What IS the Difference Between Prayer and Communing?

12/29/2022

Ponder if you would?
What is the difference between prayer and communing?
Are they the same?
Or do they just overlap?
Or do they not overlap at all and they are two separate things?

Which do you think is more persuasive to God, if there even is a difference between the two, depending on how you answered above.

How do you commune with God? Is it about words? Or does it also include emotion and feelings and ongoing thoughts to him, from him, with him?

Commune for a bit with these questions? :-)

Do you think Jesus spoke in parables because he prepared his sermon thoughts? Really?!

Do you think he often spoke in parables or riddles because he prayed?

Or do you think he spoke in parables or riddles because he communed and just described what he SAW to meet the need that he felt in front of him? Realtime.

Seeing and feeling and experiencing - are a different kind of “knowing” than words or ideas.

You can Know the answer.

This definition of commune is quite special in pondering this kind of interaction with Daddy. :)

Commune: to communicate intimately with; be in a state of heightened, intimate receptivity

The analogy that came to mind was the relationship between speed and acceleration. If you say you are communing (you are moving with God—have speed), but do not ever pray (lean into—wrestle to know God’s thoughts and direction—accelerate in His direction) then you clearly aren’t communing. And if you say you are praying, but aren’t really getting any closer to communing—“keeping up with” God, then you probably aren’t praying either. Probably there are other aspects of “accelerating” towards communion with God, too, like Loving other people (even without specific “prayer” in that moment).

I want to say “D, all of the above.” :)

Prayer and communion can be the same things at times, and different as well. I COULD see them being interchangeable at times. Communion requires a constant “in-tuneness” as well as thought and words and love. I tend to think of prayer as more of a spoken word and conversation with Him, and communion as a living of life with him.

I think of my relationship with my wife. I can commune with her (think about, love her, be with her, pull the same direction as her in all things) without spoken words at times. But there had better also be a CONSTANT spoken communication and intertwined life and love as well!

Communion: (noun) the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level

Communion seems to be an exploration, a probing, some wandering and wondering, an alignment and calibration, worship, submission, exposure, a probing of heart and the depths of thought unto deepening of relationship; prayer seems to be directional action unto moving mountains arising out of that intimacy and alignment.

One thought... while “prayer” seems to have a start and stop, communing I think is never-ending...? Unless of course we choose to stop communing with God and stray from His side. Is it more like an ever-present awareness, and inner looking for His thoughts and emotions and heart towards different situations that arise every moment? The word Oneness comes to mind as I’m trying to describe what I’m picturing. And I’m guessing that Oneness Touches His heart, oh so much more, than just stopping at speaking words to Him off and on, however frequently or even passionately...?

On the 0-100 scale from recent conversations, in regard to prayer, I KNOW I’m below a 10… and in regard to communing with the Father, Son, and Spirit… even less. I’m looking Forward to that moving Upward, even today :) So nothing to add to this conversation for now other than I think the barriers for me (and maybe others) to both prayer and communing are at least two-fold… 1) allowing myself to get distracted and 2) foolishly not embracing the truth that “of myself, I can do nothing.” Real prayer and real communing, it seems to me, require single-hearted devotion and affection (even if “feelings” don’t always match) and a genuine, constant dependence. "God, I want you and I need you, I need, You, I need you.”

Related, I think it can be easy to get “disConnected” while doing work stuff because the human tendency is to depend on one’s own faculties for “earthly work”... whereas I know that it is possible to REALLY depend on God for my “work duties,” even things that I THINK I’m good at. Throughout the day, I want to be loving on and depending on Him— a branch vitally and constantly Connected to the Vine. I think that is an awesome word picture He gave us for communion. That is where I want to be.

A couple other thoughts regarding prayer and communion— COMMUNION is a shared ongoing experience of Life. Just as COMMUNITY is a shared geography with shared celebrations and sporting events and shared neighbors. Communion is the fabric or web of love and peace and Life. Prayer is the specific, purposeful, dedicated touch points and the strengthening ribs in the fabric that turn it into a wing.

Listening to the Spirit and abiding are communion. Like the child emulating a parent, so we are communing as we watch Father and follow and obey. But, the slowing down and really talking to Him about concerns and desires and slowing down to tell Him specifically of our love and adoration for Him are crucial as well. As others said above, true relationship cannot have one without the other.

Religion only has prayer. But prayer without communion is gibberish and noisy. It has no continuum of love and trust and connectedness with it. It is much like a whiny, lazy person demanding service and help while contributing nothing. So, it is understandable that God wouldn’t be inclined to answer and connect with it very often.

Much for me to grow in this area, thankfully! :)

“How do you commune with God? Is it about words? Or does it also include emotion and feelings and ongoing thoughts to him, from him, with him?”

I was reading part of Psalms 119 this morning and while reading thinking, “So why did God like this guy so much?” (“…I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.”) I think there are probably a lot of different reasons for their dynamic Bond, but there was definitely a lot of communion going on between David and God, and God REALLY liked that. How was it expressed? It came in the form of his songs of worship (which were also filled with cries for help and deep pain), music playing on his harp, and dancing with complete abandonment (2 Samuel 6).

God really enjoyed their Relationship because David loved Him with all his heart and couldn’t stop thinking about Him, talking about Him, expressing his Love (communing). I also think his communion with God allowed him to see situations (e.g., being chased by Saul, having rocks and curses thrown at him by Shimei, etc.) with Heaven eyes. There was a Peace there that I feel had to be the result of his constant communion with God. I want to pour into the Psalms more, looking at it through this lens.

But is it Prayer? Proseuche! Prayer = Drawing near and vowing in sacrifice and love.

Only those who stare through the window - who see the brush strokes of the artist in the landscape; who hear the original conductor behind all beautiful melodies; who sense the intervening provision in ordinary circumstances - are fit to be called “worshipers.” All other worship is merely pretense and religion. The “music” may sound lovely, the emotions may be roused, and the words may be “right” and sincere, but the soul is not Saved and the heart is not Changed. An offering of duty and conscience is not the same as Heaven-Piercing Faith. One has the knowledge of good and evil in his “mind” and seeks to do “good” “things” for God, but the other Sees Him who is invisible! Such a Faith reaches through the limits of space and time into heaven to see and find and know Him and eat from His Tree of Life for themselves.

Felt like this from Glimpses of Jesus was a pretty good picture of “prayer” vs communion. Seeing the window, talking words is so much less than piercing heaven and walking WITH God.

•  But is it Prayer? Proseuche!