{"id":32676,"date":"2024-03-07T13:40:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T18:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=32676"},"modified":"2024-03-07T13:42:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T18:42:11","slug":"worship-wednesday-centering-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=32676","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – Centering Prayer – The Potter’s Gate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“I want to be where my feet are.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This curious little lyric comes from the album Sanctuary Songs<\/a><\/em>. The song is Centering Prayer<\/a><\/em> featuring Andrew Peterson<\/a> & Leslie Jordan<\/a>, a collaboration of The Potter’s Gate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centering Prayer<\/strong> <\/em> calls us away from all our distractions, our plans, our worries, our over-thinking, our busyness…and calls us into a time of rest and focus on God whose presence we are never without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I was checking out of our local free clinic with my Afghan grandmother friend. It’s always a stretching experience with trying to understand (even with an interpreter) what her health complaints are. Finally, we were finished with the doctor. As I stepped up to the counter to receive the forms for her bloodwork, specialist referral, and next appointment, I saw the sign (in the image above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is always with us. Period. Full-stop. That verse is one that brings to rest everything whirring around in our minds, remembering that God’s got this. Being present with a ever-present God transforms everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another passage that reminds us to be still and stop fighting battles He means to fight Himself…for us…is Psalm 46. Below is the entire psalm. It is so worthy your stopping and reading along (or hear it read for you<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

46 God is<\/em> our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 <\/sup>Therefore we will not fear<\/strong>,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 <\/sup>Though<\/em> its waters roar and<\/em> be troubled,
Though<\/em> the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 <\/sup>There is<\/em> a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God<\/strong>,
The holy place<\/em> of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 <\/sup>God is<\/em> in the midst of her, she shall not be moved<\/strong>;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 <\/sup>The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup> <\/sup>The Lord of hosts is<\/em> with us;
The God of Jacob is<\/em> our refuge. <\/strong>Selah<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8 <\/sup>Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 <\/sup>He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 <\/sup>Be still, and know that I am<\/em> God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 <\/sup><\/strong>The Lord of hosts is<\/em> with us;
The God of Jacob is<\/em> our refuge. Selah<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe still and know that I AM God.\u201d<\/strong> – Psalm 46<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 46 is a glorious and victorious psalm to encourage and embolden a people beleaguered by hardship (we don\u2019t have details but given the context it was war, or some sort of calamity or terror). The psalmist was reminding the people that God is with them (with us) and will pierce through the noise of battle, with His powerful and persevering presence. He is here today just as much as He was with His people in the psalmist\u2019s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our part, like theirs, is to turn our ears, and our hearts, our bodies to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 46 begins, not with a lament or cry for help, but an anthem of praise. \u201cGod is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear\u201d. <\/strong>Then he goes on to talk about super fearful things\u2026yet from a place of awe and certainty. Even as the psalmist speaks with great confidence about God\u2019s presence and provision in times of catastrophe, the Lord Himself enters the psalm with the command \u201cBe still!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not just \u201cBe quiet\u201d but \u201cBe still\u201d. Stop!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop. Come away (from the battle). Quieten yourself. Cease striving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God calls both His people and our enemies to essentially \u201cput down your weapons!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially to His own people, He urges them (and us today) to \u2018snap out of it,\u2019 \u2018wake up,\u2019 \u2018stop fearing\u2019\u2014acknowledge who God is\u2014be in awe! For us to take His \u201cBe still\u201d and treat it as \u201cbe quiet\u201d is not incorrect, it\u2019s just not enough to describe what God is truly saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is about His business in fighting for us and those we love. Fighting also those who would see to do us harm. We don’t know how it will go in the moments ahead of us (whether this battle will “seem” lost or won to us) but we do know His promises that hold us fast, even in battle, for now and forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s for us to “be where our feet are”. To quieten our hearts and slow our steps. To put down the phone. To find His beauty to focus our eyes on. To “breathe the life around me” and “listen as my heart beats. Right. On. Time.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does “Be Still and Know That I Am God” Really Mean?<\/em> – Liz Auld<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 46 – Enduring Word Bible Commentary<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centering prayer<\/em> prompts us to lay down our burden and determine to stop worrying. Not just as a mindfulness exercise but with the God who loves us in full view. To see the anxiety for what it is – a tool used against us to take our peace away. To recognize that the depression we experience can be lightened if we open ourselves to Him and to His people praying with and for us. To remember that all the things that distract us dull our senses to the most real relationship we have in this life and the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness – One Song at a Time<\/em> – Kathy Powell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Centering Prayer,” written by Brian Eichelberger, Nicholas Chambers and Kate Bluett \u2014 and featuring Andrew Peterson and Leslie Jordan \u2014 invites the listener to a sense of groundedness with its calm melody. The lyrics give language to a clinically recommended practice of grounding that invites practitioners to reconnect with themselves in the present. The song, with lyrics asking for God’s help to “be where my feet are,” is itself a tool for calming anxieties and opening a more accessible prayer experience.<\/em> – Kathy Powell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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