Adventures in Prayer

Tag: praying for spiritual growth

  • Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    Prayer of Relinquishment

    The dictionary definition of relinquishment is to give up, to abandon.   When I think of giving up and letting go I think of a tug of war battle.  Each team leans away from the other believing in it’s own strength, sweating it out until one team falters and can’t hang on.  One team gives up and abandons the game.  It is important that sometimes when we sit down with our Father, we too, give up.

    Palms down.

    In early March 2020, I felt that I had everything in control.  I was pleased with my life.

    COVID hit me hard.  Growing up relatively poor taught me to live with little, so I missed some of the angst.  But.  Much of what I relinquished during COVID was what had given my life meaning.  Two weeks after shutdown I was to have spent a week at outdoor school with my sixth grade class.  Normally it would be the highlight of my year.  Instead, for two years, without notice, I administered poorly written online courses and begged students to show up on their computers.

    Once we were able to leave our homes this is a list of what I did outside of our home from March 2020 – April 2021:

    Bank: 1

    Dollar Store: 3

    Plant Nursery: 3

    Friend 1: 1

    Friend 2: 20

    Friend 3: 4

    Specialty Store: 5

    Place of Employment/School: 11

    Hair Stylist: 3

    Massage:  6

    Library:  8

    Safeway: 3

    Cutsforth’s grocery store:  once a week

    Hotel visits: 2

    Clenched fists.

    By April 2021 I felt that I’d relinquished enough.  No teaching in a real classroom.  No visits to relatives.  No in person church. No worship leading with my friends. No restaurants. No Portland. Even walking down the street in Canby was different.  I’d walk across the street if I was to meet anyone on the sidewalk. 

    On the other hand, I’d only lost one dear one. Many people lost their livelihoods. I’m somewhat embarrassed to put it out there that I felt loss during COVID. I’d escaped without even experiencing COVID itself. BUT my life changed.  I thought that growing up relatively poor was my big lesson in life. It wasn’t.

    Giving up life experiences during COVID helped me understand what relinquishment means.  It is heart wrenching.  It is leaving dreams behind.  It means not being in control.  It means expectations be dashed.  Which means that I may or may not be prepared to relinquish anything ever again. Have I shut down after COVID?  Do I no longer trust God because He let COVID happen? Do I ignore the need for relinquishment because I’ve had enough?

    True relinquishment takes us to the garden of Gethsemane. “Not my will but yours be done,” Jesus taught us.  God’s choice.  But before God’s decision, it was Christ’s. Christ made the choice to relinquish His right to life and be crucified.  We can’t possibly understand all that Jesus gave up while in the garden.  We suppose He was facing grisly death.  We suppose that He was torn in two with the knowledge that, in death, He would be separated from His Father. He may have also been thinking about leaving his relatives and friends.  He may have been fearful of the loss of control. He may have been thinking about some of the things we leave behind when we mourn.

    Jesus was able to trust God during difficult times because He spent much of His the rest of His time worshiping and listening for His Father’s voice. Christ was sure of His Father’s devotion to Him. Jesus was sure of His (and our) future, though sweating blood because of what He’d have to experience in His near future.

     And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Ephesians 12:1b-2

    If Jesus experienced all sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) before He beat it, He goes before us, understanding both the good and bad things that we’d rather not give up.

     For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

    Richard J. Foster describes the prayer of relinquishment:

    Struggle is important because the prayer of relinquishment is Christian prayer and not fatalism. We do not resign ourselves to fate. We are not locked into a pre-set, determinist future. Ours is an open, not a closed, universe. We are  “co-laborers with God” as the Apostle Paul put it – working with God to determine the outcome of events. Therefore our prayer efforts are a genuine give and take, a true dialogue with God. And relinquishment is our full and wholehearted agreement with God that his way is altogether right and good.

    The Prayer of Relinquishment is letting go, a release with hope, a confident trust in the character of God. Even when all we are able to see is the tangled threads on the backside of life’s tapestry, we know that God is good and is out to do us good always. And that gives us hope to believe that we are the winners regardless of what we are being called upon to relinquish. God is inviting us deeper in and higher up. There is training in righteousness, transforming power, new joys, deeper intimacy. Besides, often we hold so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know. And God has to help us let go of our tiny vision in order to release the greater reality he has in store for us.

    Assignment:

    Where are you struggling?  What are you worried about? How have your prayers been left unanswered?  Is there something that you need to relinquish?  Here is this week’s assignment> 

    Palms Up, Palms Down*

    Sit in a comfortable position.

    Invite the presence of God.

    Palms down

    Place your palms on your legs facing down:  symbolic that you are giving your requests to God. 

