8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 115
F I N D I N G
G O D
I N T H E
V E R B S
Jennie Isbell amp J Brent Bill
Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 215
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 315
F I N D I N G
G O D I N T H E
V E R B S
Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer
Jennie Isbell amp J Brent Bill
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 415
InterVarsity PressPO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Press reg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA reg a movement
of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools of nursing in the
United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical StudentsFor information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from HE HOLY BIBLE NEW
INERNAIONAL VERSIONreg NIV reg Copyright copy 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983096 983089983097983096983092 983090983088983089983089 by Biblica Inctrade Used by
permission All rights reserved worldwide
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been changed to
protect the privacy of individuals
ldquoChurch Registerrdquo copyright ldquo Te Sacred Sandwichrdquo httpsacredsandwichcomarchives983097983090983095983091 Used with
permission
ldquoTank You Good Nightrdquo by Carrie Newcomer copyright 983090983088983089983091 Windchime Productions Used with permission
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images copy ru983091apr iStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983089983096-983094 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting theenvironment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learn more visit
greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Isbell Jennifer L
Finding God in the verbs crafting a fresh language of prayer
Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (pbk alk paper)
983089 PrayermdashChristianity 983090 Spiritual exercises I itle
BV983090983089983093I983096983091 983090983088983089983093
983090983092983096983091rsquo983090mdashdc983090983091
983090983088983089983092983088983092983092983092983092983095
P 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 515
Contents 983089 A New Way to Pray 852025
Exercise 1048625mdashhe Usual Prayer Suspects 1048625983091
Exercise 983090mdashhe Source of Prayer 1048625852022
983090 What Lies Beneath the Words 1048625852025
Exercise 983091mdashPrayer Words 983090983092
Exercise 983092mdashMy Belief Lenses 983090852023
983091 God in Action Finding Our Verbs 983091983091
Exercise 983093mdashCurrent Verbs 983091983092
Exercise 852022mdashMy Verb Sources 983092983090
Exercise 852023mdashWhere I Have Perceived God 983092983093
Exercise 852024mdashMy Verbs for oday 983092852023
983092 Images of an Active-ense God Nouns Tat Fit the Verbs 983092852025Exercise 852025mdashMy Names for God 983093983088
Exercise 1048625983088mdashGreetings and Salutations 983093983093
Exercise 10486251048625mdashUnpacking Images from Life and radition 983093852024
Exercise 1048625983090mdashA Singular Salutation 852022983088
Exercise 1048625983091mdashPlaying a Little More Boldly 852022983092
Exercise 1048625983092mdashScary Words 852023983088
1048629 Hope Beauty and Depth Adjectives and Adverbs 852023983091
Exercise 1048625983093mdashMy Modifiers 852023983093
Exercise 1048625852022mdashSubtraction 852023852023
Exercise 1048625852023mdashAvoiding Earnestly and All the Other Lees 852023852025
Exercise 1048625852024mdashImplications 8520241048625
Exercise 1048625852025mdashGrowing Our Prayers 852024983091
Exercise 983090983088mdashPraying Metaphorically 852024852023983094 Unpacking Meaning
Shared Language and Authentic Prayer 852024852025
Exercise 9830901048625mdashLearning from Jesus 852025983088
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 215
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 315
F I N D I N G
G O D I N T H E
V E R B S
Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer
Jennie Isbell amp J Brent Bill
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 415
InterVarsity PressPO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Press reg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA reg a movement
of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools of nursing in the
United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical StudentsFor information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from HE HOLY BIBLE NEW
INERNAIONAL VERSIONreg NIV reg Copyright copy 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983096 983089983097983096983092 983090983088983089983089 by Biblica Inctrade Used by
permission All rights reserved worldwide
