1. PASSION

The very first step in my Prayer life, I mean my real Prayer life was to recognize that a Passion was growing in me to become closer to the Lord. Oh yes, it was true that the difficulties in my life were drawing me closer to God. Indeed, I was seeking his help. However, the need to seek God awoke in me a Passion for becoming closer to Him. The only way I could figure out how to do that was to pray. So for me, Passion-fueled my desire to pray and it was the first step which moved me to the Whisper To and From The Holy Spirit or another way of saying that is talking to God.

The more I prayed, the more Passion I had to pray more. It was the Passion that fueled my desire to be in the Presence of the Lord. I knew that when I was really with Him in Prayer, I felt his Presence. Now I did not know what to do with being in the Presence of God; I just knew I was in it. So the more I realized the existence of God in my Prayer time, the more Passion I would be about praying. Little did I know that my Prayer time would become a Prayer Process

So the very first step in moving toward Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit is to feel the Passion. If you can get a little taste of the sweetness of the Lord’s being, you will know what about what I write.

To begin with, yes, you may be moving to God because you are in life’s troubles, and that is okay. However, in the midst of your strive and stress in going to God in Prayer be aware of the Passion that is being created within you to be with the Lord. It is this Passion that will keep you coming to the Lord; It is this Passion that will keep you praying with the Lord and most importantly it is this Passion which gives you a sense that God wants you. This Passion creates the fuel for your Prayer Process.

This Passion could come upon you quickly, somewhat miraculously, or it may come to you slowly, but it will come. In this first step, you much watch for the Passion, feel it and claim it because it is the fuel that moves you closer to God and the Whispers To and From the Holy Spirit.

You will begin to realize that you have a spiritual sense that God’s company is worth anything and everything in life. Thus the first step in Whispering To and From The Holy Spirit is the Passion for the Presence of God.

2. PRAYER

Armed with Passion and the desire to be in God’s Presence we move ahead praying to God, to Jesus in, through and with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that carries all our Prayer to the foot of the cross of Jesus and the foot of the throne of Father God.

For me, Prayer is a conversation with God. It doesn’t have to be a rigid prewritten Prayer. I seldom read from prayer cards or prayer books because it is too scripted. Why should I use someone else’s words to talk to God? I did not need the written word to speak with my father or mother. So why should I need written prayer words to speak with God my Father and His Son, my brother, Jesus Christ? I don’t!

When I first started praying it was pretty much a one-sided conversation. That is I spoke to Jesus and Father God, but they did not speak to me, and if they did, I sure did not hear them. My Prayer was the typical, praise and adoration, asking forgiveness, putting forth my petitions and giving God thanks. It was somewhat of a rigid approach.

It was Passion the first step in this process of talking with God that kept me in Prayer, and after a while, it was my Passion that created my awareness of the Presence of God. It was the Passion described above that motived me to pray not out of obligation but celebration. I realize that Prayer will bring forth the Presence of God not only in my time of worship but my life in general and that alone is enough to continue to fuel the Passion for praying. Know that this is what Prayer should do that is, to make you aware of God’s Presence. When you pray, you must acknowledge the Presence of God.

Sometimes when I prayed, I did not feel the Presence of my essential loving being, Jesus. When I did not feel the Presence of God, it seems that all my Prayerful words echoed back to me. It was as if I was talking to myself and God was not present. I had to learn to sit still, pray and wait on the Lord.
But sometimes I could not wait. I got discouraged and felt fool-hearted, unworthy and unable to feel the Lord. But since I had the Passion, I kept on coming back for I knew God would reveal himself to me somehow, someway in God’s time. The Holy Spirit continually called me back to Prayer when I did not want pray. No matter how discouraged I became, it was the Holy Spirit that knew I wanted to be with the Lord. He never gave up on me.

Many times I know the Lord was there and I could not feel his Presence because I was thinking about the family, or about business or money and I could not focus. The purpose of Prayer is to create a focus that can feel the Presence of the Lord. It is in the Presence of God that you are sanctified. It was this sanctification I was looking for in each Prayer time, and I always did not get it. But again it was the first step of Passion that kept me coming back to Prayer. I wanted to be in His Presence.

