PE2: Living the Lord's Prayer
Greetings, friends...
WELCOME to The Revellious Podcast!
Today, we're going to talk about prayer--one of my favorite subjects. And during the latter part of the show, we're going to pray some together.
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For most of us, prayer is intimidating.
Because we think prayer is principally about talking with God about things, we often feel plagued--almost continually--by a multiplicity of self-conscious questions like…
How do I do it?
What do I say?
Am I doing it right?
And...
Is God even listening to me?
While these questions are really good questions, and deserving of some really good answers, did you know that prayer--FIRST AND FOREMOST--is not so much about talking with God (even though that’s included) but much more about sharing and experiencing life with Him in the routine and non-routine parts of your day? Prayer is grabbing a cup of morning coffee while, at the very same time, inviting God to join you in your enjoyment of it.
Because we think prayer is principally about talking with God about things, we often feel plagued--almost continually--by a multiplicity of self-conscious questions like…
How do I do it?
What do I say?
Am I doing it right?
And...
Is God even listening to me?
While these questions are really good questions, and deserving of some really good answers, did you know that prayer--FIRST AND FOREMOST--is not so much about talking with God (even though that’s included) but much more about sharing and experiencing life with Him in the routine and non-routine parts of your day? Prayer is grabbing a cup of morning coffee while, at the very same time, inviting God to join you in your enjoyment of it.
Did you know that?
Now, of course, prayer is intended to include significant verbal elements. But, as I just said, it’s much more than that. All verbal communication with God is intended to arise organically out of your day-to-day experiences of sharing life with Him. Talking with God is supposed to be integral to--and not disembodied or divorced from--your “shared life” with Him.
Now, of course, prayer is intended to include significant verbal elements. But, as I just said, it’s much more than that. All verbal communication with God is intended to arise organically out of your day-to-day experiences of sharing life with Him. Talking with God is supposed to be integral to--and not disembodied or divorced from--your “shared life” with Him.
Trying to communicate with God without first sharing life with Him is, in many ways, like trying to write without ink or turn a lamp on without plugging it in first. Less analogously, it's like to trying to speak without breathing, which is impossible. Now, this is not to say God doesn’t hear you when you talk to Him, because He does. My purpose in saying these things is to emphasize that, in the ordinances of God, talking with Him is intended to be a restful, natural expression of walking with Him daily in, as Genesis alludes to, “the Breeze of Eden's Garden,” where “the Breeze” is God's Spirit [see Ge 3:8] breathing you, inspiring you, even dancing you (like wind gusts in a pile of leaves); and where “the Garden”--Eden, the center of creation--is your heart. Your heart--in, through, and because of Jesus--is the Eden of Your Soul, in which Jesus, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Cunning Knowledge and Skill (the combined, Garden-spread of God's Love and Wisdom)--lives and thrives. I'm going to say that again: Your heart is the Eden of Your Soul, in which Jesus, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Cunning Knowledge and Skill (the combined, Garden-spread of God's Love and Wisdom)--lives and thrives.
Ge 3:8: "And they (that is, Adam and Eve) heard the Sound of Yahweh: God walking in the Garden Breeze..."
To walk with God is to experience Him, in a very real sense, breathing your heart to life--continually and continuously, without end.
Before we venture too much farther, it might be good for me to define prayer--at least, as I understand and currently experience it.
To put it succinctly, and as I said a moment ago, prayer is life shared with God.
Prayer is God sharing His Life with us and His partaking of and participating in our life; and prayer is also our responsive sharing of our life with God and our partaking of and participating in His Life.
To experience God’s Life is to let Him love us the way He wants… it is to recognize that God, who is Lovingkindness by Self-definition, is always in a state of actively giving Himself away to us. To let God love us the way He wants is to welcome and experience ourselves enlivened by Him, known thoroughly by Him, and loved through and through by Him. And it is to respond to His active, activating, and Mediating Energies (that is, His “Divine Graces”) by giving ourselves away to Him. The chief ways in which we can do this are by turning toward Him (that is, toward the Life, Light, and Love that is in Him and that IS Him); by inviting Him to be all He wishes to be for, in, with, though, and (mysteriously) AS us; and by consenting to experiencing Him (in a truly visceral--even existential--way) as the Living One Who is Our Life (the breath in our lungs and the life in our blood), the Knowing One Who Knows Us Thoroughly, and the Loving One Who Loves Us Through and Through. In its truest, most complete sense, all life is the unfolding manifestation and result of God giving Himself away to creation. To me, this experiencing of life--this relational (and reciprocal) sharing of life with God, this immersing myself in God-eternally-and-lovingly-immersed-in-me--is the context for and substance of all true prayer and meditation. Anything else is, at best, a counterfeit.