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been changed to
protect the privacy of individuals
ldquoChurch Registerrdquo copyright ldquo Te Sacred Sandwichrdquo httpsacredsandwichcomarchives983097983090983095983091 Used with
permission
ldquoTank You Good Nightrdquo by Carrie Newcomer copyright 983090983088983089983091 Windchime Productions Used with permission
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images copy ru983091apr iStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983089983096-983094 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting theenvironment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learn more visit
greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Isbell Jennifer L
Finding God in the verbs crafting a fresh language of prayer
Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (pbk alk paper)
983089 PrayermdashChristianity 983090 Spiritual exercises I itle
BV983090983089983093I983096983091 983090983088983089983093
983090983092983096983091rsquo983090mdashdc983090983091
983090983088983089983092983088983092983092983092983092983095
P 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 515
Contents 983089 A New Way to Pray 852025
Exercise 1048625mdashhe Usual Prayer Suspects 1048625983091
Exercise 983090mdashhe Source of Prayer 1048625852022
983090 What Lies Beneath the Words 1048625852025
Exercise 983091mdashPrayer Words 983090983092
Exercise 983092mdashMy Belief Lenses 983090852023
983091 God in Action Finding Our Verbs 983091983091
Exercise 983093mdashCurrent Verbs 983091983092
Exercise 852022mdashMy Verb Sources 983092983090
Exercise 852023mdashWhere I Have Perceived God 983092983093
Exercise 852024mdashMy Verbs for oday 983092852023
983092 Images of an Active-ense God Nouns Tat Fit the Verbs 983092852025Exercise 852025mdashMy Names for God 983093983088
Exercise 1048625983088mdashGreetings and Salutations 983093983093
Exercise 10486251048625mdashUnpacking Images from Life and radition 983093852024
Exercise 1048625983090mdashA Singular Salutation 852022983088
Exercise 1048625983091mdashPlaying a Little More Boldly 852022983092
Exercise 1048625983092mdashScary Words 852023983088
1048629 Hope Beauty and Depth Adjectives and Adverbs 852023983091
Exercise 1048625983093mdashMy Modifiers 852023983093
Exercise 1048625852022mdashSubtraction 852023852023
Exercise 1048625852023mdashAvoiding Earnestly and All the Other Lees 852023852025
Exercise 1048625852024mdashImplications 8520241048625
Exercise 1048625852025mdashGrowing Our Prayers 852024983091
Exercise 983090983088mdashPraying Metaphorically 852024852023983094 Unpacking Meaning
Shared Language and Authentic Prayer 852024852025
Exercise 9830901048625mdashLearning from Jesus 852025983088
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 315
F I N D I N G
G O D I N T H E
V E R B S
Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer
Jennie Isbell amp J Brent Bill
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 415
InterVarsity PressPO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Press reg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA reg a movement
of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools of nursing in the
United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical StudentsFor information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from HE HOLY BIBLE NEW
INERNAIONAL VERSIONreg NIV reg Copyright copy 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983096 983089983097983096983092 983090983088983089983089 by Biblica Inctrade Used by
permission All rights reserved worldwide
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been changed to
protect the privacy of individuals
ldquoChurch Registerrdquo copyright ldquo Te Sacred Sandwichrdquo httpsacredsandwichcomarchives983097983090983095983091 Used with
permission
ldquoTank You Good Nightrdquo by Carrie Newcomer copyright 983090983088983089983091 Windchime Productions Used with permission
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images copy ru983091apr iStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983089983096-983094 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting theenvironment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learn more visit
greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Isbell Jennifer L
Finding God in the verbs crafting a fresh language of prayer
Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (pbk alk paper)
983089 PrayermdashChristianity 983090 Spiritual exercises I itle
BV983090983089983093I983096983091 983090983088983089983093
983090983092983096983091rsquo983090mdashdc983090983091
983090983088983089983092983088983092983092983092983092983095
