I wanna keep talking about prayer.

Actually, I want to help move you to pray more.

I am convinced that prayer is the single most important practice we can perform.

Why?

Because the point of it all–of life, salvation, resurrection–is to be one with God through Jesus Christ animated by the Holy Spirit. It is union. It is oneness. This theme is pervasive throughout all Scripture, and ridiculously obvious once you’ve opened up your attention for it.

And you cannot be “unioned” with someone without talking, without communicating, without deeply knowing the other. You don’t get to know someone by merely working for them, without talking. Like the boss who’s always down at the end of the hall and you never see.

But this is what we push in many of our churches and ministries isn’t it? “Do these things for God. Good job. Now do more.” In my experience I see little talk of “Be with God. Sit with Him. Listen to Him. Talk with Him. Then do what He tells you.”

I resonate with something I read this week in The Way of a Pilgrim on seeking to learn to pray:

I heard a number of very fine sermons on prayer–what prayer is, how much we need it, and what its fruits are–but no one said how one could succeed in prayer. I heard a sermon on spiritual prayer, and unceasing prayer, but how it was to be done was not pointed out.

Thus listening to sermons failed to give me what I wanted, and having had my fill of them without gaining understanding, I gave up going to hear public sermons.

You can start with the Lord’s Prayer or the breath prayers we talked about yesterday.

If you’re attending a church gathering that is not spurring you on to deeper prayer and union with God, then I would get the hell out of there and quit wasting your time.

Perhaps that’s going overboard.

Or is it?