The Subversive Church

Becoming ever more convinced of how little I know about what it means to be the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Location: Boston, MA

Saturday, November 18, 2006

A Truly Private Prayer Language

If you have been following the debate in our convention regarding Private Prayer Languages (PPLs), I encourage you to read Alan Cross' series of posts on his blog (pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, and pt 4). He argues persuasively, and biblically, for a continuationalist viewpoint, or the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit as described in the New Testament are still extant today. Of course, in doing so he also argues strongly against our mission board's current policy against the use of a PPL by missionaries or staff.

Many others have commented on this policy already, and I will not add to the fray here. But I do want to say something about private prayer langauges.

Prayer is a funny thing. Once we get beyond rote prayer, which certainly has its place, prayer becomes a kind of conversation with God. To an outside observer, though, it looks like we're talking to ourselves. We may have our eyes closed or not, speaking out loud or not, but in most cases there is no audible response from our Lord. Verbally, it's one-way communication.

But of course, we know that it's not just talking to the ceiling. Prayer is truly two-way communication, in that the Holy Spirit talks to our spirit. We hear Him in our hearts, and are comforted, or chastised, or directed. There is communication happening that does not involve the actual words I say, or hear.

When prayer is at its best, I often find myself putting into words what I hear the Spirit saying. That is, I share a concern, or question, or doubt, and the Lord responds. I then articulate what I feel, and can understand what the Spirit is saying by listening to my own words. It's the Lord speaking, but He uses my own prayer to talk to me. I understand, then, that what I am really doing when I 'speak' my prayer is translating. Prayer, at those times, is not a verbal communication at all, but a spiritual one. The actual words I use are at best an approximation of what I have prayed, and of what the Lord answered.

I really think that what happens in prayer, underneath the English words I use, is a heavenly language, a way that my spirit communicates with the Holy Spirit. I'm just translating.

But you know how, when you learn a new (earthly) language, you spend a long time translating in your head as you speak it? Like say you learn Italian, but for a long time, even after you're completely fluent in Italian, you still think in English, and translate as you go? Eventually, they say (I have never experienced this), your new langauge gets so natural that you don't have to translate anymore. You simply think in Italian. I think our prayer is the same way. In so many ways I am still a novice speaker of the language of prayer. I have to think in English, then let my spirit translate. But some people, who have grown far closer to Christ than I am now, are so practiced in the language of prayer that they don't need to translate.

I think that's what Paul was talking abaout in Romans 8:26-27, when he said, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

On reflection, I have done this. It happens when I give up trying to pray, and release the spirit within me to pray by itself. When I get out of the way, my spirit groans. And God hears my prayer. Is that a private prayer language?

1 Comments:

Blogger Watchman said...

It's too bad organizations have to put laws in place like forbidding the use of a prayer language. This is what I dislike about the church as corporation. We no longer relate to one another as community, but through policy. If I have a need, the deacons consult the handbook.

I'm more confused about prayer the older I get. Can I think in prayer? Does it have to be on my knees? Does it have to outloud? Do I have to use the word "just" alot? ("we just want to pray that...") How much have I prayed today as I sense communion with the Father, without doing what would be called prayer? I have to leave those discussions for other folks to answer.

12/01/2006 01:59:00 PM  

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