Prayer Series Wrap-up

During the summer I did a series of posts on prayer and devotion. Then I got a little sidetracked with my debut novel release ;) But I'd like to review and collect all the posts together in order for you here. If you followed throughout the summer, you might have noticed that I used the word “prayer” in a different way than you expected. That prayer for me is not simply talking at God, but rather time spent in relationship with him. In my posts about prayer, I’ve included information about Bible reading, meditating, praise and worship, art, nature, and simply resting in God’s presence. Have you noticed that the Bible often refers to “prayers and petitions.” Sometimes I wonder if what the evangelical church has come to think of as prayer, is in fact merely the petition part.

My goal throughout the series was to equip you with a sort of “prayer toolbox.” To expose you to styles of prayer from various backgrounds and denominations, so that you could find the type of prayer that best ministers to you and best helps you find intimate relationship with your creator. So let’s go back and re-cap in case you missed anything.

With Unveiled Faces http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/05/with-unveiled-faces.html In my first installment of this series, we discussed our spiritual senses, and that while we might  begin by “seeing through a glass darkly,” as we spend time in God’s presence, we will view him more and more clearly “with unveiled faces.”

Divine Reading http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/06/divine-reading.html Do you desire a personal word from God? This post will inspire you to ruminate on scripture looking for those special words that glimmer. Through the process of divine reading, you will be encouraged to mull over those words and hear God’s personal message for you.

Open the Eyes of My Heart http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-eyes-of-my-heart.html This article discusses how to use your inner imaging system to picture meeting with God, as well as to imagine the truth of scripture in your life, thereby igniting your faith.

Shut Up and Listen! http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/07/shut-up-and-listen.html Too often we focus on talking to God in prayer, but how much better to be quiet and listen for his answers. He knows our problems, and only he knows the solutions. This article will give you some practical tips for tuning your inner ear to God’s voice.

A Place to Pray http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/07/place-to-pray.html Based on the assumption that prayer is meant to be enjoyed, this article will encourage you to prepare a special place to meet with God, surrounded by items that will inspire you and have you longing to return to God’s presence again and again.

A Time to Pray http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/08/time-to-pray.html Discouraged by your attempts to establish a regular prayer routine? This post provides practical advice to help you incorporate prayer time into your everyday life.

Put Your Mind at Ease http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2012/01/prayer-put-your-mind-at-ease.html In response to God’s instruction to pray with both the spirit and the understanding, this article discusses ways to relax your mind and pray from your spirit, including spontaneous artistic expression, repeated scriptures, and praying with a prayer language.

Deep and Wide http://awesomeinspirationals.blogspot.com/2011/08/deep-and-wide.html In this final installment we talked about different methods for Bible reading, prayer, and worship that help us to go both deep and wide, allowing for quality and quantity time with God. 

Did you learn anything new in this series? What is the most important lesson you've ever learned about prayer? Do you have any questions about prayer or intimacy with Christ?

Prayer - Put Your Mind at Ease

I just realized that my "Prayer and Devotion" series from last summer got preempted by my novel release. Here's an installment I missed. And it's a great one. Hope you enjoy :) You can check out the posts through the links on the side for now, but I hope to organize them in order soon.

¹⁵ So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. ~ I Corinthians 14:15

Last year I led a ladies Bible study for a few close friends. One of the ladies had a hard time praying. She would feel anxiety and even panic when she prayed. How sad! For this woman prayer was scary. A performance of sorts. As if God was judging her words and deciding if he would magically grant her wish or strike her with a lightning bolt for her shoddy job.

If you've been following my bi-weekly series on prayer, hopefully you already understand that prayer is not a performance. Once this woman realized that simply basking in God’s presence, merely listening to his voice, or dwelling on a scripture could be a form of prayer, things began to go much better for her.

