Digging Into the Archives

Lately I feel like I've been neglecting my time with the Lord in the mornings because of this stupid blog. I spend more time trying to nail down what He's taught me and put it into a post than I do concentrating on His word and spending time in prayer, which is a flip-flop of the reason this blog exists -- to simply relay what God is teaching me. Therefore, today I'm digging back into the archives and re-posting an older post. I'll do this as necessary.

The following was originally written on September 28, 2007, and was called "Church Speak."

A couple of months ago I was talking with my friend Jonathan about the words that Church people tend to use when they're talking to other Church people. Some of the words we use in those conversations are never used elsewhere. Like "encourage." Right now I can't remember the last time I used that word in a conversation outside of a connection with church.

Now, some words don't really have a counterpart outside of words we use when referring to Christ or God's work in believers, like "grace" and "mercy." I understand that fully, and am not suggesting that these words are somehow obsolete. On the contrary, we need to remember these words and their meaning, and be sure that others know what we're talking about when we use them.

I just want to note something that's really had a positive impact on my prayer life, in particular. After my conversation with Jonathan, I've intentionally avoided using the word "pray" in my prayers, for instance. Yes, of course God knows what I mean when I say that word, but I've found that I'm almost forced to explain myself and the real intention of what I'm asking or saying to God when I don't use it.

For instance, it's pretty customary to say something like, "I pray for John Doe today, that he would be encouraged as he deals with his situation." But it makes me really get to the bottom of what I mean when I say something more along the lines of, "John Doe is dealing with a boss who constantly runs him down verbally, and I ask You to open his eyes to see You at work around him, and that his outlook will be changed to see the positive things in the situation." More specific, slightly different wording, and the latter is more along the lines of the everyday speech I use. I find myself expanding words like "encourage" to say exactly what I mean: "I ask you to remind John Doe of Your words, and to send someone to him to be Your voice and Your hands and feet."

I challenge you to talk to God each day in that way, or at least experiment with it. I've found that the deliberate avoidance of some of the habit-forming Church words has really taken my interaction with God to another level. It forces me to be very specific, since some religious-sounding words can have a bunch of stuff rolled up in them, and we can actually wind up using them as a crutch or a catch-all.

Posted in: Language, Prayer