wait patiently (Psalm 37:7; TIV).

Don’t take any money in your money belts – no gold, silver, or even copper coins. Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick (Matthew 10:9-10; NLT).

Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD (Zephaniah 1:7; NLT)

What might happen?
Here are some examples of what we might see, discover, or experience:

  • Praise, thanks, worship, joy, peace, or bliss.
  • Deep love for God.
  • Receiving God’s love.
  • The desire to pray for others, or for the world.
  • Facing up to how we have hurt others through our thoughts, words, behaviour, or actions.
  • Shame, guilt, repentance, and forgiveness.
  • Realising that we need to take action, perhaps by apologising to someone we have hurt or forgotten, offering help to someone who is struggling, sending a card, or giving someone something they need.
  • Grasping that we need to take responsibility for tasks or issues we have been ignoring, or avoiding.
  • Recognising that we need to establish clear boundaries with others and to be honest with them, rather than hiding our true feelings, or pretending to feel things we do not actually feel for them.
  • Understanding some aspect of ourselves more fully.
  • Seeing how we need to change and grow.
  • Asking for God’s help in difficult areas of our lives.
  • Facing up to the truth about ourselves through Christ’s eyes, however uncomfortable or distressing this might be.
  • Realising that we need to ask for help from family, friends, or professionals.
  • Lastly, and most wonderful of all, we might recognise, or even experience, our absolute oneness with God, and with all people.

Praying in the Spirit
The Bible specifically advises us to:

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion (Ephesians 6:18; NLT).

When we do this, what emerges might use words, or it might be wordless. This kind of prayer can lead us to dance, sing, laugh, exclaim aloud, weep, or experience buried anger. It might flood us with light, or guide us to explore our inner darkness in God’s company. It might bring us to a place of deep, inward stillness, or even change the course of our lives.

Experience has taught me that this kind of prayer never feels like a burden. Rather, the opposite is true – it is alive, raw, and spontaneous. It sets us completely free to explore our inner world. All that matters is to ask for the Spirit’s help, and to trust that God is in charge of each fresh adventure.

Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17; NIV).

References

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:14; NLT).

I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand (1 Corinthians 14:15; NLT).

David danced before the LORD with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14; NLT).

If the Son sets you free, you are truly free (John 8:36; NLT).

 

My secret place (for R.M.)

Ruth Kirk

When you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to God who is in that secret place (Matthew 6:6; TIB).

I trust my inner silence –
The source of every prayer.
No matter where I travel,
The Holy One is there.

I bless my inner darkness –
The infinite unknown.
No matter how I’m feeling,
My God is still my home.

I prize my inner stillness –
The ultimate frontier.
No matter what befalls me,
The Holy One is here.

I love my inner desert –
Beyond all space and time.
No matter where I wander,
My God will be my shrine.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:8-12; NIV).

 

Inner space

Ruth Kirk

When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen (Matthew 6:6; NIV).

We are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16; NLT).

A sense of warmth;
Time standing still;
A gentle light;
An inner space –

A place where
I alone can go
To be with you,
The God of Grace.

Here, Lord,
I speak the truth in love;
I ask for help,
And hear your voice.

Then, as we rest
In silence, Lord,
We share our oneness,
And rejoice.

Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God (Romans 5:11; NLT).

 

In my darkness

Ruth Kirk

Moses went into the darkness where God was (Exodus 20:21; BST).

You are in my darkness,
Though I cannot see your light:
You share my tears and anguish
When I cannot pray, or sing.

You are in my silence,
Though I cannot hear your voice:
You share my fears and emptiness;
You hold me tight; I cling.

For you are here, within my soul,
My body, heart and mind:
And your dear Spirit pleads for me,
Though I am deaf and blind.

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

Soon – and it will not be very long – the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness (Isaiah 29:17-18; NLT).

References

My soul clings to you; your strong right hand holds me securely (Psalm 63:8; NLT).

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34; NIV).

We have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous (1 John 2:1; NLT).

He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf (Hebrews 7:25; NLT).

The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words (Romans 8:26; NLT).

Blessed are those who believe without seeing me (John 20:29; NLT).

 

Silence

Ruth Kirk

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all (Ephesians 4:5-6; NLT).

Lord,
You’re in our silence,
And our stillness;

Lord,
You’re in our music,
And our dance;

Lord,
You’re in our loneliness,
And darkness –

Here, in all:
There’s no such thing
As ‘chance’.

I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things (Isaiah 45:7; NLT).

 

Stillness

Ruth Kirk

Be still in the presence of the LORD (Psalm 37:7; NLT).

In stillness,
You re-set
My fragile body,
Heart, and mind.

In silence,
You restore my soul:
Your temple, home,
And shrine.

He restores my soul (Psalm 23:3; NKJV).

References

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Then my Father will love him, and we will go to him and make our home within him” (John 14:23; ISV).

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16; NKJV).

The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21; NKJV).

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

 

Emptiness (for R.M.)

Ruth Kirk

This is an extra prayer, given to me earlier this morning for reader R.M.

The LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him (Habakkuk 2:20; NLT).

Emptiness,
And loss of prayer:
Rest in silence
Everywhere.
God shares all you think
And feel;
Knows your grief;
Hears each appeal.

So, in darkness,
Dread, and tears,
Whisper your distress
And fears,
Sharing all you feel
With him –
Blindly follow;
Simply cling.

Then, in stillness,
All alone,
Though your heart
Seems turned to stone:
Open up your soul
To God,
Trusting in
His staff and rod.

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me (Psalm 23:4; NLT).

References

Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word (Luke 1:38; KJV).

He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:37-8; NLT).

He was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44; NLT).

Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42; NLT).

Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light (Micah 7:8; NLT).