P 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 515
Contents 983089 A New Way to Pray 852025
Exercise 1048625mdashhe Usual Prayer Suspects 1048625983091
Exercise 983090mdashhe Source of Prayer 1048625852022
983090 What Lies Beneath the Words 1048625852025
Exercise 983091mdashPrayer Words 983090983092
Exercise 983092mdashMy Belief Lenses 983090852023
983091 God in Action Finding Our Verbs 983091983091
Exercise 983093mdashCurrent Verbs 983091983092
Exercise 852022mdashMy Verb Sources 983092983090
Exercise 852023mdashWhere I Have Perceived God 983092983093
Exercise 852024mdashMy Verbs for oday 983092852023
983092 Images of an Active-ense God Nouns Tat Fit the Verbs 983092852025Exercise 852025mdashMy Names for God 983093983088
Exercise 1048625983088mdashGreetings and Salutations 983093983093
Exercise 10486251048625mdashUnpacking Images from Life and radition 983093852024
Exercise 1048625983090mdashA Singular Salutation 852022983088
Exercise 1048625983091mdashPlaying a Little More Boldly 852022983092
Exercise 1048625983092mdashScary Words 852023983088
1048629 Hope Beauty and Depth Adjectives and Adverbs 852023983091
Exercise 1048625983093mdashMy Modifiers 852023983093
Exercise 1048625852022mdashSubtraction 852023852023
Exercise 1048625852023mdashAvoiding Earnestly and All the Other Lees 852023852025
Exercise 1048625852024mdashImplications 8520241048625
Exercise 1048625852025mdashGrowing Our Prayers 852024983091
Exercise 983090983088mdashPraying Metaphorically 852024852023983094 Unpacking Meaning
Shared Language and Authentic Prayer 852024852025
Exercise 9830901048625mdashLearning from Jesus 852025983088
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 415
InterVarsity PressPO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Press reg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA reg a movement
of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools of nursing in the
United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical StudentsFor information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from HE HOLY BIBLE NEW
INERNAIONAL VERSIONreg NIV reg Copyright copy 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983096 983089983097983096983092 983090983088983089983089 by Biblica Inctrade Used by
permission All rights reserved worldwide
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been changed to
protect the privacy of individuals
ldquoChurch Registerrdquo copyright ldquo Te Sacred Sandwichrdquo httpsacredsandwichcomarchives983097983090983095983091 Used with
permission
ldquoTank You Good Nightrdquo by Carrie Newcomer copyright 983090983088983089983091 Windchime Productions Used with permission
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images copy ru983091apr iStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983089983096-983094 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting theenvironment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learn more visit
greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Isbell Jennifer L
Finding God in the verbs crafting a fresh language of prayer
Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983091983093983097983094-983094 (pbk alk paper)
983089 PrayermdashChristianity 983090 Spiritual exercises I itle
BV983090983089983093I983096983091 983090983088983089983093
983090983092983096983091rsquo983090mdashdc983090983091
983090983088983089983092983088983092983092983092983092983095
P 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 515
Contents 983089 A New Way to Pray 852025
Exercise 1048625mdashhe Usual Prayer Suspects 1048625983091
Exercise 983090mdashhe Source of Prayer 1048625852022
983090 What Lies Beneath the Words 1048625852025
Exercise 983091mdashPrayer Words 983090983092
Exercise 983092mdashMy Belief Lenses 983090852023
983091 God in Action Finding Our Verbs 983091983091
Exercise 983093mdashCurrent Verbs 983091983092
Exercise 852022mdashMy Verb Sources 983092983090
Exercise 852023mdashWhere I Have Perceived God 983092983093
Exercise 852024mdashMy Verbs for oday 983092852023
983092 Images of an Active-ense God Nouns Tat Fit the Verbs 983092852025Exercise 852025mdashMy Names for God 983093983088
Exercise 1048625983088mdashGreetings and Salutations 983093983093
Exercise 10486251048625mdashUnpacking Images from Life and radition 983093852024
Exercise 1048625983090mdashA Singular Salutation 852022983088
Exercise 1048625983091mdashPlaying a Little More Boldly 852022983092
Exercise 1048625983092mdashScary Words 852023983088
1048629 Hope Beauty and Depth Adjectives and Adverbs 852023983091
Exercise 1048625983093mdashMy Modifiers 852023983093
Exercise 1048625852022mdashSubtraction 852023852023
Exercise 1048625852023mdashAvoiding Earnestly and All the Other Lees 852023852025
