Finding stillness with God in a restless world
A vibrant prayer life is possible for you. I know it may not seem this way, but the whole thing is rigged for triumph.
That doesn’t mean that prayer will be easy or comfortable. It won’t. In fact, we should prepare for the long, slow haul of discomfort, confusion, and frustration, laced with joy, love, stability, and wholeness.
There aren’t a few techniques merely to pick up so that next week the struggle for prayer will be over. Instead, there are realities that we need to grasp that lead to pathways (rather than techniques) toward intimacy with God.
These realities—like the incarnation of Christ, our participation in Christ’s exalted status, and his participation in our troubled and lowly place—rearrange how we think about ourselves, God, and the world around us.
This often means unlearning lies about ourselves, God, and the world that have shaped how we’ve lived and made decisions so far. That will take time because it’s not merely changing our minds or our perspectives but growing up into who we are in Christ and embodying the truth.
This often means unlearning lies about ourselves, God, and the world that have shaped how we’ve lived and made decisions so far. That will take time because it’s not merely changing our minds or our perspectives but growing up into who we are in Christ and embodying the truth.
Like a child maturing into adulthood, this doesn’t happen after learning about adulthood, but by growing into it and slowly adopting its characteristics.
However, maturity and grasping true reality are not the only struggles in a life of prayer. Anxiety, pain, loss, boredom, guilt, and sin take swings at our spiritual lives that often make prayer seem impossible and quiet moments intolerable.
However, maturity and grasping true reality are not the only struggles in a life of prayer. Anxiety, pain, loss, boredom, guilt, and sin take swings at our spiritual lives that often make prayer seem impossible and quiet moments intolerable.
We deal with these by distancing ourselves from the potential presence of God, closing down our openness but shutting out the healing. However, prayer is possible, even in pain; intimacy is available, even for the anxious.
Maneuvering through these various hindrances takes wisdom and patience, but God provides everything we need in the time that we need it. Prayer helps us see those provisions. It’s possible because God has made it possible, and his provisions are more powerful than our hindrances.
Maneuvering through these various hindrances takes wisdom and patience, but God provides everything we need in the time that we need it. Prayer helps us see those provisions. It’s possible because God has made it possible, and his provisions are more powerful than our hindrances.
Starke, J. (2020). The Possibility of Prayer: Finding Stillness with God in a Restless World (pp. 9–10). IVP.
