“It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” -Romans 1:17

I have found life recently through contemplative prayer. As I start my prayer time in the morning, I spend ten minutes meditating on a Bible verse. My body temperature drops and my breathing slows. I put a smile on my spirit. I sense that God is using the words of the verse to guide my thoughts into new pathways. I find sweetness and life. Then I continue the rest of my prayer time asking God for good things for other people and for myself. Now this prayer is not a dry duty; it is not a list of things to do.

So would relaxing exercises be enough for this first part of my prayer? Certainly body and mind slowing down contributes to the result. But only slowing down would be empty without a sense that God was leading me forward and teaching me more of his love. Here I find hints that I can be part of the Trinity, to participate with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It’s hard to believe that I would be included with them as a friend. Yet if I’m not striving, but rest in him, I can almost picture myself attending the banquet.

It is here that I encounter a problem. I feel an urge to think my senses would be more heightened if I was in control. If I was directing this according to my plan, my heart rate would be up; my adrenaline would be flowing. I would have the feeling of being truly alive. It would be like sugar to a child. You can see why I want this wrong path. I don’t want its opposite: a dull, lifeless, hopeless self. However, it is not possible to be continually “up”. Instead, the answer  is to trust the plan is going somewhere good.

And so through faith a righteous person has life. If I create an atmosphere where God is in control, I can afford to let my mind and body slow down, and listen to what God has for me. Coming back repeatedly to the Bible verse helps keep my thoughts going where God wants. In the verse from Romans, faith means I slow down and find myself in a place of sweetness and pleasure with God. It is a place to receive his life for me.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wildgoosechase.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/bill-miller.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]About The Author[/author_info] [author_info] Bill Miller is a husband, father, church leader and most importantly a long time follower of Jesus who found new life in and through contemplative prayer. He also has the dubious honor of being my father-in-law.[/author_info] [/author]