Over the previous summer, I had worked at Many Glacier Hotel in Montana, which afforded me some opportunities to pray while hiking alone on some shorter hikes of say about 5 miles. Some of the hikes were particularly awesome. Usually the longer hikes were with people. Generally I preferred hiking with people, especially on the longer hikes rather than alone where the idea of a bear just jumping out seemed more prominent or pronounced in my thinking. With people it does seem to deflect that thought process as the company is a distraction to the whole idea of the dangers of the wilds. I had been looking for a prayer tip or two, and I talked with a couple of people on a Red Bus tour to the Canadian section of the park, both of whom were ministers. I asked for some thoughts on prayer within the conversation, and she mentioned that thanksgiving is one of the keys to prayer, and to get into thanksgiving at some point while prayer, whether at the beginning, middle or end of the prayer. And then she said try thanking God for one thing a day, and see how I felt in a month.
That evening, I went hiking, being just about the last hiker of the day on the famous Iceberg lake trail, big bear territory in the evening hours. I thought, I値l thank God that I still have a decent hair of head, that I知 not bald as I was walking alone as the last person back on this exciting trail but with the possibilities of bears as my company.
That evening, I had a conversation with Chris back at the Many Glacier Hotel lobby by the fireplace, Chris is a former MIT grad who was working at the front desk during the summer and then going on to be a minister rather than an engineer. He said, what I am specifically thanking God for, should only be secondary to what are the qualities I am thanking God for in his actions towards me. And ironically he used the example of hair, saying that someone might thank God for their hair and subsequently go bald, that this is a changeable thing and that the better thing to do is thank God for being generous to me now, the trait he is showing, in giving me a decent head of hair, and only secondarily thank God for the actual quality of having this head of hair.
I thought, it is a coincidence, but I was just thanking God for my hair. Right away, I got the point, how this tip gives someone a more insightful way towards thanking God and developing a more nuanced and greater view as to what God is actually doing. If God is being generous, graceful, showing his design, caring, and being helpful, kind, specific, and so on, about this, then I can look for those same traits down the road from God in other situations that might arise. I can also deepen the relationship to include an expression of thanksgiving that does incorporate what I believe are demonstrated traits of God in giving me things. Ironically, I just looked at a prayer essay that I had written, where I said that we can thank God also for his qualities and characteristics that he shows us, but it took a conversation and or two to actually get the idea to click in a practical way for myself.
An example of this might be in receiving a gift from a friend. If I a friend gives you a car for Christmas, you might say or write a note to the effect as, thank for giving me the car for my birthday or thanks for giving me a car. But you could also say, thanks for thinking of me in giving me this car, thanks for knowing I needed a car, or thanks for being generous towards me in giving me this car. It might be that I could say thanks for giving me this car as a confirmation that you want me to drive to the beach and meet you there for a surfing excursion in the sun. You are relating not only to your friend giving you this car, but also why the friend gave you this car, what your friend thinks you like, and what this tells you about how someone else sees you.
When someone gives us something, we can also speculate as to the why of this, rather than just saying thanks. I want to thank someone for giving me something, but I don稚 know 100 percent the why of this.
The relationship with God in prayer is hopefully ongoing. If I thank God now, hopefully I am thanking him at some point later. It implies a seeing relationship. If I thank God that I now have a new boat, it implies that I believe that God sees that I do have a new boat. Psalms 25 verse 10 says " All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenants and decrees" There could be any number of paths for me as an individual or for any number of individuals. What to look for as a sign that you are on a God centered path is the presence of His steadfast love guiding you along on this path.
If for example I do call upon and thank God for his help or generosity, more than likely I will be relying upon that help and generosity as being continuous, and the Psalms refers to God's constant love. In my prayer then, I can thank God not only for his help now and in the past, but also presently for his continuous help as it will extend into the future. I can specifically pray, thank you God for your continuous help and generosity towards me in this area.
I might want more communication with God, instead of just asking for communication, I can ask and thank God for His beautiful communication, adding on one of the qualities I have already seen in His past communications to me therefore I can also hope and ask for not only communication but beautiful communication now.
It is interesting to observe peoples behavior in relation to tithing. If I throw a larger bill in the collection, I will get that back a hundredfold. But this thought process implies that God is looking close enough to see that this is a crisp 100 dollar bill, so he値l give the greater reward than if I had thrown in a dollar. If they really do believe in a watchful God, then they also need to watch for the way this will be answered.
I might say to God, give me millions so I can help others. Secretly I want to keep a few million in my pocket for myself. But you don't have to have millions in your pocket to go ahead and help someone else by praying for them. At the same time, I could temper my own prayer requests by adding an altruistic portion to the request. This way you could maybe see how something you are asking for that is for yourself might actually involve helping others. For instance, I could ask God for great insights on this matter so I can not only help myself but share these insights with others.
You could ask for the same. You may not get it but for example you could ask for the same wisdom Solomon got for a given situation your in, you could ask for the same help Daniel got in the lions den. You could ask for the same quality of communication that one of your famous Biblical characters got from God.
Don't be afraid to ask for more. Not necessarily in the sense of more in quantity as in I want 5 cars, two boats and 7 estates. It could be something more specific, specialized and pertinent. Something much more imaginative, much more visionary, and much more remote then what you think and feel could ever be possible. Something that is more relaxing, more peaceful, more pleasant and breezy. So for example, I could ask for more insight, rather than more money.
I had seen the movie Gladiator 3 times in the theatres, enjoying the depictions of how the buildings in ancient Rome might have been, and each time I brought my focus to a different part of the big screen. In the movie there was a character named Maximus. One thing we can ask for from God is the maximum on a situation. I can ask for the maximum job, the maximum help, the maximum healing and so on.
One of the beautiful images from the New Testament is from the story of the Prodigal son. As he was coming back, it says," He saw him in the distance." This imagery, of God seeing an individual coming back in the distance, is indicative of the personal call of the individual to come back via the means we have to come back, whether it be coming back to God by going to a church service within the community of faith or turning to God in prayer, repentance and thanksgiving.
It wasn't a large group of people he saw coming in the distance such as the crowds that did follow Jesus in his days, it was one individual coming back representing that one individual whoever it might be. You could imagine different settings, maybe by some pristine lake in the mountains, maybe by some favorite beachfront, or coming out of the morning mist, where God is seeing you coming back in the distance. Even if you seem lost in the distance, if you are trying to come back, God is seeing you in that distance. The prodigal son might have still felt lost as he was approaching in the distance, but the Father in the parable, representing God, still was able to see him approaching. I might still feel as lost as I ever was when I make that turn back, but it isn't always a matter of what I feel but also believing the truth that God see's me making that turn and coming in the distance. I'm still in the distance of what I have lost and did lose, but the beauty is that I am seen as that person who is coming back.
One of the things we are taught to pray for is God's will, which is in the Lord's prayer. It might be helpful also pray about something as being within God's will rather than just saying God's will. This way, for example, I could speculatively thank God, saying, thank you God that it is within your will that I go hiking today, rather asking for the specific trails of the hike. This type of prayer can help me in the more general fashion of getting a feel as to whether I am within God's will or not in choosing a particular endeavor or path, rather than getting bogged down in the more specific nuances and permutations of that choice as to whether that is also God's will. People sometimes are so concerned about finding God's will that the might ask whether they should order a hamburger at McDonald's. I could more broadly say that it is within God's will that I have a meal somewhere today and maybe feel a little less stressed out as to whether it should be a hamburger at McDonald's or pizza down the block.
Author Resource:-
I am currently writing in varied areas including on the Christian faith.
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