Through mindfully soaking in the words of my crafted prayers and prayerful meditations, I think God’s Thoughts, and I feel His Heart. I also tell Him exactly what I want. For example, when I tell God--over and over--how I want to walk before Him in holiness, humility, and purity-, wholeness-, fullness-, and revelliousness-of-heart all the days of my existence, I mean just that.
In telling God exactly what I want (and why I want it), I’m asking Him to help me incarnate such things in never-ending, ever-increasing measures. Similarly, when I recite one of my meditative essays (like Radical Acceptance, which I'll share with you in the future), I’m instructing myself (over and over again) in the exact whats, ways, hows, and--of course--whys of my life and integrated life-approach. Such vocalizations feed the flame of my good, kind, happy, and free heart--the Eden of My Soul, in which Jesus, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Cunning Knowledge and Skill (the combined, Garden-spread of God's Love and Wisdom)--lives and thrives. My heart is the seat of God’s Divine image within me. It is the very core of who I am (my redeemed instincts, intuition, bottom-up thought processes, and feelings). In my life, this integrated life-approach has been nothing but reformational, even revolutionary.
Doing the same things over and over again--and in the same ways--is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, depending on what it is, I believe it can be nothing but good. Personally, and for a long time, I’ve been drinking about ¾ of a gallon of mineral-infused water every day, and I’ve experienced nothing but good things from that. Also, I eat a diet that’s primarily plant-based, and I practice intermittent fasting throughout each week. In addition, I go to sleep in the same bed, at about the same time, every night. Again, like crafting my bed in the morning, or folding my underwear the moment I pull it from the dryer, or flossing, gargling, and brushing after meals and before bed, I’ve found such endlessly repeatable practices to be endlessly beneficial.
The majority of life is lived rhythmically, ritualistically, and ceremonially. By that, I mean most of life is repeated over and over, day after day, year after year. A cool thing about all this is that having an order and rhythm to one’s life, paradoxically, creates significant space in that life: Space for death and rebirth; relational intimacy; risk taking; experimental courage and grit; novitiate enthusiasm; spontaneous humor; revel-like ebullience; and world-class creativity, playfulness, and inventiveness.
Existential: Of, relating to, or affirming existence; grounded in existence or the experience of existence (empirical); having being in time and space.
Today, I want to introduce you to the concepts and practices of praying both spontaneous and crafted (that is, scripted) prayers.
Spontaneous Prayer is the practice of talking with God and sharing life with Him--every day, all day. It includes engaging in times of deep silence and contemplation, sharing intimate feelings, talking about the present and future, even complaining about things and people, as well as just "doing stuff" together, like engaging in work, eating lunch, or working out at the gym. I engage in this kind of prayer all the time--basically, as I just said, every day, all day. For me, it's like breathing. I think this is what Paul had in mind when he exhorted us to pray continually [see 1Th 5:17].
1Th 5:17: "...pray continually..."
Crafted Prayer, on the other hand, is the practice of writing out a prayer and then inviting God to be present with you as you read, recite, and live it out. I have a whole host of crafted prayers I pray each day and at different times throughout the day. Long ago, I committed many of my crafted prayers to memory. I love having such a rich treasury of written prayers. They feed my spontaneous prayer life and vice-versus.
Over the years, some have criticized me (at least initially) for pursuing prayer practices that emphasize praying and reciting the same crafted prayers and meditative renderings over and over again. “That all feels a little like mindless repetition, Dave,” they've said.
“It could result in that,” I’ve responded (without sarcasm), “but I don’t let it devolve into that."
To put it cogently, I engage in what I call a mindfully immersive and soaking repetition of the words before me. I stay very present in, with, and through each word as I speak it, feel it, chew upon it, and marinate in it. I pray, recite, and meditate on elements that have profound and, often, life-long meaning to and for me. I’ve been engaging in this practice now for almost four decades, and I never grow weary of it.
The words I recite and the concepts, sounds, images, and stories I meditate upon have become the garden trellis (or structural scaffolding) of my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life-composite. All these elements bolster my true identity as God the Father’s Eternally Repatriated Son.