Exercise 1048625852024mdashImplications 8520241048625
Exercise 1048625852025mdashGrowing Our Prayers 852024983091
Exercise 983090983088mdashPraying Metaphorically 852024852023983094 Unpacking Meaning
Shared Language and Authentic Prayer 852024852025
Exercise 9830901048625mdashLearning from Jesus 852025983088
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 515
Contents 983089 A New Way to Pray 852025
Exercise 1048625mdashhe Usual Prayer Suspects 1048625983091
Exercise 983090mdashhe Source of Prayer 1048625852022
983090 What Lies Beneath the Words 1048625852025
Exercise 983091mdashPrayer Words 983090983092
Exercise 983092mdashMy Belief Lenses 983090852023
983091 God in Action Finding Our Verbs 983091983091
Exercise 983093mdashCurrent Verbs 983091983092
Exercise 852022mdashMy Verb Sources 983092983090
Exercise 852023mdashWhere I Have Perceived God 983092983093
Exercise 852024mdashMy Verbs for oday 983092852023
983092 Images of an Active-ense God Nouns Tat Fit the Verbs 983092852025Exercise 852025mdashMy Names for God 983093983088
Exercise 1048625983088mdashGreetings and Salutations 983093983093
Exercise 10486251048625mdashUnpacking Images from Life and radition 983093852024
Exercise 1048625983090mdashA Singular Salutation 852022983088
Exercise 1048625983091mdashPlaying a Little More Boldly 852022983092
Exercise 1048625983092mdashScary Words 852023983088
1048629 Hope Beauty and Depth Adjectives and Adverbs 852023983091
Exercise 1048625983093mdashMy Modifiers 852023983093
Exercise 1048625852022mdashSubtraction 852023852023
Exercise 1048625852023mdashAvoiding Earnestly and All the Other Lees 852023852025
Exercise 1048625852024mdashImplications 8520241048625
Exercise 1048625852025mdashGrowing Our Prayers 852024983091
Exercise 983090983088mdashPraying Metaphorically 852024852023983094 Unpacking Meaning
Shared Language and Authentic Prayer 852024852025
Exercise 9830901048625mdashLearning from Jesus 852025983088
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 615
Exercise 983090983090mdashUnpacking 852025852023
Exercise 983090983091mdashhe (Insert Your Name)rsquos Prayer 852025852025Exercise 983090983092mdashA ldquoBadrdquo Words Prayer 1048625983088983091
1048631 Jesus the Word of God and Our Words 1048625983088983093
Exercise 983090983093mdashDiscipleship as Listening 1048625983088852023
Exercise 983090852022mdashAn Incarnational Prayer 10486251048625983090
Exercise 983090852023mdashLife Prayer 10486251048625983092
Exercise 983090852024mdashWord of God and Our Words 10486251048625852023
983096 Beyond Words
Other Ways of CommunicatingmdashOr Not 1048625983090983091
Exercise 983090852025mdash My Resistance 1048625983090852022
Exercise 983091983088mdashResisting the Call 10486259830911048625
Exercise 9830911048625mdashGrowing Pains 1048625983091983092
Exercise 983091983090mdashGet into Your Body 1048625983091852025
983097 Gospel Means Good News And News Is New by Definition 1048625983092983091
Exercise 983091983091mdashhe Reality of God 1048625983092852022
Exercise 983091983092mdashNew Images of Prayer 1048625983093983090
Exercise 983091983093mdashGrowing Up Your Prayers 1048625983093852025
Appendix 1048625 Exercises for Building
Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 1048625852022983091
Appendix 983090 Prayer Exercises 1048625852022852022
Appendix 983091 Resources 1048625852023983091
Notes 1048625852023852023
Acknowledgments 1048625852024983091
Seeking and Finding God in the Verbsmdashthe Workshop 1048625852024983093
About Jennie 1048625852024852023
About Brent 1048625852024852024
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 715
983089
A New Way to Pray
May these words of my mouth and this meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight
LORD my Rock and my Redeemer
P983155983137983148983149 1048625104863310486251048628
Whatrsquos that you sayrdquo Tatrsquos what a hard-of-hearing
grandparent used to demand of Brent and his slang-
wielding fast-talking cousins A few well-chosen words were
what was wantedmdashnot a bunch of idle chatter
ldquoWhatrsquos that you sayrdquo While God is not some elderly grand-
parent in the sky we wonder if God might be longing to say that
to us sometimes Tatrsquos probably because at times wersquove begun
to mumble Wersquove forgotten to pray from our hearts Wersquove
stopped listening for the Spirit working within us Wersquove lost
our connection to God Wersquove found that we no longer draw out
our own words from deep within our souls So we have hun-
gered for a new way of prayingmdasha way that reconnects us to themost important conversation of our lives
A few summers ago Jennie offered a workshop called Seeking
