More Fully Present

Earlier this month, we hosted another JCBC Night of Worship in our Family Life Center.
It was a powerful night, focused on prayer and communion.

Check out this video recap of that special night.

In reflecting on the power of prayer, I offered this definition: Simply put, prayer is becoming more fully present with the One who IS fully present with us.

That’s it.
Really.

I mean don’t get me wrong, there have been countless ways to practice prayer throughout the ages. Indeed, one of my favorite writers and spiritual guides, Richard Foster, has written about many pathways to prayer in his book simply entitled, Prayer. Among the various prayer practices Foster addresses, there is: Simple Prayer, The Prayer of Examination, The Prayer of Tears, The Prayer of Relinquishment, Formation Prayer, Covenant Prayer, The Prayer of Adoration, The Prayer of Rest, Sacramental Prayer, Unceasing Prayer, The Prayer of the Heart, Meditative Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, Praying the Ordinary, Petitionary Prayer, Intercessory Prayer, Healing Prayer, The Prayer of Suffering, Authoritative Prayer, and Radical Prayer.

Each of these particular pathways offers an ever-deepening richness for the believer, and is entirely worth pursuing! The challenge however, is that if it has been awhile since you have prayed; or perhaps you have gone through a season that makes prayer especially difficult, it can become overwhelming knowing where to start.

That is why I say the heart of prayer is simply a return to becoming more fully present with the one who IS fully present with us.

What would it take for you today, to become more fully present?
What obstacles would need to be removed?
What new practices put in place?

At our Night of Worship gathering, we practiced a guided prayer with one helpful visual aid.
The Mobius Strip.

The Mobius Strip is a geometrical configuration with mysteriously only one side.
As you trace your finger along the surface of the Mobius strip (without lifting it) you move from gliding on the “outside” of the strip to the “inside” in one continuous action.

This is the call of prayer.
We journey inward to simply abide in the holy presence of God-to be still and know that God is God and that we are loved. Then, we journey outward to live faithfully as people, transformed by our encounter with God’s presence.

I pray that you may discover new depths of Presence this week, as you move inward and outward in faith.

Have I told you lately how much I love being your pastor?
Well, I do.

Rev. Dr. Shaun King
Senior Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church