Welcome to Responding with Prayer,
An opportunity to respond to the complex,
Everyday experiences that lift us up and bring us down.
Hello,
My name is Jess,
And I have struggled with daily attending to prayer,
And I hope this little offering brings you closer to the Creator.
Today's meditation is on the spiritual condition of doubt.
To begin,
Let's take five big breaths together.
Deep breathing has been studied and found to change how we engage stress and situations.
It's good for slowing down,
Preparing for prayer,
But also a good practice for all kinds of situations we find ourselves in.
So,
Just feel yourself breathe for 60 seconds.
We'll take one minute to slow our hearts and our minds down,
And just breathe.
That was literally 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places just now,
Or happens throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural.
You're still here,
So let's move on.
Take one moment and identify a person or situation you are grateful for as you do this.
Take a moment and,
Out loud or in your head,
Express gratitude towards God for that person or situation.
Doubt is intrinsic to the faith experience.
As the Christian New Testament defines faith as an assurance of what we can hope for and an evidence of what we can't see,
There is an assumption of doubt,
And it's part in the spiritual journey.
It is probably all of us some of the time,
And maybe some of us all the time.
Personally,
I have found myself in seasons of doubt about things that I'm supposed to believe,
Whether God is really looking out for me,
And whether I've made mistakes in the path I choose.
All of these types of questions are just raw material for our faith and our growth.
Our bodies are an important part in prayer.
If you're able to,
Put your arms out and turn your palms up in a posture of release towards the Creator.
The scriptures tell of a very practical spiritual opportunity.
Cast your cares on Christ,
Because he cares for us.
So imagine you wrote those things that are bringing you doubt on the palms of your hands as an act of submission.
That words would be there.
God,
We place into your hands these things on our hands.
We give to you these nagging questions and concerns and doubts.
Now,
A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release.
But let's also focus on what healthy things we put into that space of release.
If we are releasing these doubts,
What are we needing to take on?
As you close your hands,
What accompanying assurances do you need as you deal with doubt?
How about faith that you don't have to get it all right?
How about finding God in the midst of doubt?
How about faith the size of a mustard seed that we don't have to pretend is a watermelon?
Or maybe just rest with being in process.
In prayer,
We slow down and can make commitments to our core foundations.
Spend one minute expressing to God how these questions and doubts are impacting your life and how free it would feel to just be okay with them.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with submission to you.
We often fight against the very abundant life that you have for us.
So we accept the grace of the man who came to Jesus and said,
I believe,
Help my unbelief.
And that before our God,
We don't have to get it all right all the time.
Now,
Taking this time today probably did not magically bring an end to your doubts and questions,
But it may have changed your orientation towards them.
You may need to take some greater steps to push into God,
Not away from God in these times.
But the great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintained that prayer's greatest gift is not that it suddenly changes our situations,
But that often it changes us.