Repatriate (a biblical understanding): To be repatriated is to be brought back home and welcomed fully as a friend, son [or daughter], and brother [or sister]. It includes the full vesting (or revesting) with all the rights, privileges, seals, identifications, credentials, responsibilities, ownerships, and authorities of friendship, sonship, and brotherhood. It includes also the reconnecting, through Blood-relatedness, of one’s heart and being back to God’s Heart and Being. Further, it makes one an heir of God and a co-heir with Jesus of all the Father has promised. Repatriation is another way of understanding the Spirit of Adoption’s work on behalf of the one who’s been (and is being) redeemed. These concepts are alluded to and written extensively of throughout the Old and New Testaments, especially in Jesus’ parables and Paul’s writings.
Through mindfully soaking in the words of my crafted prayers and prayerful meditations, I think God’s Thoughts, and I feel His Heart. I also tell Him exactly what I want. For example, when I tell God--over and over--how I want to walk before Him in holiness, humility, and purity-, wholeness-, fullness-, and revelliousness-of-heart all the days of my existence, I mean just that.
In telling God exactly what I want (and why I want it), I’m asking Him to help me incarnate such things in never-ending, ever-increasing measures. Similarly, when I recite one of my meditative essays (like Radical Acceptance, which I'll share with you in the future), I’m instructing myself (over and over again) in the exact whats, ways, hows, and--of course--whys of my life and integrated life-approach. Such vocalizations feed the flame of my good, kind, happy, and free heart--the Eden of My Soul, in which Jesus, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Cunning Knowledge and Skill (the combined, Garden-spread of God's Love and Wisdom)--lives and thrives. My heart is the seat of God’s Divine image within me. It is the very core of who I am (my redeemed instincts, intuition, bottom-up thought processes, and feelings). In my life, this integrated life-approach has been nothing but reformational, even revolutionary.
Doing the same things over and over again--and in the same ways--is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, depending on what it is, I believe it can be nothing but good. Personally, and for a long time, I’ve been drinking about ¾ of a gallon of mineral-infused water every day, and I’ve experienced nothing but good things from that. Also, I eat a diet that’s primarily plant-based, and I practice intermittent fasting throughout each week. In addition, I go to sleep in the same bed, at about the same time, every night. Again, like crafting my bed in the morning, or folding my underwear the moment I pull it from the dryer, or flossing, gargling, and brushing after meals and before bed, I’ve found such endlessly repeatable practices to be endlessly beneficial.
The majority of life is lived rhythmically, ritualistically, and ceremonially. By that, I mean most of life is repeated over and over, day after day, year after year. A cool thing about all this is that having an order and rhythm to one’s life, paradoxically, creates significant space in that life: Space for death and rebirth; relational intimacy; risk taking; experimental courage and grit; novitiate enthusiasm; spontaneous humor; revel-like ebullience; and world-class creativity, playfulness, and inventiveness.
To walk with God is to live and breath rhythmically, creatively, and experimentally with Him, in Him, and by Him.
Speaking of living rhythmically, creatively, and experimentally... together, over the next week or so, I'd like us to conduct a prayer experiment--let's call it the Seven-day Crafted Prayer Experiment--and see what happens to and in us as a result. Here’s the challenge:
OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS, give yourself seven minutes every morning--just seven minutes, over the next seven days--to read out loud the expanded, first-person version of The Lord's Prayer, aka The Our Father Prayer, which I’m going to lead you in and through in just a moment. Please note that this prayer sequence is actually a personally expanded--or amplified--version of the crafted prayer Jesus taught H-his friends and followers. I’ve titled this prayer--or, rather, this collection of prayers--My Papa.
After doing this practice FOR AT LEAST SEVEN DAYS STRAIGHT…
Ask yourself, “How am I different as a result?” Write down what comes to you, and ask God to amplify what you've been experiencing.
And then?