3. PRESENCE

When the Lord feels your Passion, he will become present. There is no better feeling than to be in the Presence of the Lord. If I put together all the pleasures in life that I have had, all of them in total, they would not equal to a minute in the Presence of God. We must invite this Godly Presence to manifest itself in our Prayer time. Fueled by the Passion for the Presence of God to exist and become a blessing that we receive in Prayer, we begin to get a clearer picture of our sinful selves.

When it comes to Presence in Prayer, we are not only inviting God’s Presence, but you too must be sure you are present. Sadly I must admit there were times in my Prayer that I was not present. I was somewhere else in the midst of my worries and fears and most likely worldly concerns. So then, you must be warned make sure you are “home” when God comes to visit.

While there is no right or wrong way to pray, your Prayer should include, giving thanks to God, adoration or worship, asking for forgiveness, petitions, asking for your needs and the needs of others. These elements of Prayer are often referred to as ACTS, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Note now, the first three steps to Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit. First, you feel a Passion for being with the Lord. If you have not had a walk with the Lord in your life, this can be very confusing. This Passion is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit calling you closer to Jesus. The Holy Spirit has put out the call on your life to come to Jesus. You may not realize it, but that is, indeed, what is happening. That Passion is a call to be with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. And once you recognize it, the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you through the rest of the steps. I can say this to you only because He did it for me and I know that he will do the same for you and you too will be able to Whisper To and From The Holy Spirit.

Now at this point, the Passion is in you, so the Holy Spirit starts leading you to the second step, and that is Prayer. Except for my going to church on Sunday with my wife and kids, I did not pray otherwise. However, now with this Passion, I am praying every day. The Holy Spirit was teaching me that Prayer will lead me to the Presence of God and that is what I wanted. I needed, to know God more. I knew this life did not have what I needed to feel fulfilled. It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying, “Donald, you have the Passion, now come and pray and you will feel the Presence of God. So at this point, it was Passion, Prayer, and Presence.

4. PERSISTENCE

Did you ever feel like not talking to someone? Sometimes that happens in Prayer. You don’t feel like praying. You can’t find the words to express yourself. And even if you could, you don’t think God is listening. So there are really dry times in our effort to pray and to stay in touch with God.

You must also remember that if you have displayed the Passion, the desire to be in God’s Presence and to exercise a Prayer life, you have not made the evil one happy. Satan will come after you because he knows that you are now on your way to being a Christian warrior. So you must expect challenges in praying and staying with God. You must call upon the Holy Spirit to strengthen and to give you the Persistence to continue your efforts to be in touch with God. Satan will subject you to all sorts of temptations and accusations. There is a reason they call Satan the “Great Accuser.” He will try to convince you that you are so sinful the Lord does not want to hear your Prayers. He will tell you that you are a fool to think you are good enough for Christ. He will tell you that God could not possibly forgive the sins you have committed. Every possible challenged and charge will come against you when you as you get deeper into your Prayer Process.

In Step 4, you must realize that Satan will come against you and you must reach into the essence of your being, and down into the depth of the grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit for the Persistence; you need to remain prayerful.

5. READ

The major Prayer time of the day should include spiritual reading. You should not restrict this reading to the Bible. Contemporary books on spirituality which are Biblically based are okay to Read during Prayer Process. How much you Read will vary. Sometimes I would Read the first paragraph stop and reflect on what I just Read. This Reflection could lead me into a deep Meditation, or Contemplation that connects me with God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Other times I may Read an entire chapter before a word or verse would jump out at me upon which I would reflect. Then again there were times that nothing I Read gave me notice for Reflection.

In the Prayer Process step of Read, it is always good to have some paper and something with which to write to prepare for when the Holy Spirit gives you a word on which he may elaborate. Thus when reading a word that may reach out to you through the Holy Spirit such as “forgiveness.”, you now may reflect on that word, and the Holy Spirit could converse with you even more.

