One evening she went to the beach in San Onofre with some new friends from camp. As they sat by a fire, someone suggested that they go down to the beach to pray. So down to the beach they went. The others began speaking in tongues, those sounds that take familiar phonemes and tumble them repetitively such that they sound as if the person is speaking in a language they do not know.
Heather was skeptical but also a little awed, sure that anyone who could do that must be in tune with God. For the next two hours, they prayed ardently, and they spoke directly to the invisible demons they were sure had infested her. One might imagine that Heather would be offended, but like speaking in tongues, demonic exorcism is one of those charismatic practices that seem off-putting to outsiders but impossibly seductive to those who want to be insiders.
In the Gospels, Jesus spends a great deal of time naming demons, banishing demons, and curing the illnesses demons have caused. The core commitment of the charismatic evangelical movement is that the supernatural power is here, now, present, and available to those who understand and know and believe. To adherents, demons are real. You have to prove yourself. Now she would be powerful. It was wonderful to feel God so close. Like many charismatic Christians, Heather kept a journal, and she shared with me the pages from these years.
But they are not quite ordinary journals. They are also love letters to a person, the perfect boyfriend, Jesus. No one, she wrote, will ever love her like him. Praise the Lord. I think he needs to be in my prayers. And I want to keep Adam in my prayers too. Hm: having stuff you and I know about is kind of nice.
Just not that time. That book of the Bible is super intense. Heather thought that writing in her journal helped her to think through what had happened that day and how to prepare for the next. Sometimes charismatic Christians write out their prayers and then wait for God to take charge of the pen and respond.
Heather did not do that. But her entries are written for someone else God to read, and they carefully define the relationship she sought with him: who she wanted to be with him and what she wanted him to do with her. Tucked away among the giggles and hearts are moments of doubt when she steps back to reassure herself, almost as if she gives herself a little shake, and then he becomes real again.
Please tame my heart. Quiet my soul. Shh … He loves you Heather. He knows everything about you. He wants so much for you. Let him. Calm … peace.
He loves you. He died for you. What do I say? He wants all of you. Teach me to dance. She rarely wrote to herself. A prayer journal shifts the telegraphic inner monologue into a conversation. The risk is that the promise of intimacy with God can make ordinary life feel like library paste. The charismatic church pitchforks people into a world in which ordinary, everyday prayer affects war in the Middle East and politics in Washington, and it promises a relationship more passionate than you can get with an ordinary human.
Yet her journals also ache with loneliness. They are the normal struggles of any inward-looking teen—she feels gawky, tongue-tied, scared of romance, yet so eager to be liked.
He knows me. She wrote,. The Holy Spirit was so present! Often we feel abandoned, betrayed, and anxious. We don't know what to pray for, we don't know the words to say, and sometimes it just feels like there's no one on the other side.
Through the pages of this book, pastor and bestselling author Derwin Gray will journey with you, in learning and living the prayer that God always answers. This prayer is commonly called the Lord's Prayer Matt The Lord's Prayer is the firm foundation God uses to build our lives on the Rock.
It will help you break through to a completely new and refreshing prayer life. See More icon-eye. God, Do You Hear Me? God, do you hear me? Along this journey, you'll learn several things about prayer: Prayer is the secret place where we find God waiting for us. Prayer is not about getting God to give us stuff. It is about becoming who we were made to be: a reflection of Jesus in the world. He illuminates, illustrates, and communicates the hope we all need to find strength in divine communion.
There is much we can do after we pray. If the felt need was that someone didn't think God listened to their prayers, the book really didn't address that need much.
I can't see many OBSers thinking it's something they need, though if they actually did buy the book, they would glean enough nuggets to make it worthwhile. I felt it was more motivational but not very helpful. I was not happy with three major things: 1. It sounds like he didn't become a believer until after that, and everything he spoke of doctrinally sounded correct, but I have lived among a Mormon community, and they often use the same Christianese words but with different meanings.
I don't remember him actually saying that Jesus is God -- though I could be wrong -- but He used Messiah Jesus often as one of the Trinity. But it wasn't clear. It was a lot of fluff and very little practicality. It was more trying to change our mindset as we pray the Lord's Prayer. I really didn't get much out of it that I can take away with me.
In fact, I had to slog through just to get to the end. It is impossible to appreciate what you have when your eyes are lusting for what others have. A heart of gratitude is like having a horse blinder on. The horse blinders keep the horse from being distracted from what is around them.
0コメント