    Name your worries or anxieties.

    Imagine yourself releasing them to God. You may picture the hands of the Father’s hands receiving. 

    Pray:  Not my will, but Thine be done.

    Listen.

    Palms Up 

    Turn your hands palms up. Ask Jesus for His peace, courage, presence, love or a plan of action. 

    Notice the quiet. Rest. Receive peace and power in the presence of God. Receive a particular promise from scripture. Accept reassurance, clarity, direction.  

    Believe in God’s active and powerful love in you and allow His presence to be more than enough.

    *Palms Up, Palms Down:  The Prayer Course.  https://downloads.24-7prayer.com/prayer_course/2019/resources/pdfs/9%20Palms%20Up,%20Palms%20Down.pdf

    Perspective:  Growing Edges, Richard J. Foster, https://renovare.org/articles/the-prayer-of-relinquishment

  • Thy kingdom come in me.


    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Ephesians 1:3


    In Christ, we are blessed with spiritual blessings that we often miss.   C.S. Lewis writes:


    …like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses

    I am far too easily pleased by mud pies for sure.  My pies are comfort, dissatisfaction (complaining instead of embracing) and laziness.  What are your pies?

    A friend and I were playing dodgeball tag with third and fourth graders.  Memories of basketball welts from “middle school dodgeball gone wild” were utmost in my mind as I struggled to hide behind something bigger than myself.  I didn’t realize that I’d said aloud, “I’m way slower than I used to be.”  A grinning, fiendish fourth grader poised to tag me with his ball, said,  “Well, that’s a scarcity mindset!” ….I agreed.

    While teaching sixth grade, I began the school year with a week of instruction in scarcity versus abundance mindset.  I knew exactly what that fourth grader was saying.  A person operating with a scarcity mindset focuses on the half empty glass, believing that they do not have the necessary skills, knowledge or emotional strength to accomplish their goals.  They are preoccupied with the chance of failure rather than success.

    As a 65 year old woman, no one would blame me for playing dodgeball with a scarcity mindset. But. Do I want to limit myself this early in the game? Even when I have an acceptable excuse to stop.  Should I?   


    “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”  Philippians 1:6 

    While tired, worn down and just plain grumpy it is easy for me to feel okay about limiting God’s good work. Just surviving is realistic. AND. Giving in to exhaustion is a brilliant first step. I can’t fly like an eagle, sting like a bee. Correct. First step. Admit it. Second step:  Ask for help. 

    The opposite of scarcity mindset is growth mindset, which is exactly what it sounds like:  I may be old, slow and out of breath, but I can beat these young whippersnappers using not brawn, but brain!  While I feeling weak I need to remember that God plans to use me until “Christ Jesus returns”.  Which means that I have hope. BUT.  I know my limitations.  I can’t keep this up until Christ returns.  Are you kidding me?  I again return to my Savior.

    I hope this is not just a “turn that frown upside-down” message.  When life throws especially hard basketballs at us, and we don’t have the confidence or stamina to dodge.  Instead of trying to dodge balls, it is important to go to God to ask for understanding.  God is dodgeball tag’s “something big to stand behind”.  Christ has dodged all the balls the world hurled at Him.  He understands our weakness, is present in our weakness and is able to supply us with all spiritual blessings. 

    Your Assignment:

    Look/pray through the list below. As you pray through the list, be honest.  Do you even want this?  Be real during Lent.

    Pray that you will:

    1. understand your calling and have the confidence that God will provide skills to fulfill whatever He asks you to do.
    2. love patiently, kindly, and not envy, boast, or be proud.  You will not be selfish, easily angered, or keep a record of wrongs.  You will not delight in evil, but rejoice in the truth.  Always protect, trust hope and persevere.
    3. abide in Christ in areas that it is easier to take over yourself.
    4. be prepared for spiritual battle be strong and courageous. 
    5. bring burdens to Christ after bringing them for years, seemingly with no answers. 
    6. bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 
    7. for godly wisdom in difficult areas of your life.
    8. control your tongue. 
    9. be faithful in the face of opposition.
    10. truly see the holiness of the Lord and your own sinfulness, and respond in confession and worship.
    11. pursue God with wholehearted devotion, submitting to the will of the Father, whatever that may be.
    12. look for those whom you can help.

    Take your time.  God is working even when we don’t expect it!  Trust Him.  Do what you can and allow Him to do the rest.

    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13


    Basis for prayer list:  Life.  Love. and Jesus. by Tammie. Twenty ways to pray for yourself. https://www.lifeloveandjesus.com/20-ways-to-pray-for-yourself/