and Finding God in the Verbs for a meeting of Quakers in Plain-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 815
8520171048624 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
field Indiana Te title intrigued Brent and he signed up for it As
Jennie led the overflow workshop group participants delightedlycalled out verbs and worked their way toward new nouns to use
in addressing God in prayer Te room was full of energy
We had lunch after the workshop As we chatted and ate
Jennie mentioned that she came up with this workshop because
she wanted to help people connect more authentically to God
in their prayer life Brent replied that workshop certainly worked
for him
I told Jennie that what I learned in her workshop that morning
was going to change the way I prayed Using what she had
taught in that little more than an hour brought a fresh desire
to pray deeper and more authentically I said that I wanted to
write a book with her based on her workshop Her ideas about
language and how words mattermdashinforming both what weare saying in prayer and what we want to praymdashwas some-
thing people would resonate with and find really helpful
A few years have passed since that lunch conversation Wersquove
had a number of chats since thenmdasha large number Te book
you have in your hands is the result of those conversations about
prayermdashthe conversation of prime importance in our lives Tisbook is about a new way of praying that we want to share with
you
T983144983141 M983151983155983156 I983149983152983151983154983156983137983150983156 C983151983150983158983141983154983155983137983156983145983151983150
We both recognized the importance of prayer early in our lives
We had good teachers Brent remembers nighttime prayers at
home grace at meals at his and neighborsrsquo homes prayermeetings at church and his grandmother having other old
women (probably in their sixties) kneel in her living room for
prayer And Jennie says
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 915
A New Way to Pray 852017852017
I learned to pray from the women in my life particularly my
mother It was not the words for prayer that I got from her butthe heart for it I cannot count the number of times she said to
me ldquoJennie the good Lord doesnrsquot give you anything you canrsquot
handlerdquo Tatrsquos just not the way it worksmdasheverything about her
ceaseless optimism was undergirded by this belief And I be-
lieved her I remember as a little girl watching her mouth shape
soundless words while driving while cleaning house while
cooking dinner I knew this was the ongoing conversation at thecenter of my motherrsquos life
As a girl I strained to hear the wordsmdashmy motherrsquos to God
Godrsquos back to my mother and Godrsquos back to me as I began my
own conversation ruthfully I canrsquot remember much of what
I prayed about back then Te quality of the conversation was
enough to keep me going
We learn from hearing or reading the prayers of others Tat
is why this book is peppered with the prayers of our friends and
colleagues You will find them in the sidebars Tey are authentic
deep prayers and we hope you will find them inspiring you to
the same
All of these experiences showed us the significance of a rich
prayer life We felt the quality of the conversation It kept usgoing For a while And then we found ourselves slipping into
patterns of oft-repeated prayers that werenrsquot up to the task of
spiritually nourishing communication with God Tese were
snack-bar microwave-meal and V-dinner equivalents of prayer
instead of homegrown home-cooked made-in-love sort of
prayers that we had been fed by in innumerable ways Or westopped praying at all expecting God the all-knowing to read
our minds and hearts and be satisfied
When we sat down one afternoon over coffee to chat we
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1015
8520171048626 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
admitted to each other that we had prayer concerns Tey werenrsquot
the kind that are often mentioned in worship on Sundaymornings For Brent it was finding himself saying the same
words over and over He did this because growing up as a non-
liturgical Quaker he relied on unstructured informal prayers
I was taught those were the only authentic prayers Liturgical
written prayers like my Catholic playmates prayed were not
truly prayer because they were the vain repetitions that Jesus
preached against Te only real prayer had to spring spontaneously
from the soulmdasha movement of the Spirit in my childhood heart
Of course such teaching didnrsquot exactly square with ldquoNow I Lay
Me Down to Sleeprdquo ldquoGod Is Greatrdquo and other prayers Irsquod been
encouraged to memorize Still that thoughtmdashthat true prayer has
