“It is hardly possible to overstress the importance of unceasing inward prayer on the part of the one who would live the God-conscious life. Prayer at stated times is good and right; we will never outgrow the need of it while we remain on earth. But this kind of prayer must be supported and perfected by the habit of constant, unspoken prayer.” ~A.W. Tozer.
The Beatific Vision is one that few saints of God are gifted the genuine sight of as a spiritual experience. This is to be called up into heaven via the spirit’s mind’s eye; to be graced by the angels in the augury of God.
All this without leaving the body.
Yet many more will adhere to this Beatific Vision as a hoped-for personal experience. Why? It’s every believer’s heart-held dream to be found ‘in God’ such like.
Intimacy with God is held at a higher premium the closer we get to our Lord.
Practicing the Continual Presence of God
Not everyone is blessed so much to ‘enjoy’ fabulous visions of God.
Indeed, it’s hardly conceivable that God would favour one believer over another this way. Yet, each saint is blessed with entirely different gifts, and portions of gifts — it’s not for one to envy another over deployment of gifts.
Besides gifts, the Presence of God is practiced through intentionality.
This is beyond what God gives us — regarding our individual Spiritual ‘heredity’ — and it extends it by what we have of our own motives, so far as our desire prevails to experience God.
Whilst the Beatific Vision is beyond many of us, no matter how hard we try, this continual experience of God is possible for every believer via unspoken prayer.
From Spoken Prayer to Unspoken Prayer
Some may have no desire to develop an unspoken prayer life. But it’s not as if we can achieve true intimacy with God without it.
The more continuous our unspoken prayer life, the more inherent and meaningful our relationship with God will be.
To be essentially connected with God — in and through most of the things we do — requires us to be thinking and feeling in harmony with how God would think and feel regarding the situations of our lives. This is not a hard thing to do; it’s about focus, effort, patience and the tenacity of our will.
It’s clear that a spiritual life confined to only spoken prayer is one severely limited to the potential intimacy available in God and, more generally, knowledge of God’s will.
Unspoken prayer, however, is the language of God-consciousness. It’s our lifeline to procure obedience and receive blessing.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment