—This book is essentially about 5 ways to pray—
On bridges and bravery
Deb Hvass
Bridges have always held strong appeal for me because of their beauty and power. They accomplish what seems impossible, carrying us across turbulent waters and over treacherous obstacles.
The spiritual motif is of course Jesus Christ, the acknowledged bridge between two eras. He is both the pivotal Man of history and God-in-the-flesh who loved the world enough to take the place of all other atoning sacrifices.
He loves you and me enough to speak comfort and encouragement into our innermost thoughts at the times we most need a counselor and conciliator, a bridge between terra firma and the far country.
I’m constantly aware of the tension required for a bridge to remain both functional and beautiful. For spiritual health, it often seems we must remain suspended between two seemingly paradoxical truths—between over-intellectualizing and over-spiritualizing, for instance.
And that’s where faith comes in, the faith to trust God each day to help us stay on the bridge and not tumble onto the rocks on either side. The bridge I aspire to be is one between head and heart, between knowledge about God and affection for God.
I’m traversing that bridge myself, seeking to experience and enjoy the presence of God fully and to engage my reason, expressing what I’m learning through the words He supplies.
A brief bit about me: After careers as a corporate writer and a campus minister, I’m enjoying a little more time to read and write. I’m an eclectic in most things, including prayer, a subject and practice that I’ve been delving deeper into for years.
For more than two decades I’ve been involved in a microcosm of the exploding global prayer movement. Increasingly my life has become organized around prayer: devotional prayer, prayer with my husband, prayer for my city and state, prayer for the neighborhood in which I live.
I had considered writing a book about the prayer movement in our town. But I never planned to write a book about prayer itself. It took months for the topic to come into focus, and a while longer to narrow it to five modes, or positions, of prayer, and then years to write. Realizing the immensity of the subject, I enlisted specialists to help me. I believe you will appreciate their stories, their practical wisdom and their encouragement to go deeper in each position of prayer.
When I’m not reading or writing, you may find me hiking, experimenting with new recipes or dreaming up something creative to do with my gregarious and hilarious grandchildren. I love hanging out with my husband, Gary, a man of wisdom offered in a few words. When my ideas get unruly, he is there with sound theological perspective. Neither of us is crazy about heights, but by faith we’re finding the courage to cross new bridges together.
Bridge photo by Jonathan Klok.
I aspire to be a bridge between head and heart, between knowledge about God and affection for God.
Moorings – What we believe
God is one Being, manifested in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father not only wants to know us; He wants us to know Him. And He has made that possible by sending His own Son and His Holy Spirit as unified yet distinct expressions of His Person.
The Gospel is powerful.
The good news of Jesus’s substitutionary, atoning death and resurrection is still powerful to save, heal and deliver you and me. Our salvation is accomplished by God’s grace (free gift), through the vehicle of our faith, which is also enabled by God.
Sin is alive and well.
Each of us has resident within ourselves the flesh, or sin nature. Therefore, each of us must receive Christ’s payment for our sins to be set free from our personal guilt for sinful attitudes, words and actions—those that are objectively wrong by God’s standards.
The Holy Spirit indwells and empowers those who are in Christ.
Once set free, we trust in the Holy Spirit residing in us, to empower us to walk (live) according to God’s standards.
Because God is powerful, prayer is powerful.
God wants to do far beyond what we can ask or imagine in answer to our prayers. And we pray only to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, never to Mary, angels, saints or deceased loved ones.
Scripture is our primary authority.
Coming into the presence of God with a deep rootedness in the rightly interpreted Word of God is key to following Jesus. Because we believe Scripture is infallible and trustworthy as originally written, we do not root our core beliefs in church traditions, personal experiences, or collected wisdom (“my truth”).
The supernatural gifts of the Spirit are for today.
All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still available, and supernatural events are still possible until the Lord Himself returns.
We're all on a journey.
We all need patience, discernment and grace for our ourselves and for one another on the journey toward holiness that is called sanctification (spiritual growth).