So let’s take the word ‘forgiveness” and let me outline here a personal example of how the Holy Spirit would use this word to speak with me. I would reflect on the word “forgiveness,” and I would ask the Holy Spirit, do you have more for me and then I would sit, reflect and listen. The Holy Spirit could further whisper “Donald, you have been forgiven; your sins are no more.” And when those words come to my mind, I knew they were from the Holy Spirit. There was no doubt inside of me that it was not from the third Person of God, I would write these words down or sometime I would dictate them into my cell phone. Again I never went into Prayer without something to write on or record because I wanted to be ready if the Holy Spirit was to whisper to me. These words would have been surely a Whisper From The Holy Spirit.

Now let’s take the same word that was given in this example “forgiveness” on which I would reflect. However, in this example, it may not be a Whisper From The Holy Spirit but rather a Whisper To The Holy Spirit. In this situation, the Holy Spirit may whisper to me words that I would use to pray, to send back to God. Thus in the Reflection of the word “forgiveness” the Holy Spirit may give me the words of this message, “Lord, I ask for your forgiveness so that I may be cleansed and able to do your will.” The Holy Spirit told me what to say and how to Pray. The Holy Spirit is still whispering to me, but these are whispers and words the Holy Spirit is giving me to Pray. In the first example the Holy Spirit whisper words with a message from the Lord, and in this example, the Holy Spirit whispered words to me that I would give back to the Lord. Thus, Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit.

After writing down or recording these words from the Holy Spirit, I would continue to reflect, and very likely the Holy Spirit would add to what he has already spoken to me. I never knew how much the Holy Spirit would say to me. However, there are many examples posted to this Blog of the Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit that I have either heard from or spoken to the Holy Spirit.
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An important fact here is that I go into Prayer expecting to speak whispers to or hear whispers from God through the Holy Spirit. Does it happen all the time, no, but I am ready if the Holy Spirit whispers? It is essential to remember that Prayer is not a one-way conversation. I know for many Christian all they do is talk, talk, talk, but it does not have to be that way. The only way we can create an intimate relationship with God is in a two-way conversation, and the Holy Spirit was given to us by Father God for that to happen. Remember the Holy Spirit speaks softly that is why this Blog is called “Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit.”

The important thing is that you set some time aside within your Prayer time to Read, understanding that in Reading the Bible or biblically-based contemporary books the Holy Spirit can get your attention and speak to you. I am not talking about an audible voice but rather a sense of the being of the Holy Spirit and the conversation with God his grace brings about with God. As you Read you should have an open mind and heart to what the Holy Spirit may be saying to you through the words in the book or whatever you are reading. Before I start reading, I ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten me as to what words and messages he wants me to receive.

It is crucial that you understand that the book in your hand very likely could have been selected by the Holy Spirit so that what you Read is what the Holy Spirit wants to get across to you. There were many times I picked up a book in my library that I bought months and even years before and after reading it in present time, it was what I needed to know in my walk with Christ.

Again you need to reflect could come from a word, paragraph or an entire chapter. The key here is to understand that reading is an essential part of your Prayer Process which very often results in awakening within you. That word or message is yours to reflect upon,

6. REFLECTION

You need to be tuned into the Holy Spirit from the very first step of this Prayer Process. As you proceed through the steps starting with Passion, Prayer, Presence, Persistence and Read you need to be listening whatever message the Holy Spirit may be giving to you whenever he decides to give it to you.

There are times when I got a message from the Holy Spirit as I was praying. It was as if he interrupted my Prayer to whisper something to me. If so, I would reflect upon it, and if the Holy Spirit elaborated on the words given, I would be prepared to write it down or record it so I could meditate on it. The Holy Spirit delivers his words and messages to you however and whenever he wants. Accordingly, you need to be ready to hear these words and messages so that you can reflect upon them.

Concerning Reflection, it is a very early stage of receiving Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit. The more advanced stages are Meditation and Contemplation. For me, first came Reflection which is thinking about what is said and being very cognitive about it. In Reflection, I was trying to make sense about this new experience of talking to God and God talking to me. I was dealing with my Prayer Process more intellectually then spiritually. I was thinking, “God does not talk to people, and if he does, he sure does not talk to someone like me.” At this point, I had somewhat of an understanding of the spiritual world, but it is still was very much a struggle. My Prayer life was still embedded in the secular world. Words and messages I may have received in Prayer, I bantered around in the light of the world instead of in the light of God.