Paul instructs us to pray with both the understanding and the spirit. There are a number of prayer techniques, used throughout the ages, that allow our minds to rest and our spiritual awareness to blossom. Let me begin this next section by saying that any hard-core conservative evangelicals might want to skip this post. Or at the very least, I would request that you remove any large rocks from your vicinity before proceeding ;)

Spontaneous Creative Expression

Risen! - by novelist Lisa Samson

Let’s start with one that shouldn’t be too scary. Art. Art is a form of communication. Anything we can do with speech, we can do through singing, dancing, painting, writing poetry, etc... And yes, through these means we can pray.

Letting your mind flow free to worship God and express your heart spontaneously through the arts can provide an amazing experience in God’s presence. Little wonder most churches begin with music. And while planned music or dancing can work well as worship and prayer, how much better to engage in our own personal artistic prayer experience. Allow your emotions to well up from within and express them to God through your chosen medium, engaging your spirit and giving your mind an opportunity to rest. Bask in the tone of the music, the color of the paint, the texture of the clay.

Some churches even allow for such expression on Sunday morning. But I encourage you to consider adding your favorite form of artistic expression to your personal time of prayer. And take a moment to enjoy this worshipful art by one of the Inkies' favorite novelists, Lisa Samson.

Repeated Scripture

Choosing a significant scripture and repeating it in a rhythmic pattern in time with your breath is a prayer technique that was used by both the ancient Hebrews and medieval Christians. This method of prayer is one of the most soothing techniques I’ve ever experienced. And it gives one a sense of entering the kingdom of God deep within.

Here are some of my favorite scriptures that I like to pray:

~“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty”

~“King of Kings and Lord of Lords”

~“In Him I live and move and have my being.”

~“Be still and know that I am God.”

~“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..”

Any short scripture of personal significance can work. As you repeat these scriptures, allow your mind to dwell on them, to picture them. Imagine what your life would look like if these scriptures were fully at realized in it. Allow them to do a work deep in your heart. Imagine the change that will take place when you truly begin to believe them.

Prayer in the Spirit

When reading I Corinthians 14:15 in context, you will discover that Paul is specifically referring to…dare I say it? I'm tempted to just call it the "t-word," but that doesn't seem right considering the New Testament refers to it on numerous occasions. Speaking in tongues had taken a bad rap in Christendom. And for good reason. Despite the fact that I was raised in a charismatic church, even I have held reservations about this technique, mostly because it has caused so much division in the body of Christ.

However, just because something causes controversy doesn’t make it wrong. In fact Christianity itself is quite controversial these days. The only theological argument I’ve ever heard against praying in tongues is a single scripture. And I would argue that a single scripture not taken in light of the entire word of God, at the very least, begs for reconsideration. Many churches avoid tongues not for theological reasons but because it is hard to control and has been abused. But that does mean it cannot be done decently and in order. Or even just privately at home. And who’s to say God would not like us to give up our control from time to time and give him the reigns.

As I’ve been doing this series on prayer, I’ve felt God prompting me to reexamine speaking in tongues. And it occurred to me that speaking in tongues serves the same purpose of many other prayer techniques. It eases our mind, it allows us to pray God’s words and not our own, and it is a way for the Holy Spirit to speak through us and to us. Paul prayed in tongues more than anyone around him, and maybe there is something to be learned from that.

Praying in tongues can seem intimidating because it by definition can’t be understood with the logical mind. We might worry we’re speaking gibberish, or something we heard someone else pray rather than an actual earthly or heavenly language. But Paul says in Romans 8: 26, “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” And I suspect it might be the release from deep in our spirit that matters more than the specifics of the words themselves.

Maybe speaking in tongues isn’t the thing for you. That’s cool. No worries. The important thing is to be open to how God is leading you to pray. However you choose to pray, remember that prayer is not a performance. Remember to pray both with your spirit and your understanding. And remember that it’s okay to put your mind at ease.

Are you able to put your mind at ease when you pray? Have you ever tried or had an experience, positive or negative, with any of these techniques? How is God leading you to pray?

Give the Gift of Good Scenes

Recently, I read a book submitted to WhiteFire Publishing. Awesome voice, compelling subject, talented author. But I had to give it a "not yet" because the scenes still need work. I've turned down a number of books for this reason, although I asked this specific author to resubmit due to her skill in other areas. This made me think that perhaps for the New Year, I should give us all the gift of good scenes. Here is an excerpt from my online writing class, "The Inspiration and the Perspiration."

