In Conclusion of Prayer Blogging

This marks the end of this 30-week plus kind of an experiment. It started off with an inspiration and I wasn’t sure if I really did have a profound insight or not. So I started the experiment to see if it would be and could be.

I’m glad that I did finish. When I started, I wanted to pray blog 30 weeks in a row, once a week. I didn’t keep up that pace. But what I did do, eventually, is to type out 30 blog posts. This is number 30.

How to Improve Prayer Life

The idea was that my blogging would be typing out my praying. Not typing out my prayers. But in my blogging, those words itself would be the prayer and praying. Now, this closing blog post is going to be more of a hybrid, blog post with some praying, some of these words are typed with a heart posture of praying.

Praying and communicating to God, it is sometimes said, is just having a conversation. Talking honestly to God. Having a conversation. Blogging to me, as I’ve practiced it, has been a conversation that I have with the world. I see the internet as the global public square. And, my prayer blog experiment here, was to see if I could experience and articulate something that could be valuable enough to many other people that would or could experience more fulfillment in their prayer life through this method.

Instead of the kneeling with eyes closed and hands bowed, I talk with God much more alertly and thoughtfully when I can see these words on my screen and my heartful thoughts are presented before God. God is my witness, that these words are prayers lifted up. And, as I talk with God, I also wanted to share some of them in public as an example and a demonstration that others could reference and learn from.

Talking with God Informally or Formally?

Another thought I wanted to explore was talking with God in plain English. No theological jargon. Just like talking with a friend, as they say, after all, it’s a conversation. Now, in certain cultural contexts, talking with someone as a friend, as a peer, would be a no-no. More cultures in the world than not have more of a hierarchial understanding of relationships. So having more honorific and formal conversaions is far more appropriate.

But you know what? Because of Jesus Christ, he taught us to pray and talk with God as our heavenly Father. The relationship is not so much Master and servants any more (though that is an appropriate juxtaposion). He is Creator and we are the creatures, that too is true.

The relationship is now Father and children, for those who believe and receive the invitation to be adopted. And, as a child, I can even be more casual than just being a peer friend. Oh, that sorta means I could just babble along. And as long as I’m approaching God in my thoughts and words, He welcomes me. Mind blowing. So good.

And there’s this Change to my Web Address

In this experiment, I also paid to register the domain name demystifying.bible. (Full disclosure, I work with the .BIBLE top-level domain.) I’m deciding to let it expire. I’ve made the changes to my WordPress platform so that the new Web address is now djchuang.com/prayer. My .BIBLE domain name currently redirects automatically to the new Web address. Then after August 26, 2018, the demystifying.bible domain name will stop working.

Thinking well of each and every person

For my friends and associates that read along with this prayer blog, thank you. I sincerely appreciate your interest in how this would go. I wish you well for the days, weeks, and months ahead in your life.

I would love to get with you on the phone to chat and catch up. A lot of life has happened since we last talked. That is how I want to spend my extra discretionary time and energy.

Or, better, to visit in person. Oh, I hope I’d have the health and resources to be able to meetup with more of my friends and associates to share a conversation over coffee or a meal.

Even in this crazy messed-up and broken world, I truly believe that each person still has inherent worth and value. I do wish people would come to that realization somehow. Chris Pratt said it well, “You’re better than that.”

Life is hard, but God is good. I eagerly anticipate what will come next. Thanks for taking me on this prayer blogging adventure.

How to Pray It Forward

One more thought. A friend mentioned to me that journaling can be valuable and useful when I also record what it is that I would want to tell my future self.

My default approach here in my prayer blog and in my personal private journal has been to do a brain dump. And it’s good to have a safe place to do that.

Let me think now. Having done this 30 plus weeks, what do I want to remember about this experience? What have I learned that I will continue to do?

I know it is hard for me to be consistent with this praying by typing thing. Consistency is just not my thing. And to force that consistency will adversely repel me, like how 2 magnets can repel each other when they’re oriented a certain way.

I do want to remember that this is always here and available when I want a safe place to talk with God honestly. Make time to do this regularly, if not consistently, randomly. It’s a good for my soul. And, I believe, these words have some cosmic way of changing the world. Every word counts.