Feel free to not just continue your practice but to expand incrementally upon it. Make this practice yours; make these prayers yours. Feel them, own them, live them, and feel completely free to edit or rewrite them so they fit congruently with who you are and with how you like to voice and live out such thoughts, feelings, concepts, perspectives, and conclusions. Research the words and phrases expressed in the prayers, study them, and meditate on them. In your writing, expand what needs to be expanded, and contract what needs to be contracted. Recraft the prayers in ways that feel good and meaningful to you and that honor Jesus and the original, old covenant version H-he crafted and then taught H-his friends and followers. Yes… use your own words, and discover your own voice--your own unique thumbprint--of prayer (just as I have, and just as Jesus once did). Again, make these prayers yours, and live them out in the many nuanced ways in which God, in collaboration with your own soul, inspires you to do so. And someday, if you feel up to it, share your version of My Papa with me. I’d love to experience what you and God are writing and praying together. The best way to get it to me is to email it to me through my website at MyRevelLife.com.
Feel free to not just continue your practice but to expand incrementally upon it. Make this practice yours; make these prayers yours. Feel them, own them, live them, and feel completely free to edit or rewrite them so they fit congruently with who you are and with how you like to voice and live out such thoughts, feelings, concepts, perspectives, and conclusions. Research the words and phrases expressed in the prayers, study them, and meditate on them. In your writing, expand what needs to be expanded, and contract what needs to be contracted. Recraft the prayers in ways that feel good and meaningful to you and that honor Jesus and the original, old covenant version H-he crafted and then taught H-his friends and followers. Yes… use your own words, and discover your own voice--your own unique thumbprint--of prayer (just as I have, and just as Jesus once did). Again, make these prayers yours, and live them out in the many nuanced ways in which God, in collaboration with your own soul, inspires you to do so. And someday, if you feel up to it, share your version of My Papa with me. I’d love to experience what you and God are writing and praying together. The best way to get it to me is to email it to me through my website at MyRevelLife.com.
As you begin to perfect your personalized version of My Papa, begin committing it to memory. Within a short time of memorizing it--usually within about three months--the words you've memorized will, like the roots of an oak tree, begin to extend down into the deeper parts of who you are in your heart--the Eden of Your Soul. Such thoughts, feelings, concepts, perspectives, and conclusions will begin to ventilate, vibrate, disrupt, modify, dominate, and even become the ways in which you think and feel about God, respond to those around you, interpret the events of your day, and experience yourself immersed in God-eternally-and-lovingly-immersed-in-you. Such is the true, integrating, and all-embracing aim of living out your life AS a meditated-prayer… and AS a prayerful-meditation. In my practice, this is the tip-of-the-spear way in which I live out my life as one of God's Revellious Ones.
And now... here's my personal version of My Papa. As I pray this, I want to encourage you to just relax and let these words wash over you. Public Service Notification: If, while listening to this, you're driving, please don't close your eyes! You, and those around you, will thank you for it!
And now... here's my personal version of My Papa. As I pray this, I want to encourage you to just relax and let these words wash over you. Public Service Notification: If, while listening to this, you're driving, please don't close your eyes! You, and those around you, will thank you for it!
--
[Add musical accompaniment.]
My Papa...
[My Papa is a synthesized and expanded rendering of The Lord’s Prayer, aka The Our Father Prayer, which is recorded in Mt 6:9-13 and Lk 11:2-4.]
Mt 6:9-13: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’"
Lk 11:2-4: He said to them, “When you pray, say: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil, one.'"
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil, one.'"
Ps 70:1...
O God, come to my assistance; O LORD, make haste to help me.
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O God, come to my assistance; O LORD, make haste to help me.
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Ps 70:1 (an expanded rendering)...
Holy and Happy Father—My Papa…
As I pray, come to my assistance; as I pray, make haste to help me.
In all my prayers, O God, I want to pray in and with You--and the whole of the Trinity--and NOT JUST toward You. I want to pray as the new creation I am in Jesus and NOT out of the echoes and residuals of my crucified (and, thus, annihilated) fallen nature or out of any alliances parts of me might have made with my enemies (that is, the dark spirits, powers, and forces of evil or the fallen world-system). Further, I want to pray out of my identity as Jesus’ Eternal Friend, Baby Brother [or Sister], and Fierce Lover. And, lastly, I want to pray out of my identity as a Co-heir with Jesus of All You’ve Promised Us. Enable me and anoint me, O God, to pray into, out of, and from all such perspectives and whole-hearted ways of being.
Anoint: To sanctify with the influence of the Holy Spirit.
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These are the Words of Jesus as I’ve internalized them: “Dave [insert your own name here]... M-my Eternal Friend, Baby Brother, and Fierce Lover...