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Next, let’s discuss scenes. In our video based society we are used to stories coming to us in scenes. In classic books you will often find characters meandering from one time and place to another with no clear break and the narrator jumping around from one mind to another.

In contemporary fiction, a simple “***” takes us effortlessly from one time and place to another, and requires little or no explanation of how we got there. The reader understands that we are cutting to the vital information that moves the story forward. This allows the author to keep the tension high and the pages turning by eliminating a lot of fluff. In your own mind, you will want to figure out what happened in between and how the transitions occurred, but your reader needs only the briefest explanation and does not care about irrelevant details.

As you edit, make sure that each scene is doing its job in advancing the plot and/or deepening characterization. Something vital should happen in each scene. If not, cut it. If you have a scene where nothing happens but reflection, weave the relevant reflection into a different scene. If you have a scene where nothing is happening but description of an important setting, weave it into a different scene. If you have a dialogue scene that’s interesting but nothing really happens, weave the conversation into a different scene. Every scene should have tension and conflict and end with something to thrust the reader forward into the next scene.

Are you getting the point? Of course, not every single scene requires every element. Certainly stories and examples in your nonfiction will not always need every element. However, check every scene and story for places you could strengthen it by weaving in characterization, action, dialogue, inner dialogue, and description.

First when editing your scenes, decide if they’re pulling their weight, and if they earn staying in the book. Second, look for a nice balance of elements above. Also, look at the progression of your scenes. In a story, it is good to be continually moving in a cause and effect progression. You don’t want to say. “She entered the room and turned on the lights because it was dark.” Say, “She entered the dark room shrouded in nighttime terrors. Her hand scraped across rough stucco, searching the wall for the switch. Light flooded the room, chasing away the shadows…”

In the first version, “because it was dark” stops the flow of action. In the second version, it’s actually hard to find a stopping place. One sentence flows into the next, and there’s a feeling that we must keep going. Notice how I also wove characterization and description into these simple action sentences. I even created a tone.

The fourth thing you want to look for in a scene, is a clear and consistent point of view. In a first person story or limited third person point of view, this will stay consistent throughout the book. However, still check to make sure that what they see and think is true to that character and is not your author’s voice intruding with things that they wouldn’t know or contemplate.

For example, if your character is standing behind someone, remember that they can’t see their facial expressions. You can move them to a different vantage point, or they can comment on general body language. Likewise, a character will not comment on their own facial expressions, unless they are aware of the face they are making. You wouldn’t say, “Confusion flashed through my eyes.” You would instead describe how confusion felt in their body, or give of a glimpse into their confusing thoughts. A male POV character will not describe another guy as "cute" or "sweet."

The most popular point of view being used these days is multiple third person point of view. In this POV, each scene should take place from the perspective of a specific character. Since we’re using scenes anyway, think of this as the cameraman for the scene. We can only see what they see and hear what they hear. If we are in “close” third person point of view, we can even hear their thoughts.

So perhaps this is a cameraman whispering commentary to the audience. If you are writing in multiple third person, give thought to who will be most changed or effected by a given scene, and put the scene in their POV. If during a specific time and place you want to switch point of view, that’s fine, but it still constitutes a scene change and requires a  “***” break. If you aren’t sure if you are firmly in one head, try rewriting the scene in first person, then change it back when you’re finished.

As each scene opens, drop us firmly into the head, even the body, of the point of view character. Set up the scene by letting us know where and when they are. Twang at least one of our five senses so that we can see, hear, feel, smell, taste, or touch what they are experiencing. Then we will be ready to join the character in the fictional world of the scene.

And one last thought to connect this back to my tension post from a few weeks ago. Be sure to end your scene with a hook to drive the reader forward into the next scene to keep them going. Don't want them putting that book down, you know.

So there are a few tips on writing good scenes. Writers, what tips would you add? Readers, what do you look for in a good scene? What authors use scenes to great effect?