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The Companions in Christ Series
Daily Exercises
Read "Prayers of Petition and Intercession" before you begin the exercises. Keep your journal beside you to record your thoughts, questions, prayers, and insights. Prepare yourself by considering the meaning of the following quotation:
All your love, your stretching out, your hope, your thirst, God is creating in you so that [God] may fill you ... God is on the inside of your longing.1
This week's exercises invite you to claim the yearnings of your heart in prayer and join them with God's great yearning for you and for all people in Jesus Christ.
Exercise 1
Read Luke 11:9-13. For what do you typically pray? List some of your requests in your notebook or journal. Note your awareness of God's responses. What bearing do Jesus' words of guidance (ask, seek, knock) have on your experience?
Devote at least ten minutes to the breath prayer you formed last week. Record your experience in your notebook or journal. Continue using your breath prayer each day as often as you remember it.
Exercise 2
Read John 15:7. Note the conditions of this New Testament promise ("If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask ...") When you ask God for something, is your attitude one of willfulness ("I am determined to continue to ask for what I want, no matter what!") or willingness ("I present my needs to God but am willing to yield to the persuasions of God's wisdom and love.")? Apply the conditions of John 15:7 to something you are seeking, perhaps your breath prayer. How are you challenged? In what ways does your prayer change?
Devote at least ten minutes to your breath prayer. Record your experience in your notebook or journal. Continue to use your breath prayer frequently through each day.
Exercise 3
Read Matthew 6:31-33 several times. In order to reflect on what it means to focus on the kingdom of God, draw a large circle on a page in your notebook or journal. Around the circumference, name "all these things" about which you are anxious. Now consider what Jesus' words, "strive first for the kingdom of God," mean for you. As you gain clarity about what this priority means to you, write the priority in the center of the circle. Reflect on how this priority could change your life over time.
Devote at least a few minutes to your breath prayer. Note any insights about the relationship of your breath prayer to your reflection on priorities.
Exercise 4
Read Colossians 1:9-12. Focus on the expansiveness of Paul's hope and prayer for his fellow Christians. Now write a letter to persons in your family, Sunday school class, or workplace expressing your prayer for them. In doing so, give the love of Christ in you full rein to express your highest hopes and passion for their spiritual well-being.
Devote several minutes to your breath prayer. See if you can naturally incorporate your prayer for others as expressed in your letter. Continue your breath prayer throughout the day, remembering Paul's words, "We have not ceased to pray for you."
Exercise 5
Read Ephesians 6:18-20. These words imply both spontaneity and intentionality in praying for others. "Pray at all times in the Spirit." As you pray your breath prayer, pay attention to people and situations that rise spontaneously in your awareness. Welcome them into your prayer with the love of Christ. Offer them to God in love, trusting the Spirit to work out the specifics. Be open to the appearance of enemies, difficult people, and unexpected faces from long ago. Trust the Spirit to make your prayer a means by which God's love touches these people today.
"Keep alert and always persever in making supplication for all the saints." Experiment by making a list of people you feel committed to pray for regularly, if not daily. Add to it others for whom you feel special responsibility or concern. If the list becomes quite long, break it into seven segments, one for each day of the week. Beginning today, spend a few minutes lifting several of these people to God.
Let your breath prayer adapt to the flow of God's love. Remember to pray it frequently each day.
Remember to review the insights recorded in your notebook or journal for the week in preparation for the group meeting.
Notes
1. Maria Boulding, The Coming of God (Collegeville, Minn.; The Liturgical Press, 1986), 7-8.
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