The Biblical World: The Benefit of Doubt

this is a post from one of my professors ~ Vicious

The Biblical World: The Benefit of Doubt: "I have posted a number of times here on the role of doubt in relation to faith. I have come to understand doubt as an important element of f..."

Prayer: Day 4-5

The last couple of days, I was busy and did not have time to get in the bathtub to pray.  So what I did was go into the spare bedroom and do the visualize prayer.  Like pervious times, my mind was distracted with trying to visualize the setting.  What I did to counter the distractions was to talk through what I was doing in the vision (“I am walking towards the castle, etc.”).  This helped keep my mind focus on what I was doing in my prayer time.  During the part where I wait for the Almighty to speak to me, I would repeat in my mind, “Look for the still, small voice.”  I felt that I truly was connected to the vision and was in the presence of God.

Prayer: Day 3

Day 3 took an interesting turn for me.  My wife just got off the phone with the doctor's office and has to have some more test with her thyroid.  Both of us were worried because it could be nothing or it could be something.  So while she was doing some work.  I went into the guest bedroom and knelled down in front of the bed.  I imagine myself running to the throne room.  I get cleansed by the Holy Spirit then I enter the throne room.  As I am standing there in front of the creator, I bring my wife into the throne room and I ask that the Lord will heal her.  He lays his hands on her throat while I am praying.  After that I feel a peace wash over me, I open my eyes and continue on with my day.

later on that day, my wife was talking to her father about the situation.  In her conversation she started to have a peace about the situation.  Her final conclusion was that it is either nothing, or, if it is something, is early enough so that it can be treated and cured.  Whatever happens, I truly feel that God's presence was real in that throne room.

Prayer: Day 2

Prayer was a bit challenging this day.  I was busy throughout the day.  The only time I had was driving back home from my night class.  It is hard to visualize God's presence with your eyes open with cars driving by you.  I could close my eyes, but last time I checked I was not good at driving with my eyes closed.  I prayed for direction in my life and also for the struggles I am having.

Prayer: Day 1

How do you learn to pray?  Most of us would say they learn to pray from their parents, sunday school teacher, or by observing other people praying.  Richard Foster in his life found that his prayer life was lacking and ineffective.  So he decided to read the bible and focus on the prayers of Jesus.  What he found out is some things he learned about prayer were false (unanswered prayer, etc.).  One thing I have learned from readings on prayer is that it is experimental.  If you are not seeing or feeling results, try something different.  So the first five days I am going to focus on entering into the presence of God before I speak a prayer.

I get distracted very easily.  In each room where I am living at, there are different things that can distract me (book, t.v., phone, etc.)  So I decided that I will go to the bathroom and draw a bath to relax in while I prepare myself to enter into God's presence (and a little green apple bubble bath can help as long as I am not making facial hair out of it.)  Sitting in the tub, I close my eyes and I try to imagine myself walking through the hallway towards the throne room.  The holy spirit is standing outside of the room.  When I get to the holy spirit, I pray that it will cleans me from any impurities In my life.  If something is on the front of my mind, I will confess that impurity.  I also asked that the spirit will help steady my mind and my heart so I will not be distracted.  Once I felt clean and focused, I open up the doors and walk towards the throne of the Creator.  I talk to him and brought some request and questions to him.  After I have done that, I sit and wait for a response.  Once I feel that I am ready, I thank God for listening to me and walk out of the room.

The challenging thing about this approach, was how often my mind would wonder and thing of things I need to do (dishes, write this blog, etc.).  When those distractions would come, I would ask the spirit to take these thoughts away from me.  Overall, I felt this was a good experience, and hope that it will get better.

Practice of Spiritual Disciplines

Hello friends,
Ryan and I are practicing various spiritual disciplines.  The goal is to practice one discipline for 3 weeks (15 days) and to hopefully update the blog regularly.  Scott will be focusing on the discipline of prayer, and Ryan will be focusing on fasting.  We hope you will take this journey with us and learn something about each discipline.