to arise unplanned from the heartmdashinfluences how I pray today
Jennie on the other hand learned in college the love of prayingthe Psalms and prayers from ancient Christians She loved the
feeling of companionship that she sensed in repeating their words
and she experienced gratitude for their transparency in their
struggles Tat transparency was apparent in their words of
pleading and their words of celebration However she also found
that relying too much on anotherrsquos prayers of intimacy with Godinhibited the ripening of her own relationship with the Holy One
At another meeting while our coffee cooled and the shared
scone disappeared we admitted that spontaneously or via a
prayer book we often heard the same words coming out of our
mouths time and again We found ourselves longing for some-
thing more something richer We imagined God bored with our
seemingly desultory superficial stanzas We knew we were We donrsquot think wersquore the only Christians who feel this way
People are hungry to pray authentically Just look at the over-
whelming response to Anne Lamottrsquos bestselling book Help
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1115
A New Way to Pray 8520171048627
Tanks Wow Te Tree Essential Prayers Tese are genuine
from-the-heart prayers Judging by the bookrsquos sales they reso-nated with readers Perhaps thatrsquos because many of us have
prayed those words Tey have sprung directly from our souls
and made their way out through our mouths People of faith
through the years have prayed them As Meister Eckhart says
ldquoIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it
will be enoughrdquo Help thanks and wow are essential And theyrsquore
enough if prayed with a real sense of need gratitude and inspi-ration that feeds our souls and connects us with God
But we admit that it was
easy for us to lapse into repeti-
tious refrains refrains that felt
less than sufficient to carry us
into the deep waters of the
Spirit we longed to dive into
Our hearts told us that we had
lapsed into easy God-speak
We werenrsquot reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living
words of praise confession concern intercession and longing We
were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God We wanted to
pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves Te first action in changing the way we pray is to bring to light
and to mind our individual habits of prayer Tis book offers com-
panionship and guidance as you begin to notice consider and
deepen your prayer experiences We include exercises in every
chapter to bring the content to life to your life Reflection and
reflectively writing your way through this book will make reading
it a richer experience
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983089mdashT983144983141 U983155983157983137983148 P983154983137983161983141983154 S983157983155983152983141983139983156983155
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil ake a few moments
Please dear God thank
you for the amazing
opportunities you have
given me to answer to that
of God in other people
Elaine Emmi
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1215
8520171048628 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
and make a list of the prayers you use regularly Write them out
as fully as you can We will revisit this list laterbull your daily prayers
bull your special-occasion prayers
bull your go-to prayers
bull written prayers that you enjoy
P983154983137983139983156983145983139983145983150983143 P983154983137983161983141983154983155 983151983142 I983150983155983152983145983154983141983140 I983149983152983141983154983142983141983139983156983145983151983150
Part of the holy experiment we propose with prayer language
involves practicing inspired and imperfect prayers
Inspired sounds pretty good doesnrsquot it Imperfect less so
After all doesnrsquot Scripture urge us to ldquobe perfect therefore as
your heavenly Father is perfectrdquo (Matthew 85202110486281048632) How can we
bring imperfect prayers before the perfect God We canrsquot if we think our imperfection is a surprise to God
We believe that thinking our imperfections might startle God
is one reason we held back from using words and images that
were the truest expressions of our reaching to Godmdashespecially
when our imperfections are not huge ones As Brent says
It would be easier for me to confess something big to God Tenin the face of such holiness a deep failing would come as no
surprise As if God is ever surprised But itrsquos the pettiness of my
imperfections that makes it hard to pray authentically and im-
perfectly in some ways Shouldnrsquot I be a better person now after
all these years of following the way of Jesus Has God been