At this point, this is where the step of Persistence is crucial. When you are beginning to experience an actual relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of doubt and unbelief kicks in. Up until this point Prayer for me was an “Our Father’ and a “Hail Mary. Now, however, my Prayer had turned into a Prayer Process and went far deeper than I ever thought possible.

Being persistent in overcoming doubt and discouragement led me to Meditation which is a higher level of spirituality than Reflection. It is more spiritually fueled. In Meditation, the mind seeks to find out about the “hows” and “whys” of Christian Life so we can be better prepared to lose ourselves in God. It is in the Meditation state that you are more able to hear the Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit because in Meditation all is looked at in light of God.

The Meditation stage has been often aligned to a form of ancient Prayer called “Lectio Divina” where a person meditates on the truths found in the Bible. (or in my case also a Biblically based contemporary book).
This ancient Prayer method is what I have been describing in the Whisper To and From The Holy Spirit process. The steps in Lectio Divina which mean in Latin “Divine Reading” are as follows;

1. Choose a verse from the Bible (Or in my case a Biblically base contemporary book)
2. Read the verse and slowly, several times, listening with the “ear of the heart.”
3. Reflect on the words attentive to which the word or phrase speaks most to your heart.
4. Respond to the word or phrase that spoke to you, pondering it and, offering it Prayer.
5. Rest in God, sit in silence and listen for how God speaks through the word or phrase.

Little did I know when I was progressing through my Prayer Process that it mirrored an ancient old Prayer process called Lectio Divina. The Lord will lead you also, through your Prayer Process where you will progress to the most intimate conversations with him and beyond if you follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Beyond Meditation means one has progressed to Contemplation. For me, Contemplation is getting lost in God through the power of the Holy Spirit. I do no Reading; I am not looking for words or verses, I am not reflecting or meditating, I am lost in creation with the creator. No effort is required, the Holy Spirit brings me into the midst of the Presence of God. I need nothing; I want nothing.

The mere fact that I connect diety in this Contemplation leaves me knowing that every part of my life, every bit of who I am, every worldly happening in my life will lead me to eternal peace in heaven. In Contemplation, a simple gaze into the face of Jesus gives me a foretaste of heaven. Contemplation is a silence that I cannot find in any other place on earth. Contemplation leaves me so together with the Lord. It is as if I exist in the midst of the being of Jesus Christ. The silence is deafening. In true Contemplation, the Holy Spirit has placed you in a state or redemption. In Contemplation, you feel the sacredness of that, the security of existence in Christ your Savior. In Contemplation, every word of Jesus in the Bible echoes within you, not with sound but with a silent sense of total acceptance. I can accept not only my lifetime but the existence of all time and all people. In Contemplation, I rest in not who I am but who he is, Jesus Christ.

St. Theresa of Avilla calls Contemplation “nothing else than a close sharing between friends.”
Yes, indeed, it is alone with the Lord. Now imagine all the people from the beginning of time that God created, and now, in Contemplation, you are alone with the creator of the universe. One on one, just you and your God. How awesome is that? What a blessing. What power and potential is in that relationship. It is said that in Meditation you get to know God, but in Contemplation you love God.

So as you go through these steps of your Prayer Process Passion, Prayer, Presence, Persistence, Read, Reflection, it becomes clear that, yes, direct, personal and spiritual contact through Whispers To and From The Holy Spirit culminates in the Reflection step. In Reflection we begin by reflecting on our prayer words and reading, then we progress to Meditation and onto the sublimity of Contemplation.

Everyone’s Prayer Process is unique unto themselves and God. Jesus orchestrates Time, depth, revelation, direction, intimacy, and the mysterious presence of God in our Prayer Process through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no way we can earn a good Prayer Process. Of course, we can prepare ourselves to be open to the Holy Spirit’s will for us in the Prayer Process, but we do not earn intimacy with God. No more than you could earn the intimacy with your spouse. Intimacy is freely given and received. There is no way you can force anyone to give intimacy or receive it. And so it is with the Lord, you have to realize that, your Prayer Process cannot be advanced by your suffering, your sacrifice or doing good. No, your Prayer Process is a matter for the Holy Spirit, and to the extent, you can open yourself to what he wants to give you and what you are to receive in your Prayer Process. In your Prayer Process, it is the movement away from self and to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The more you “die to self” the more you live in Christ, and the more Christ lives in you.

