Picture a stone, one that you plucked up out of the forest. It has a hard rocky surface and jagged edges, formed by thousands of years of tectonic movements and soil. You take that forest stone and drop it in the waters of a clear, moving stream. If you sit and watch your stone through the water, not much will happen. But, if you come back years later, it will have been transformed. Years of living water flowing over it would fundamentally change the shape and structure of your stone. It would now be smooth to the touch, the jagged edges softened by the slow and steady power of water erosion.
Prayer is placing ourselves in the rivers of living water that is the grace of God in Christ. We have been plucked out of darkness and placed into His marvelous light, to be formed by the waters of the Spirit into the shape of Jesus. We are on a journey to holiness, each one of us “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). We are justified and sanctified by the blood of Christ, and within that secure salvation we get to grow more into the likeness of Christ.
Prayer is the mysterious cooperation of our efforts with the Holy Spirit to form us—to form our souls, our characters, our lives. This is why the shape of our prayers—what we have been reflecting on together for more than 10 weeks now—matters deeply. Because the shape of your prayers will shape you.
Imagine a life that is formed by 40+ years of daily confession, and how humble that person would be.
Imagine a life shaped by decades of daily thanksgiving, and how content and joyful that person would be.
Imagine a woman defined by her love of God that has been forged through years of praise.
Imagine a man whose heart has learned to let the Word of God dwell in him richly, day by day.
This is what the Daily Office, and a Christian prayer life in general, is aiming for. Not just the joy of meeting with God every single day, having fellowship with Him and letting Him minister to you, but placing yourselves in the river of love and grace, submitting to the slow and steady formation of your soul.
This is the formative power of prayer, and the particular grace of the Anglican Daily Office. These prayers, written down and prayed in common by millions around the world, are aimed at forming in us the life of Christ, a sanctified soul, a character of holiness.
Sometimes, some of us struggle with the idea of written prayers, feeling they aren’t “genuine,” because they’re not “our” words. But they can be your words, reflecting your genuine heart, when you submit yourselves to them, allowing these prayers to form your heart and so shape your life. Sometimes I don’t feel like confessing my sins, whether out of laziness or shame or pride. But when I submit myself to the prayers before me, these words lift my heart up to God, and humble me before Him in a way that is formative for me. It is the same with praise, or Scripture study, or intercession, or thanksgiving. When I let these prayers lead me, they form me, and draw me into the presence of God, sometimes in defiance of my moods. In prayer, we can’t allow ourselves to be enslaved by our moods, because we know what we’re aiming toward.
Let me encourage you to give yourself to these practices of prayer that will mold and shape your heart and your character and your life. May we be growing into people who are quick to come into the presence of God, who confess our sins readily, who praise Him whole-heartedly, who meditate on His Word and study the truths of our faith, who seek His face in supplication and intercession, and who are ever thankful and walking in gratitude. May we be growing into the likeness of Jesus.
This is the shape of the Christian life, formed by our prayers. The Christian life has a direction, aiming toward the heart of God, and we want to let the shape of our prayers funnel us ever toward Him.
So, when you next sit down for a prayer time, know that you are positioning yourself to dwell deeply in the living waters of God’s grace as they flow over you, slowly shaping you, softening the hard edges, purifying your soul. You are becoming more like Jesus, more like the saint He died to make you.
Prayer IS the Christian life, that process of sanctification by which the Spirit forms you more and more into the person God has made you to be.
What will be the shape of your prayer life, and how is it shaping you?
For Your Reflection
- Reflect back on your Christian life, and your habits of prayer. Can you see, in retrospect, how your prayers have changed, and changed you?
- What area of prayer, or facet of the shape of prayer, do you want to grow into more?
- Set one goal for yourself in prayer, to engage one practice daily for a month. Write down your commitment and come back to it, asking what this has done to you, and for you.