"Pray like this:
‘Papa of My Heart and Soul, O Daddy-God of My Life and Being; You who are My Creator, Deliverer, and Re-creator; You who are Heaven’s Glory, Goodness, and Gladness; You who created me in Wisdom [You!], delivered me in Strength [You!], and re-created me in Mercy [You!]; and You who continues to speak me into continuous, everlasting existence, revellious ebullience, and incarnated life, light, and love…
Heaven: The mysterious and holy (transcendent) abode of God's eternalness.
Revellious/revelliousness: Brazen (that is, “unrestrained”) gladness; insurrecting (that is, “uprisingly rebellious”) selflessness; disruptive (that is, “shattering and radically reconfiguring”) lovingkindness; paradigm-shifting (that is, “revolutionary and insurgent”) levity, whole-heartedness, integratedness, and congruency; disarming (that is, “hostility-allaying and calming”) vulnerability, genuineness, and graciousness; iconoclastic (that is, “false-image destructing”) happiness; novel (that is, “unusual, insolent, and customary-shattering”) inventiveness, life-authorship, life-artistry, and life-mastery; and wordless (that is unspoken, even unthought--yet felt with the extended ear of deep listening and attentiveness) surrender to “the Golden Silence of Heaven”--the first and eternal language of all existence.
Ebullience: Zestful enthusiasm.
Incarnated: Embodied.
‘May Your Name--may who You are--be hallowed, honored, loved, praised, venerated, and vindicated!
‘As in Heaven, so on Earth: May Your ever-fortressing, ever-advancing, and ever-expanding Kingdom be unleashed, and may Your ever-loving, ever-illuminating, and ever-generating plans and desires be brought forth to solid--yet organically expressive and expansive--form and function.
‘O God, give me in this day what I need and desire genuinely in this day. Give me what makes me come alive as Your Beloved Son [or Beloved Daughter]! Feed me especially with the Thoughts, Feelings, and Stories of Your Heart, for they comprise the eternal substance and sustenance of that which truly nourishes, strengthens, and animates me.
‘Because I’m already perpetually and eternally forgiven IN You, BY You, and FOR You, please continue to send away all my offenses and debts (along with all my guilt and shame) to the mystical Cross of Christ. And as You do this, enable me and anoint me--in time and over time--to forgive and send away (also to the Cross of Christ) all the offenses and debts of all those who’ve hurt and violated me (including those offenses I perpetrated and debts I racked-up against my own self). I thank You, Papa, for the eternal forgiveness and repatriation I have in You and in the other two Persons of the Trinity (that is, Jesus and the Holy Spirit). I thank You, too, for the fact that, in the end, all will be made whole and right--meaning, every wrong I and others committed (including every good I and others failed to do) will be made whole and right, every wrong I and others committed against others will be made whole and right, and every wrong I and others committed against me will be made whole and right. And I thank You, further, O Daddy-God, for the ever-giving, ever-expanding, never-ending Life, Light, and Love [You!] You’ve given me and continue to give me--continually and continuously, without end.
Trinity: The Triune God of the Holy Bible (that is, to God the Father [Papa], God the Son [the Lord Jesus Christ], and God the Holy Spirit [the Invigorating and Ventilating Breathe of I AM; the Drenching, Ubiquitous Presence of Yahweh--the Eternal Name of Existence]).
‘Protect and defend me during my times of difficulty, trial, suffering, and distress--and help me to learn, too, how to defend and protect myself--that I might not yield to temptation; come to false and erroneous conclusions or perspectives; flail about in bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, anger, shame, or guilt; or yolk myself--IN ANY MANNER--to my enemies (that is, the dark spirits, powers, and forces of evil or the fallen world-system)..
Egocentricities: Self-centered views, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, actions, and demands placed upon others.
‘O Papa, help me to get my heart back or, as the monastics of old long ago used to pray, help me return to and reconnect with my heart--the deepest center and ground of my being. As I do this, O God, help me to keep and guard well my heart--this incredibly precious center and centering part of who I am! And partner with me, too, to incarnate increasingly within me Your Perfect Law of Lovingkindness, that I might be and become--JUST LIKE YOU!--a Catcher- and Collector-of-Tears and a Lifter- and Preserver-of-Hearts. O yes, O Papa, O Captain My Captain, may I be and become (ever-increasingly) Goodness, Selflessness, Joyful Presence, Everlasting Gratefulness, and the Unfolding of Perfect Lovingkindness Incarnate!
