Eternal Life

Over the last few years God has been in the process of transforming my life with Him. If I hadn't gone through this transformation, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to make it through these current circumstances with my faith intact.

Many teachers have helped me through this process:

• Philip Yancey
• Thomas Kelly
• The writer to the Hebrews
• Richard Foster
• Sharon Rowland
• Dallas Willard

Here is what they have taught me:

• Prayer is not simply conversation with God: it is communion with God. Even when we think it is we who have remembered to pray, prayer is initiated by God, because He loves us and wants to be in communion with us. When we pray, whether we realize it or not, we are simply responding to God's invitation to be in communion with Him. Each person's prayer life is unique to them. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to prayer.

• It is possible to orient our lives in a way that we can "pray continually", as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5. Ceaseless prayer is not a practice reserved for monks who are cloistered away from the mundane realities of day-to-day living. We can establish mental habits that allow us to connect to God's eternal Presence at all times. Our tendency is to focus too much on the past--past mistakes, hurts, choices--or be anxious about the future. But God exists in the Eternal Now, and in every moment we can transcend this ribbon of time on which we perceive our existence and experience the eternal life Jesus described--to know God. 

• Although grace and not works is the foundation of our faith, becoming more open to God does require effort. We must "fix our thoughts on Jesus." We must "make every effort to enter God's rest." Our effort is to be directed towards prayer (communion with God) and engaging God's Word (another way of communing with God), not toward trying to live a certain way, or follow certain rules.

• There are many ways to pray, and many teachers who can help us. Simple Prayer, Examen, Lectio Divina, Intercessory Prayer, Breath Prayer, Sabbath Prayer, Petitionary Prayer--there are many ways to connect to God's eternal Presence. Different kinds of prayer might work in different seasons of life, or with different personalities. Breath Prayer has been transformational for me in these last couple years. Examen and Lectio Divina are others that I would like to work on.

• It is possible to live a moment-by-moment interactive life with God. That kind of life is a life of freedom, beauty and rest. It is important to hold a vision of this life always before us, to motivate us when the effort required to live that life seems difficult.

• God exists, not as some old man in the sky, looking down on us from heaven. And He isn't a genie that we put in our pocket (or "in our heart"), to pull out whenever we need something. God inhabits the space around us. Heaven is not some far away place, but an unseen reality that exists in the air around us. God is always near and always available, by His grace. Grace is opposed to earning, but not opposed to effort. Almost everything in our visible world tries to prevent us from connecting to the Life Jesus offers--including, unfortunately, some teachings of the Church. It takes effort to connect with God, but that's not the same as saying that we earn anything by making that effort. 

The effort I have put in to cultivating my life with God might not seem like much. I don't spend an hour each morning in prayer and Bible study, or even 10 minutes, to be honest. What I have done is this: 

• Write a breath prayer and use it whenever it comes to mind--whenever I feel in need of God's Presence. 
• Practice Spiritual Direction--where I can share with someone ways I have seen God at work in my life, and where I can be reminded of what an interactive life with God can look like
• Read a lot of books--Prayer by Yancey; Prayer: Finding the heart's true home by Foster; A Testament of Devotion by Kelly; The Divine Conspiracy and The Great Omission by Willard. 
• Try to become more aware every moment of the reality of God's Presence

As seasons of life change, these practices may no longer be the best ways for me to connect with God in every moment. In the future I want to incorporate more time with God's Word, whether through Bible study with others or meditative reading. But in this season, I have had an ever-increasing sense of God being with me, being real and right here. It gives me confidence to make difficult choices and has given me hope and peace and joy even in the midst of the most difficult and painful thing I've experienced as a Christian.

I am so grateful for what God has done for my faith as I have opened myself up to Him. I want people to know, though, that I am not special. I have not earned God's favor. This kind of life is available to everyone who wants it, anyone who puts in the effort to connect to the Life Jesus offers. This is what Jesus came for! Not only to save us from hell and guarantee a life with God after death. And not only to restore creation and bring justice and shalom to the world. But to give us eternal life. "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."