Semikkah7

05/17/2024 – Excerpts from “Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools” – Tyler Staton (ISBN 978-0-310-36538-9)/ 1 of ?

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Here are some excerpt highlights, from my reading to date, all but the last 80 pages of the book:

“The psalms reveal a garden variety of motives. Some of the words in those prayers go directly against the teachings of Jesus and the character of God (What happened to loving enemies and a God who is rich in love and loyal in faithfulness? (*A)), meaning some of the psalms are technically heretical. So why would those prayers be included in the Bible?

(*A) – See Matthew 5: 43-44; Exodus 34:6

Because they’re honest!. That’s what makes these psalms exemplary. God is looking for relationship, not well-prepared speeches spoken from perfect motives… So if God can delight in prayers as dysfunctional as the ones we find wedged in the the middle of the Bible, he can handle yours too without you cleaning them up first… The way your motives change isn’t by working them out in silence; it’s through such brutal honesty with God that he, by prayer, can refine your motives. Complaints are welcome.” Reference – pg #21

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“We have an appetite for spectacle. God has an appetite for new life. We can’t resist public stectacle; God can’t resist the secret labor of prayer… Elijah’s story and James’ call to participation in prayer are invitations for us to be found by god on the mountain of prayer , to join with the Holy Spirit in groaning for new life.” Reference – pg. #159

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“Here’s the best part of the whole story, the bit that really blows my mind. God doesn’t need intercessors managing his creation. He’s not overwhelmed by all the responsibility of overseeing the world. He’s all-knowing, all-powerful, and completely outside of time. He’s got this God doesn’t need intercessors. God chooses intercessors.

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Again, I’ll pose the simplest question: If God gave you everything you’ve prayed for in the last week, what would happen?

The only reason I ask is that you are a ruler, a co-heir with Christ, a manager of heavenly resources. What are you doing with all that authority? If we really took Jesus seriously on the invitation to prayer, what would happen to your community? What would happen in your city? Isn’t it worth finding out? / Reference – pg. #107

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“Here is where our prayers live — paralyzed between wonder and mystery…

Don’t get me wrong, plenty of us keep on praying in that paralyzing space between wonder and mystery, but we don’t pray in the way of Jesus. Our prayers don’t reflect the wide-eyed, blazing sense of empowerment that the Son of Man’s words engender in anyone who really believes them. We pray the safest kind of prayers — the ones so passive and vague we’d never be able to tell if God responded to them or not.”

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“Here is a sampling of what Jesus had to say on the subject of prayer:

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9)

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14: 13-14)

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)

“If we really took Jesus’ invitation seriously, if we really believed in the sort of prayer that Jesus talked about, the modern church would have a hard time getting its people to do anything but pray. In actuality, we need to be motivated to pray. And that’s because most people, even the most serious, mature Christians, don’t buy prayer as Jesus described it, not entirely anyway.

The motive behind all true intercessory prayer is love for the other. Jesus isn’t describing some real-life version of wishes to a cosmic genie that occasionally come true if you figure out the formula. He’s talking about he kind of prayers that with love for someone else and end with inviting God’s activity into places where that love is lacking. Intercession is a willing and intentional choice to turn from the endless spiral into the self — my desires, my needs, my circumstances — to the desires, needs and circumstances of another. To utter even a syllable of intercessory prayer is a profound act of love.”

Reference – Pgs. 97 – 99

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“Brennan Manning wrote, ‘Anyone God uses significantly is always deeply wounded … We are, each and every one of us, insignificant people whom God has called and graced to use in a significant way … On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors but scars. (*B).’ It is not by our gifts, insights, ideas, or qualifications that God is determined to heal the world, but by our scars. By his wounds we are are healed (*C) , and by our wounds the healing is shared.”

(*B): Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000), 48

(*C) Isaiah 53:5

Reference – Pgs. 85 – 86

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Read the section: Naked Revival – pgs. 84 – 85 when your book arrives, for this amazing testimony.

“…One hundred years of prayer was the overflow of one night of unfiltered, healing confession.

Revival didn’t happen because everyone agreed it was a good idea; it happened because everyone stripped off their fig leaves in front of one another.”

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Soli Deo Gloria!