Sean Johnson - Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson

This is the third in a series of posts on building a personal sanctuary. You can find the introduction here.

If there is one thing that has kept people from praying, it’s the fact that the relationship is so often missing from the message. We know we’re to pray when we’ve screwed up or when we want something, but that’s generally about it. If we’re to progress in our spiritual lives, if we’re to find that peace and joy that is so often promised us, it is vitally important that we start there.

It’s vitally important that we begin where God began - with a love story.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

We’ve all heard the story of Adam and Eve, the story of the fall, etc. It is the story that people point to when they want to demonstrate vividly how full of sin we are. ‘See, even the first people had it! You’re no different’

The ‘worm theology’ has become so pervasive - what people fail to recognize in their focus on ‘original sin’ was what preceded it - original glory, coupled with an open and intimate relationship with the Creator.

In the last section I touched on this briefly, but it deserves attention - God made us in His image and likeness, to share in an intense, love-filled relationship. Very much like a father and mother desire children to share their love with, I like to imagine a similar dynamic existing between God and ourselves.

We are His children. He wasn’t distant - He walked in the cool of the grass with Adam. He wasn’t condemning - He talked and laughed and shared in all aspects of our lives. That was what we were made to do - live with Him.

Even after the fall, the Bible is effectivly a story of love. It is a story of God’s continued resolve to have a relationship with His people. He creates convenants, which we break. We tell Him we want an earthly king, that we can’t handle Him. We progressively, more and more, desire to push Him farther away. Understandably, He gets upset - the book of Jeremiah is little more than the story of a lover scorned. Yet in spite of it all, He still wants to love us and for us to love Him.

So he devises a coup - he infiltrates our world in the form of a tiny baby. He lives a brief life on Earth, sharing meals with us, washing our feet, being close to us once more. He shows us that a life with God doesn’t require a mediator, it doesn’t require following some code and looking ‘religious’ to others.

He strips away the misconceptions and shows us that a relationship with God is about being close - sharing our good days and our bad days, our happiness and our anger, our joy and regret. He wants to be a part of it all. It’s amazing to think about - the almighty desires nothing more than to hear about my day? Unthinkable - and yet, it’s true.

Tell Him About Yourself

So given this, given that God wants to share in our lives with us, to gently push us and teach us and console us and love us - given all this, how do we begin this relationship?

We start with ourselves. Since any good relationship begins with getting to know each other, we tell God about ourselves. Sure, He already knows it all, but He still loves to hear about it. And, since we’re likely not ready to hear from Him to the same degree, we need something to talk about.

So forget everything you’ve been taught about prayer - the folding hands, the closed eyes, the thee’s and the thou’s. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but God still hears us - even if our eyes are open.

Talk about your day. Talk about how happy you were to get that promotion or that pat on the back at work. Talk about the co-worker or friend who rubbed you the wrong way. Talk about your commute and the radio program you were listening to.

Talk about what you love about your life. Talk about what you wish were different. Tell God how thankful you are for your family and friends and this beautiful world - not in lofty words that someone else told you to use, but in your own words, your own language. God’s interested in you.

Air your grievances to God. We often think that certain subjects are taboo to God, that we can talk about everything we like and skip everything we don’t. But God knows your heart anyway, so you might as well bring them out on the table. The Psalms are full of examples of people openly talking to God about their anger towards God. Let it out, empty yourself, and give your concerns up to Him. You’ll likely find that your problems, your questions will be answered in good time.

God wants to share in our lives - every facet. And the only way to start letting him in is to talk about it. So start talking - just like you’d talk to a friend (or a potential love interest, which is exactly what this is.)

I wish I could make it more complicated than this - and in time, there’ll be much more to say about the concept of prayer. But this should keep you and me busy for quite some time. We have an awfully long way to go before we can heed Paul’s call to ‘pray without ceasing,’ but there’s no reason why we can’t start letting Him in now.