Tag Archives: Mother Teresa

Rote prayers

As believers of Christ we have freedom to pray with words that come from our heart and to pray scripture to the Lord. But what about rote prayers?

The word ‘rote’ entails learning something by repetition usually without comprehension or understanding. We could learn our math tables by rote and not really understand how to calculate the price of groceries without a calculator. We could say The Pledge of Allegiance or the beginning of the Gettysburg Address or even memorize vast portions of scripture verses, but if we don’t understand what we’re saying or believe it, what’s the value? Does that seem like a good way to converse with God?

But memorizing something doesn’t have to make it worthless. Memorization is one way of committing a truth to heart. You might have memorized your wedding vows and probably remember at least some portion of them yet today. Repetition doesn’t make perfect but it makes things permanent. Repeating a memorized truth helps to embed it into our daily life.

I’ve known folks who say the same words at every meal to give thanks to God for their food. While you might not follow that ‘rote’ routine, do you think God minds if they’re a sincere expression of the heart? Likewise, if written prayers composed by others speak the truth in our hearts, we shouldn’t be afraid to use them in our prayer life.

Martin Luther recommended praying the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in a personalized way. Many find praying the 23rd Psalm draws them closer to God and expresses what their own words fail to say. So can other written prayers. Consider committing some of these prayers to memory or adapt them to fit your conversational style:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. (Attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi)

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. (Attributed to Mother Teresa; adapted)

And have we ever really outgrown our childhood prayer?
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep: May God guard me through the night And wake me with the morning light. Amen.” (Traditional)

One of my favorite rote prayers comes from the musical Godspell:
“Lord help me to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly, day by day.”

Memorizing rote prayers or even scripture doesn’t make you holy. But it might help you draw closer to God, which is the purpose of all prayer.

Be blessed.

Do you (really) love me?

Leave a reply

In one scene from Fiddler On The Roof, Tevye ask his wife of 25 years, “Do you love me?” She exclaims, “Do I love you?!” She lists all the things she has done for him in the course of their marriage. Affirming this, Tevye asks again, “Yes, but do you love me?” She ponders 25 years of living with and taking care of this man, concluding with a sigh that she does indeed love him.

God asked this same question of you and me every day. Like Tevye’s wife we might answer in amazement, “Are you kidding? I go to church. I give money. I read the bible and pray …at least a few minutes every day.” And quietly, God replies, “Yes, but do you love me?”

We’re reminded of Peter’s experience with this same question. Three times Jesus asks Peter with increasing intensity. By the third time, I imagine Peter’s eyes were filled with tears, remembering how much indeed he did love Jesus, though his behaviors had contradicted that love. Jesus wasn’t looking to ‘beat up’ Peter for his mistakes. He was looking to renew Peter’s fellowship with Him. I think He is asking us the same questions:

Do you love me… enough to trust me?
Sometimes it’s hard to trust. Of all the rooms in our life, the waiting room is perhaps the most difficult. Presented with lots of pain and anxiety but few answers, we’re quickly tempted to try any door marked “exit!” We just want to escape. But the question rings in our ears: “Do you love me enough to trust me, your sovereign God, even while you wait?”

Do you love me… enough to obey me?
Here’s the truth: we obey what we love and really trust. A reporter once scoffed mother Teresa saying, “How can you expect to be successful ministering to all the poor and hurting people?! There are too many!” She responded with truth, “I’m not called to be successful, only faithful.” And the question burns in our ears, “Do you love me enough to obey in faith?”

Do you love me… enough to abide in me?
Marcia and I have always enjoyed spending time together, but the cancer journey further enhanced our appreciation of simply abiding together. God wants us to abide in Him wherever we go, whatever we do. It doesn’t matter if it’s doing the dishes or paying the bills. Abiding implies contentment and satisfaction. “Do you love me and find satisfaction when abiding in me?”
As we conclude this week of emphasis on the Go Light Our World missions, we invite you to partner with GLOW in regular times of prayer and through your tax-deductible gifts. Beyond that, we invite you to consider your relationship with Jesus. LOVE is the mark of a devoted Christian. Let your love be marked by your faith-in-action. Let your answer be always, “Yes Lord!” Because if it is not ‘yes’, to Him, then who is Lord in your life?

Turning the Tide of History Through Prayer

Leave a reply

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Billy Graham was interviewed years ago and asked, “Looking back on your life of accomplishments, what would you have done differently?” Graham answered, “I should have prayed more.”

