I want to give you a vision of prayer and what happens when you pray. To begin with, theology, or “God-talk,” is really a game of prepositions. Regarding Christian prayer, that signifies that all prayer is in the Person of the Son, to the Person of the Father, and through the Person of the Holy Spirit. In relational terms, this means when you pray, you secretly enter into Christ, who is your “Eternal I”, while addressing God the Father, who is your “Eternal You,” through the Holy Spirit, who is your “Eternal We” shared with God.
That means prayer is essentially relational; it happens between you and God, while unfolding in and through God. That also means prayer is less what you do and more what you enter into, namely the relationship between the Eternal I and the Eternal You of God.
Most significantly, this also means that divine relationship is as ultimate, as eternal, as the divine persons who share in it. The “Three-in-One” Trinity represents the eternal structure of persons, not only divine but also human, since we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). The divine-human relationship, which Christ has opened up and made available to us, constitutes our very salvation, our endless and unbreakable “we” with God (see Romans 8:35-39).
All this may sound profound and complicated, and it is. Yet at the same time it is as simple and pure as any love relationship with another person in which you have shared, and perhaps still share in. Think of your relationship with your mother, and/or your father. Think of your most significant friendships. And most importantly, think of romantic love, of falling in love, of marriage and all it entails. As the Bible puts it: the two shall “become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). So also shall you become one in soul and spirit with Christ. Paul says that “anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Relationships are where we “live and move and have our being,” as Paul put it in his sermon at Athens (Acts 17:28). That includes your being together as well as your being alone. With God and in God abides your true and eternal being, your “I” – which you will share forever with Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
As you continue to pray, you will eventually realize that prayer never really ends, nor does your love relationship with God.
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