Insights from A Praying Life (3)

Anxiety is unable to relax in the face of chaos; continuous prayer clings to the Father in the face of chaos.
When you stop trying control your life and instead allow your anxieties and problems to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worry to watching.

So the feel of a praying life is cautious optimism-caution because of the Fall, optimism because of redemption.

Hope begins with the heart of God.  As you grasp what the Father's heart is like, how he loves to give, then prayer will begin to feel completely natural to you.
"Behold, I make all things new" (rev 21:5) When you pray, you are touching the hopeful heart of God.  When you know that, prayer becomes an adventure.

Thanking God restores the natural order of our dependence on God.  It enables us to see life as it really is.
Thanksgiving looks reality in the face and rejoices at God's care.  It replaces a bitter spirit with a generous one.

A praying life opens itself to an infinite, searching God.  As we shall see, we can't do that without releasing control, without constantly surrendering our will to God.  "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (mat 6:10)
Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life.

If you are going to enter this divine dance we call prayer, you have to surrender your desire to be in control, to figure out how prayer works.
Desire and surrender are the perfect balance to praying.
Prayer is a moment of incarnation-God with us.  God involved in the details of my life.

What do I lose when I have a praying life?  Control. Independence.  What do I gain?  Friendship with God.  A quiet heart.  The living work of God in the hearts of those I love.
I lose my kingdom and get his.  I move from being an independent player to a dependent lover.  I move from being an orphan to a child of God.

When you start "asking anything," you'll be surprised with how your life begins to sparkle with the presence of God.

Prayer is the positive side of the surrendered will.  As you stop doing your own will and wait for God, you enter into his mind.  You begin to remain in him...to abide.  This is the praying life.