Dieing to self-was very hard for me to learn, because I thought of myself as a guy that makes things happen but guess what, I could not make the intimacy in my Prayer Process happen. It was given to me. Sadly it was given to me at times I was not ready or willing to receive it. I cannot count the time’s great gifts in my Prayer Process were given to me directly from God through the Holy Spirit, and I did not or could not receive it. I was not ready. And this is where the fourth step in the Prayer Process, Persistence becomes so important. Without Persistence, you will never advance deeply in your Prayer Process. For you have to stay in the Prayer Process to receive Gods gifts and grace. I shudder to think how much more advanced I could be in my Prayer Process had I just let the Lord have his way with me. However, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, he gifted me with Persistence to keep me in the Prayer Process receiving gifts from God through Reflections, Meditation, and Contemplations. If there is one conclusion I can come to after 40 years in of advancing in my Prayer Process is that it is all a ‘gift” and something I could never have done myself.

In Joyce Meyer’s book entitled “The Power of Simple Prayer,” she points out that prayer is not about laboring or trying or striving it is about talking to God. She further goes on to say,

“Prayer is progressive, and we all move from one level to another.
No one ever “masters” prayer because there is no limit to the
depth of relationship we can have with God; it just keeps growing,
going deeper, keeps getting stronger. Our ability to pray improves
over time. We never become certified experts in prayer, and we never
stop learning to communicate with God; our experiences keep
getting richer and better.”

And so it was and is with me and so shall it be with you.

7. PONDER

The last step in the Prayer Process for hearing the Whispers To and From the Holy Spirit is to Ponder. There is no way I could go through the Prayer Process and then leave it without taking it with me throughout the day. That is why I call this last step in the Prayer Process, Ponder, because coming out of Contemplation in my case or for some Reflection or Meditation, such a blessing is felt, you are so thankful for all that is around you. I do not want my Contemplation to stop, but my worldly duties call. To be honest, if I could stay with the Lord in that Contemplative state, I would remain there all day. The Lord could take me from Contemplation to Heaven, and that would be OK with me. Think about it, where would you rather be, in ectasy with God or doing your grocery shopping at Walmart.

Here is a reality, I do not have a choice, I am in the world but not of it, and that still means I must sustain life. However, in doing so, I Ponder all the time. The Apostle Paul put it this way in 1
Thesolonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

In the last step of this Prayer Process, I Ponder much of the day. In this Ponder, I am very alert and of the world. I am far more aware of the God and his creative beauty. I also am aware of Satan’s dark evil around you. So I take the goodness and grace of my Prayer Process and Ponder all day long wherever I go. If a drive by a car accident, I pray for the people involved. If my eye catches a beautiful building with architectural grandeur, I thank God for allowing man the ingenuity to build such a building. A flower growing beautifully, a moving cloud in the blue sky, the smell of a freshly cut lawn, the taste of a great pizza and beer, a family photo in the bookcase in my home office, the mischievous smile of my grandson, looking in the mirror to a 72 year old wrinkled face wondering where the time has gone. No matter what I am doing or where I am in the day or what I see, good or bad, I do so in Ponder. How can one know the Lord intimately and not be in a continual state of praying and pondering, you can’t. As Paul said above “give thanks in all circumstances; for it is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” The fact is I never leave my Prayer Process from Passion to Ponder. Paul’s call to “pray continually” is not a command of obligation rather it is a command of celebration. The celebration of life we live each day on this earth. And every one of those days, I want to be in a loving relationship with Christ.

The words used in the definition of Ponder are contemplated, consider, review, reflect, mull, meditate, deliberate, cogitate, dwell, ruminate and yes, even chew and puzzle over. Thus our Prayer Process does not stop at step 6, Reflection, dear Lord, shall it never be. Our Prayer Process should continue with step 7 and go for 24/7, all the days or our life. We should be continually in the Prayer Process honoring, praising, loving, thanking the Lord while we seek out ways to serve him and show others His love in us.

You must have faith to pray. You must have faith to ponder the word
of God. You must have faith to do those things and go to those places
which invite the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost.

Henry B. Eyring