12. Check on progress – 4.

Thinking

Working through the first thirty psalms in conversational prayer has been a very rich experience that has taken almost a month – a month of quiet meditation and time of devotion. The exercise facilitated the intimate sense of God’s presence. So I thank my God for this special time of instruction and conversation. It has been a time of blessing to me, and it has energised and given a vocabulary to my worship.

It is also a privilege to share this intimacy with a wide group of readers.

Listening

My son, this word comes to each of them. Write it down.

Reader. I want people like you to be bold in reaching out to me, but as you do this, be aware that it is I who am reaching out to you. Listen for my voice. At first it will come as thoughts. There will be times when these thoughts will startle you. “That wasn’t me,” you’ll say. ” I’m not capable of having that deep and beautiful thought.” When this happens test them for consistency with scripture, and ask me, “Is that really you, Lord?” When I speak to you, you will have a growing assurance of my presence. Then put your words around the thoughts I give you – your own words. It will come out quite differently from those of my friend Howard Smith, whose writing you have been reading. His words reflect his personality interacting with mine. I want you first to listen to me, and then grow on into conversational prayer with me as you talk and walk with me. As you do this, I will grow your faith and bless you, for I love you very much.

Praying

Lord I pray to you just now as Father, Son and Spirit. These words summarise beautifully the growing experience I have had with you. I need to bow before you in worship.

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Thinking

This is a useful time to discuss some of the things that can impact negatively on prayer, or our ability to draw close to God in conversational prayer.

One of them is alcohol. I drink very little alcohol. I can’t drink fermented drinks because of their yeast content and my asthma, but just occasionally at a company or social function, and if I’m not driving, I may have a glass of something. After this, there have been a number of times, perhaps in a hotel room after a business dinner, or at home, when I retire to bed and find it quite difficult if not impossible to pray. Perhaps it’s a case of being gently relaxed, but I’m not aware of even the slightest inebriation. There’s still the call to reach out for my Bible, and I try to pray, but I just get easily distracted. Praying can start off formally with the habit phrases, but beyond this I find it hard to concentrate and it’s difficult to form meaningful prayer. As for hearing God’s voice. It just doesn’t seem to happen after alcohol.

I don’t remember ever hearing anyone discuss this before. It’s almost as though I have stumbled over a spiritual law. “Alcohol clouds the ability of the human mind and soul to pray and hear the inner voice of God.”

As a doctor and pharmacologist, I know a little bit about how alcohol affects the brain, but I can’t imagine, and am sure that there’s no effect of any drug, let alone alcohol, on the soul. Alcohol is a kind of general anaesthetic and acts to depress brain activity. The textbooks say that apparent stimulation results from unrestrained activity of parts of the brain that have been freed from inhibition. Special studies with EEG suggest that the first depressant action of alcohol is in those parts of the brain that are most highly integrated. Is this why capacity for prayer is inhibited?

Listening

My son, every generation will understand brain chemistry and function in a different way. The important thing for you is that if anything, and in your case low-dose alcohol, interferes with your ability to have a walking – talking relationship with me, then you must put it behind you.

Praying

Thank you Lord. That is a timeless answer to my question. And I bless you for bringing me back to priorities.

Thinking

The second difficult and sensitive area that needs to be addressed is that of “other voices”. I need to make it very clear that I am not talking about voices heard or perceived by a person suffering from mental illness. Schizophrenia is an important and serious disease in our community, but it has many other symptoms beyond auditory hallucinations (voices). I believe, and it is the thesis of this book, that a committed Christian can from time to time perceive the voice of God, and learn to put words to that voice. When this happens, a person has established communication with the metaphysical. After all, that is the essence of prayer – dialogue between man, the created, and the creator.

It follows that the same mechanism of sensing the voice of the metaphysical can be employed by the Devil and his team of demons. For me, this is not a frequent experience, nor is it one that I would wish to encourage. However, just occasionally when I have slipped badly, perhaps told a distinctly “off” or inappropriate story, or have done something I shouldn’t have, there comes the thought, “Ha, ha! So you call yourself a Christian and look what you’ve done (or said).” I think that it would be possible to develop this into conversation, and perhaps that’s what Satanists and some spiritualists do. For me, there is the need to recognise quickly that these thoughts are not of God. Even more important is the need to confess my goof to the Lord, and then to claim the power of the presence of his name so that extraneous and demoralising conversation and comment from the other side is turned off.

Listening

My son, this will be outside of the experience of many of your readers, but it is an important topic that should not be sneered at. More important is the experience of the power of my name, the power of my word, the power of my presence, and the protection that surrounds any person who is sealed by me – like you are together with all of your brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Praying

Lord, I thank you for reminding me again tonight about these deep mysteries. And I bless you, worship you and reach out to you to hold tight. For you are my rock, the rock of my salvation, and I love you.

Copyright Howard Smith 2002. All Rights reserved.

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