Listening and Practicing Posture

Hey team Barnabas!

What a joy and honor to share in this community as we all prepare for stepping into the in-bringing of God's Kingdom on the water this summer!  Thank you for the time and energy the majority of you have put into this blog study thus far it has been very encouraging for me personally to read about the personal responses you all have had to pressing deeper into relationship with our Creator of the Universe!

While reading about prayer this past week two thoughts consumed my mind.

 (http://youtu.be/hQjwkXrcUrs) Check out John Butlers video so you know what I am referring to later on.

1.  Prayer is listening!  What?!  Prayer is listening....and the majority of my time I find myself babbling and talking to God as if I know what is best for myself and therefore I should instruct God how the inner workings of my life should look.  What foolishness to allow myself to settle for anything less than God breathed!  Of the majority of my prayer life I live the life of a coward.  "Courage comes into play when through prayer you discover the approaching Christ through prayer has little to do with mastering prayer techniques and everything to do with bearing witness to the greatness, sovereignty, wildness, and mystery of Christ invading your world."  Listening and responding.  This listening and response idea spurring prayer spring boards my mind to the lute player mention earlier on ("listening attentively and vigilantly to his heart and pluck its strings with the name of Jesus.") which then catapults me into the video of John Butler creating beautiful music.  Setting aside his incredible talent for the time being, his heart for the music draws me in.  His commitment to "selling out" to the bigger picture become intoxicatingly attractive to watch.  His incentive to each strum or pluck of however else he plays 12 strings all at once is solely to achieve oneness with the music.  To participate in something bigger than himself.  Nothing else matters.  When he dies to himself, the presentation of his body, the laxity in his face, his concentration, how "cool" he looks while holding a guitar, doesn't even faze him.  He is listening and responding to something much bigger than himself.  He is no longer existent.  Now I don't know Mr Butler.  I don't know his beliefs, what he stands for, how he lives his life, or how he takes his coffee.  However, I know from watching this video (please know that this is my own personal interpretation of an artist performing from another artist's point of view) that more is going on while he plays his guitar than simply a man creating music by a wooden box with strings.  I will say it again, he is participating in something bigger than himself.  This is what I hope prayer to be for myself and all of you!  That the act of praying is not about talking, but about listening and allowing Christ to invade my world.  That by praying I am choosing to enter into the already alive actions of Christ risen and active in the world in which I live.  In which you live!  Joy!  Mercy! And grace, grace, GRACE!

2.  Practicing the posture of praying on my knees.  As many of you have mentioned previously Brother Lawrence's quote has really stuck out to you, so I will not beat a dead horse.  What I would like to point out is something that I am just realizing myself even after I made my blog notes days ago.  His reference to the similarities between the "time of business" and the "time on his knees" is due to his familiarity of BEING physically on his knees communing with God.  I love this!  Because he can reference a familiar feeling, as if he can slip on his favorite t-shirt or sweat shirt during those times of stress and dispair and experience the peace and solitude among the business BECAUSE he is familiar with the fit.  He knows the holes and how the shirt fits because he has spent so much time physically wearing the shirt.  He knows this tranquility in times of business BECAUSE he knows the tranquility on his knees alone with God.  I have found this to be extremely true, and a practice I have adopted directly from serving with Sonshine, that the physical posture of my body effects the posture of my heart.  Being physically on my knees, arms outstretched, head bowed to the King of Kings informs my heart of the posture in which I choose to start my day.  I encourage you to explore the freedom in which God allows us to worship, specifically with postures if you never have.  You might be surprised by the epic way in which you external posture of you hands or knees or head and inform the posture of your heart in worship.  I know I have been!

Yet again I reiterate, what a joy and pleasure to read your thoughts in this blog.  Thank you for sharing and exploring the freedom to experience deeper relationship with Christ Jesus.

Because of His grace.