In this season of mid-term elections we need to be focused in prayer. After all, Jesus commends us to pray for our leaders and even our enemies. Our nation was founded by men who believed in the power of prayer. After the billions of dollars spent on political ads persuading us to vote for someone or against some else, it comes down to our vote and our prayer, which is really the most powerful tool available to us.

Now I know there will be many who will be praying that one party or another wins. I have my own opinions on who I want to see in office and likely you have yours. But what if instead of praying our list of candidates, we do something quite radical. What if we personalize 2 Chronicles 7:14 as our prayer to God:

God make us people who behave as we are called by your name. Humble us as we pray that we may seek your face and turn from our wicked ways. Give us leaders who are called by your name, who humble themselves before you, who turn from wicked ways. And if we must serve leaders who are ungodly, surround them with godly counsel that their hearts might be changed, and that ours stay faithful to you.

I hope you will exercise your right (and responsibility) to vote. Your vote matters! But first, ask God’s insight. To echo a quote by Mother Teresa, instead of asking God for this or that, let’s put ourselves “in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” As we prepare to go to the voting polls, consider these thoughts spoken by the Rev. Billy Graham in his 1962 (yet still current) message, “Turning the Tide of History:”

“Today the world is being carried on a rushing torrent of history that is sweeping out of control,” said Rev. Graham. “There is but one power available to redeem the course of events, and that is the power of prayer by God-fearing, Christ-believing people. Elisha prayed and a young man was raised from the dead; Jesus prayed and Lazarus rose from the dead; the thief on the cross next to Jesus prayed and Jesus told him he would go to paradise that day; John Wesley prayed and religious fervor grew in England, and the same happened with Johnathan Edwards in Northampton. I tell you, history could be altered and changed again if people went to their knees in believing prayer.”

Pray. Pray. Pray. Then vote. Then continue to pray.

Safe in the hands of God

Leave a reply

What comes to mind when you think about prayer? Often we think about prayer requests, those lists of petitions to bring before God. God invites us to come to Him with our requests, but prayer is more than that.

Mother Teresa once said, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” Prayer is seeking the presence of God, being available to His agenda, and listening to Him with our heart. Her quote reminds me of the passage in John 22:27-30. Jesus is talking about the difference between true followers and those who don’t know Him.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life,and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father,who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

Sometimes we think we can’t hear God’s voice or that He doesn’t listen to ours. But He says we (His sheep) will hear His voice because they remain in His safe protection and they follow Him. And He hears us. Jesus gave us His own Spirit to interpret our prayers perfectly and present them before the Heavenly Father.

We come into God’s presence by placing ourselves in His hands, by being available to Him, and by listening for His voice. We also come into His presence by giving thanks. Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me.” – John 11:42

A.W. Tozer wrote: “Sometimes I go to God and say, “God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already.” God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me.”

The next time you go to prayer, spend time seeking His presence. Experience the peace and joy of letting Him hold you in His hands. Whisper to Him your praise and your thanks. Listen to His voice speaking peace, love and wisdom to you. Go ahead and present your requests to Him, with thanksgiving. But don’t miss the transcending experience of just resting safe in the hands of God.

See what love can do

Leave a reply

Not all of us can do great things. But we can all do small things with great love. – Mother Teresa

An expert of the law asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked the man, “What is written in the law?” The man answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ (Deut. 6:5) and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18).” Jesus responded that the man had answered correctly. “Do this and you shall live,” he said.

There is no question in my mind about it. An antidote to most of life’s ails is found in loving others. It takes our mind off our own woes, those real and perceived, those small and enormous. Ironic, but humility – considering the needs of others – is far from a weakness; it is really a strengthening quality.

I was visiting with a friend recently who showed me some pictures from his mission trips to the Honduras. In the display was a saying that caught my attention:

One child – one family – one community: see what love can do.

What can love do? It can teach us patience and kindness and humility. Think how these qualities encourage and value others! Love honors others and ‘forgets’ wrongs. It rejoices in truth. Love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres – always! Love can say what words can’t. Love never fails. Love brings about understanding. In fact, it is the greatest and most lasting of any thoughts, actions or attributes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

What happens when you pray for and pour love into one child, one family, one community, perhaps far from your own and maybe nearby? What happens, not just to them, but to you? Doing what we were created to do – loving others – might not remove all our burdens, but it has the power to lift us above them and to endure them with more grace. See what love can do today.