In God's eyes, we are all autistic

Book Review: A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller. Connecting with God in a distracting world.

Jesus is Lord over context! 

Paul Miller is both profound and accessible. A natural storyteller, he relates innumerable personal examples of how God has used circumstances of his life and family, especially his autistic daughter Kim, to teach him and form him. The core lesson that he learned and shares with the reader is how to make conversation with God a continuous practice in our daily lives, and to approach Him as Father, talking to Him about everything, all the time. 

When we face situations, the natural response is to deal with them. But through prayer, if we choose prayer as our first response rather than our own ideas, God is able. He can reveal to us His glory, how He sees the situation, and transform it to a growth opportunity, which is why He allowed it in the first place. 

We go through different dimensions of prayer growth. Consistency and perseverance. Truly trusting God for the outcome and overcoming cynicism. Expressing thanks in God’s presence, not as a ritual but from the heart. Recognizing God in all circumstances.  Praying from a heart of desperation, but avoiding despair. Walking the narrow path between not asking and asking selfishly. Overcoming the scariness of God’s kingdom actually coming into our lives on earth, giving up making our world in our image. Seeing God as a good Father, despite the shortcomings of our earthly fathers. Dealing with unanswered prayer. Living in the story that the Father is telling. Recognizing the hidden connections that give meaning to suffering. Listening to God, cultivating the synergy of learning from God’s word and hearing His voice.

The final few chapters deal with using tools, such as journaling, a prayer list, prayer cards, and so forth, to enrich our spiritual life and not become a dead ritual. Personally, this is important because I grew up in a church with a liturgy that was mechanically recited every Sunday. The service was dead so I concluded God did not exist. He had to intervene directly, with power, to convince me of His existence, His nature and character, and His power. The words of the liturgy were Godly and born of the Truth (i.e., scriptural), but rote repetition encouraged deadness.  And thusly this book concludes with how to use tools to bring life and not death.

I have learned many (not all!) of the dimensions of prayer over 49 years of knowing the Lord, but I appreciate the confirmation. Paul Miller’s explanations of how we can and should relate to Jesus, who sees the whole picture and has the Master plan, are readable and accessible. 

God is not an ATM

I remember, in the first church I attended after being saved, a woman I will call Jessica. She was not a member of the church, because she had not surrendered her life to Christ, and she almost never came to services. But she tithed faithfully, sending a check with her sister who attended every week. Why? Jessica had been raised in a Christian home and believed Malachi 3:10; she had found God to be faithful to His word. 

I left when the Air Force reassigned me out of state. Years later, I was back visiting old friends and learned that Jessica had accepted Christ. In retrospect, I realized that God takes His word and His actions seriously. He is not an ATM or an investment advisor. He is the creator and Lord of the universe. Jessica had engaged God in the first role, but He is so much more than we can imagine. His presence must be taken seriously. If we engage Him at any level, He engages us to grow the depth of our relationship. 

The presence of God was manifested in various places in the Old Testament, and also in Jesus the Messiah. But God is also present when we trust His word.  He will honor His word, and watches over it to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:12) It is a fundamental error to confuse the promises with the person making them, but God will clear that up. Jessica opened the door and learned the Truth, that the blessing of knowing Christ far exceeds mere financial rewards. (Revelation 3:20) 

God takes His word seriously, but in the Ten Commandments, He warned us to take His name seriously. Orthodox Jews therefore do not say His name at all, to avoid violating the third commandment, but instead say”the name” (Hashem). They believe that thereby they will avoid inadvertently taking His name in vain. But God’s real intent is that we should invoke His name appropriately. He has given us many names for Himself, such as Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals, Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides, Elohim, Adonai, El Shaddai, and many others. In the Trinity, as Jesus taught us, there are three persons.

• YHWH AB - our Eternal Father, whom we are privileged to call ABBA - daddy.

• Yeshua Hamashiach - Savior and Anointed one

• Ruach HaKodesh - divine breath of the Holy Spirit

He wants us to speak His name to bring life, salvation, healing, and relationship to a lost and dying world. Not frivolously, not to manipulate, but to bring the blessing of His presence. 

Jessica recognized God’s power and character, believing that He would faithfully repay her tithing. He showed her His forgiveness, which she received, because participation in His kingdom can begin with little things like tithing, but He will bless greatly when we respond to His overtures.