Some Helpful Pathways for Conversation with God

Conversation with God is the foundation of everything else – and he is constantly speaking! Before we ever speak a word of prayer or read a word in scripture, God is reaching out to us in grace.  We humans were created for relationship with our Creator, and our hearts are restless until we rest again in him.

Over the centuries, the followers of Jesus have responded to God’s initiative in a variety of ways. Prayer with God is a relationship to develop, but like any relationship makes use of helpful pathways and methods. Learning techniques like ‘active listening’ help our human relationships; in the same way the approaches that follow are ways and means that countless others have found helpful in our Divine relationship.

May you rest in Jesus more fully each day, and find in him the restoration we all so greatly need!

The "Jesus Prayer" – in many of the Eastern churches (e.g. the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe), the words of a blind beggar to Jesus (Mark 10:47)become a rich, simple prayer for any of us at any moment of the day: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

• On any particular day, any particular moment, different words will touch your heart more. Let this become rich food for mind-full prayer, not just a mindless mantra.
  
• More on this at the St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary website “Saying the Jesus Prayer” – but really, just go pray before you go Googling to read more.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer – a child can do this, but a lifetime will not exhaust its riches.  Jesus himself taught us this prayer! Speak out to God one phrase at a time, and the pray along the lines suggested by that phrase. 

For more ideas on very simple prayer, here is a British ministry with solid helps: https://www.24-7prayer.com/simpleprayerideas

• Martin Luther’s “Garland Prayer”:  This pastor has a succinct summary of this straightforward approach here.
  
• “Quiet Time” – a variety of helpful approaches collected by a Presbyterian church in NYC here. 

• Fridays at noon we gather on Zoom for conversational prayer. You can join in praying or just listen
  
• Sunday mornings @11am we gather for both prayer together and teaching: Facebook Watch Party

Text Reminders:

• Pray for Seattle: text Pray100 to 425-372-7420 (continuing through May 10, 2020)
  
• World Vision will send you daily prayer prompts (ongoing): text Pray to 44888
  

Apps – these are two of the better ones:  

• Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Apple/Android) – lots of material to fuel your own prayer, both scripture and historical prayers of the Church, with monthly themes
  
• PrayerMate (Apple/Android) – lots of ability to create your own prayer lists, and access to a variety of pre-made prayer prompts of various kinds. They also vet their sources (no prosperity gospel or other weird demi-Christian material)

Books with Prayers (aka 'Devotionals')

• The Songs of Jesus, by Tim Keller (Print; Kindle) - This is a marvelous introduction to praying the Psalms, with one-page guides for each day of the year.
  

Other Books on Prayer:

• The Lord's Prayer: A Guide to Praying the Our Father, by Wesley Hill (Print; Kindle) - A rich exploration of the words of this prayer, Hill draws out the significance of each phrase for our lives of prayer today.
  
• Prayer, by Richard J. Foster (Print; Kindle) - If you only had one book on prayer (besides the bible itself), this would be the one. In rich conversation with the global and historical Church, this book is one we continue to pull off our shelves repeatedly over the years. Each chapter explores one approach or element of prayer.