Heart: The Eden of My Soul, in which Jesus, in which Jesus, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Cunning Knowledge and Skill (the combined, Garden-spread of God's Love and Wisdom)--lives and thrives. In monastic tradition (refer to Thomas Merton, Augustine, and the Desert Fathers), the heart refers to "the deepest psychological ground of one's personality, the inner sanctuary, where self-awareness goes beyond analytical reflection and opens out into metaphysical and theological confrontation with the Abyss (or Cloud) of the Unknown... with the Infinitely Unknowable One, who's more intimate with us than we are with ourselves."Autotelic: Intrinsically driven.
Gumption: Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness; guts, spunk; common/uncommon sense.
Things: Generally, a “thing” is (like in apophatic theology, where we perceive God through negation: What He’s not [for, example, "God’s not a liar.]) that which is not a “no-thing.” A “thing” is an inanimate object, place, situation, circumstance, condition, or scenario. Generally, a thing is an “it.” A thing has no sentience.
No-things: Generally, a “no-thing” is that which is not a “thing.” A “no-thing” has animated life, and it includes all life-giving expressions and generative creations. You and I are no-things, my cat (Baby Kitty) is a no-thing, and a live oak is a no-thing. The false it I write of throughout my writings is a thing. It’s not a real person or even a true expression of a real person; hence why I call it “the false it” as opposed to “the false self.” The computer I’m using to write these words is a thing. Depending on their source (or Source!), and how you engage with them, these words could be things or no-things. (In my heart, I hope and pray they’re the latter [read, “no-things!”].)
Agency: The means and modes of and for acting; instrumentality.
‘O Papa, help me to get my heart back or, as the monastics of old long ago used to pray, help me return to and reconnect with my heart--the deepest center and ground of my being. As I do this, O God, help me to keep and guard well my heart--this incredibly precious center and centering part of who I am! And partner with me, too, to incarnate increasingly within me Your Perfect Law of Lovingkindness, that I might be and become--JUST LIKE YOU!--a Catcher- and Collector-of-Tears and a Lifter- and Preserver-of-Hearts. O yes, O Papa, O Captain My Captain, may I be and become (ever-increasingly) Goodness, Selflessness, Joyful Presence, Everlasting Gratefulness, and the Unfolding of Perfect Lovingkindness Incarnate!
‘Heal me and train me up, O God, that I might be inspired, enabled, and entrusted by You to walk in and with…
The very same qualities of loving (and energizing) intimacy Jesus walked in on Earth with You, H-himself, the people around H-him, and even the whole of creation…
And…
The very same anointed authority and existential power and wisdom Jesus walked in on Earth as H-he lived out and accomplished H-his mission.
The Whole of Creation: Nature and our many ecological, social, and societal environments, both in part and as a whole. Included in this arena are things like your work and living arrangements; the economy; online culture; the watershed you live in; and your relationship to the garbage you generate, collect, and dispose of.
Authority: The anointed rights, means, and abilities of life-authorship, life-artistry, and life-mastery.
Existential: Of, relating to, or affirming existence; grounded in existence or the experience of existence (empirical); having being in time and space.
‘Further, in partnership with me, help me to silence and eliminate the echoes and residuals of my crucified (and, thus, annihilated) fallen nature. Help me, too, to renounce, dismantle, and dissolve any alliances parts of me might have made with my enemies. I look to You, O God, to help me in and with all these things and no-things and to do for me those things and no-things I can’t do for myself.
'I acknowledge my complete dependency upon You, O Papa, for I am--and, forever, will be--Your Contingent Image-bearer. That said, I acknowledge, too, that I must play a critical role in my own healing, training, and heart-protecting and -bolstering practices. I acknowledge that I must pursue goodness, truth, and beauty; do so in all their many forms, functions, textures, and contexts; and do so with great doggedness, intensity, and intentionality. And, further, I acknowledge, O God, that I must--as Your imager, lover, imitator, and follower--choose daily to take care of myself; take up my cross; and continue in my efforts to work out and walk in the glory, splendor, weightiness, freedom, tenacity, revelliousness, mastery-orientation, giftedness, polymathic genius, and autotelic gumption You gave me when You first thought of me (that is, when You first created me in Your Imagination).
Contingent: Dependent upon or subject to.
Image-bearer: One who bears the image of the Creator; one who was created in the image of the Creator.
Polymathic: Intelligent generalism as well as renaissance-like curiosity, learning, artistry, and mastery.
