One of my favorite quotes is that purity of heart means to will one thing. I think peace has the same idea. It means not being scattered in six different directions all the time but being grounded and centered on one thing around which everything else revolves.

My pastor once said that the word glory has the idea of gravity or weight. Basically, when we talk about the glory of God, we mean that God is the only one strong enough or weighty enough to keep everything else in our lives in orbit and to keep us from flying apart or falling apart.

To be saturated in prayer means to focus and to keep refocusing on God and God’s kingdom. It becomes less about treating God like Santa Claus and asking Him for all that I want and more about retraining my mind to think what God thinks and my will to desire what God wills.

Still, panic and anxiety seem to be our default settings. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have to work at being worried. That seems to happen naturally. What I do have to work for and intentionally seek is to remain calm and peaceful when everything goes haywire (or seems to go haywire from my perspective but never in God’s).

I really like how The Message translates Matthew 6:7-13:

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”