keeping close enough tabs on me to know that I can often be
hateful mean-spirited impatient and riddled with imper- fection In my head I say ldquoYes God knowsrdquo but my heart says
ldquoKeep it hidden just in caserdquo
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1315
A New Way to Pray 852017852021
As we talked about this in another coffee shop (we drank a lot
of coffee while working on this book) we decided that when webring our whole hearts and our willingness to be changed by
praying in a new way God delights in our efforts After all we
reasoned we werenrsquot the first imperfect pray-ers ldquoHappy is the one
who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocksrdquo (Psalm
852017104862710486311048633) hardly sounds like a prayer that would please the God who
is love Nope not even our imperfections set us apart from the great
remembered prayers and pray-ers of preceding generations What we learned from them as we looked at their prayers is that their
relationship with God was so consuming so inspiring so fearless
that they used their own words Stories of people being called to
God permeate Scripture We see this
as inspiration to consider what ways
God calls us to live and pray more
authentically
Troughout this book wersquore going
to invite you into new ways of using
your own words Tere will be times
that the language may feel awkward
or out of sync with your faith life However we have found that
being stretched beyond the familiar helped us move beyondfearing that in the most intimate relationship of our lives our
words would be insufficient Te exercises we offer to you opened
us in a fresh way to the great lover of our souls Risking using our
own words in an original approach helped us to know God (and
ourselves) a bit more as we were known by God
We continue to discover our habits of prayer even as we
change them In fact upon closer examination it may be thatthis process of discovery of our prayer habits and of where our
language and understandings rise from is the key to changing
them We rarely intentionally seek to change things that fly
God please guide me
let faith fill my heart
instead of fear
Jana Llewellyn
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1415
8520171048630 F983145983150983140983145983150983143 G983151983140 983145983150 983156983144983141 V983141983154983138983155
under the radar of our self-awareness Te hunger for something
deeper more authentic however awakens new eyes to see our-selves with Te next exercise will help you begin to see your
prayers and prayer habits from a few steps back which will
enable you to see them woven into your larger prayer life and
relationship with God
E983160983141983154983139983145983155983141 983090mdashT983144983141 S983151983157983154983139983141 983151983142 P983154983137983161983141983154
ake out your journal and a pen or pencil Now take a momentand say a prayer aloud Where did you go for your prayer Did
it spring spontaneously from your soul From your memory
From a prayer book
Te source does not matter so much as does an awareness of
the source If you read the entire exercise before saying a prayer
notice what thoughts informed your prayer choice
Write your reflections about the words you used You might
find it helpful to write the ldquoimportantrdquo words down
Were the words
bull bold
bull safe
bull edgybull perfect or imperfect
bull accurate reflections of how you feel and believe
And so we begin As we thought of an image for what wersquore
proposing we came up with tidying a sock drawer It is often best
to take all the socks out match up lost pairings in sensible ways
and then re-roll and make a perfect display that is easy to accessOf course deep and authentic prayer isnrsquot anything like a tidy
drawer But the metaphor with some limits does work Tis
book is a process Itrsquos staged in chapters with guided exercises
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8102019 Finding God in the Verbs by Jennie Isbell and J Brent Bill - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullfinding-god-in-the-verbs-by-jennie-isbell-and-j-brent-bill-excerpt 1515
A New Way to Pray 8520171048631
to move you through the process of inventorying and clarifying
what is tucked away in your ldquoprayer drawerrdquo and how it got thereSometimes we get into a rut We only wear the first five pairs
of socks Our favorites that are always at the front of the drawer
Other socks get shoved to the back Tis can be true in prayer
as well In the next chapter we examine our go-to prayer words
and what we can learn by following the thread of them to their
origin as our favorites
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
Top Related