‘TO YOU, O Abba--O Papa, O Happy Daddy-God--belongs the rule and reign over my heart; FROM YOU comes the effectual, mighty power to save, deliver, heal, renew, re-create, restore, and strengthen every aspect, arena, and relationship of not just my own life but the lives of all those who comprise the whole of creation; and IN YOU is found the Alpha and Omega of all true and lasting worth, significance, identity, weightiness, manifest presence, relatability, relational intimacy, generative influence, and life-giving authority, stewardship, and dominion-rule.
Generative: Something that's life-giving.
Dominion: Control or the exercise of control; sovereignty; a territory, or sphere of influence; a realm.
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Today's MRL Call-to-action: In addition to engaging in the Seven-day Crafted Prayer Experiment, go enjoy that cup of coffee I mentioned earlier (or tea if you're not a coffee drinker), and ask God to join you in your enjoyment of it. And then, after that, ask Him to join you in everything today. And keep on asking for and consenting to such things and no-things. In an overarching sense, this “shared life with God” is the true definition and life-infusing intention of prayer. I believe it’s what God had in Heart and Mind when He first created it.
Dave out…
Beyond being an imager, lover, imitator, and follower of Jesus Christ, Dave Brown is nothing more than a contingent imager of God, active-contemplative, and artist of life in desperate need of His Master: The Triune God. His greatest desire is to experience loving and Divine intimacy with God Almighty (the Trinity). After that, it’s to walk with and before Them--in and with great holiness, humility, and purity-, wholeness-, fullness-, and revelliousness-of-heart--all the days of his existence. To meet his needs, Dave works as an ecological engineer, inventor, writer, life- and business-coach, and personal trainer (in mixed martial arts, holistic life-discipline, and meditative prayer). If you’re interested in engaging with Dave in conversation or through personal one-on-one training in living revelliously, you can connect with him through MyRevelLife.com and The Revellious Podcast. If you’re interested in his engineering and inventiveness sides, please visit his other website here.
‘Who You are and what You’re about, O God, will never end; and the Eternal Story Your authoring will never end either. No! It, just like You, will endure and unfold manifestly throughout all eternity… drenching every time, space, and place, and every aspect, arena, and relationship of my life. I know all this to be true, O Eternal One, O Name of Existence; and, by surrendering to You in the ever-present here and now, I chose in this moment, space, and place (and, henceforth, in every moment, space, and place yet to come) to stake my very life upon it. This is the putting to flight belief and trust I place in You, O Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe.
‘Amen, and AMEN!! O God... MAY IT ALL BE SO!!’”
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‘Amen, and AMEN!! O God... MAY IT ALL BE SO!!’”
[End musical accompaniment.]
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Today's MRL Maxim: When Jesus is invited to be a part of it, EVERYTHING can become prayer--even making your bed, brushing your teeth, or going for a walk.
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Today's MRL Call-to-action: In addition to engaging in the Seven-day Crafted Prayer Experiment, go enjoy that cup of coffee I mentioned earlier (or tea if you're not a coffee drinker), and ask God to join you in your enjoyment of it. And then, after that, ask Him to join you in everything today. And keep on asking for and consenting to such things and no-things. In an overarching sense, this “shared life with God” is the true definition and life-infusing intention of prayer. I believe it’s what God had in Heart and Mind when He first created it.
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So... there you go, friends. Go, and think upon these things. Do the work, and BE revellious.
Until next time…
We (and that includes you and me!!)...
Are the few... the proud... THE REVELLIOUS.
Dave out…
ABOUT DAVE
Beyond being an imager, lover, imitator, and follower of Jesus Christ, Dave Brown is nothing more than a contingent imager of God, active-contemplative, and artist of life in desperate need of His Master: The Triune God. His greatest desire is to experience loving and Divine intimacy with God Almighty (the Trinity). After that, it’s to walk with and before Them--in and with great holiness, humility, and purity-, wholeness-, fullness-, and revelliousness-of-heart--all the days of his existence. To meet his needs, Dave works as an ecological engineer, inventor, writer, life- and business-coach, and personal trainer (in mixed martial arts, holistic life-discipline, and meditative prayer). If you’re interested in engaging with Dave in conversation or through personal one-on-one training in living revelliously, you can connect with him through MyRevelLife.com and The Revellious Podcast. If you’re interested in his engineering and inventiveness sides, please visit his other website here.
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