Among the most comforting words Jesus Christ ever spoke, were those uttered shortly before he was arrested and crucified. During my years as a pastor, I said these words at nearly every funeral I conducted. Thinking of us rather than Himself, Jesus sensitively said:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).
I have mostly considered these words as referring to Christ coming to meet us after we pass over to the other side. But I recently suggested to a spiritual woman that she meditate on these words in effort to sense Christ’s presence right now. As I said this, the Spirit informed me that these words also mean, “Christ is coming for you now, so that you and Christ can become one in Spirit in this life; and after that, in the life to come.”
Pray This Way. With Dr. Hal Green
Humanity as a whole is in desperate need to rediscover and reconnect with God. Prayer offers the only means available to do so directly and satisfactorily. Dr. Hal Green has been teaching and conducting prayer retreats for three decades across the Midwest of the United States. His book, Pray Like This to Connect with God, is set to be published later this year. Like the book, the podcasts will describe the nature of prayer, along with examining various aspects of prayer and praying. These subjects will be followed by a multitude of prayer exercises in the areas of breath prayers, praying the scriptures (Lectio Divina), praying with the saints, meditative prayer, and contemplative prayer.
The goal of the podcasts will be to guide persons from ignorance of, to encounter with, God. Sadly, so few persons are aware of the astounding wealth of prayer knowledge and experience available to us across more than two millennia. The heart of the podcasts, then, will be to assist listeners to morph from prayer as a monologue to God, to prayer as a dialogue with God.