Prayer Cleans

It was a saying of Amma Syncletica’s
That just as bitter medicine purged poison,
So prayer and fasting purged our evil thoughts.

Apophtegmata Patrum

One cannot seclude themselves from the world. Peter said it best, “We live in the world as strangers and aliens,” but both the New and Old Testament teach that we should be careful while living here not to consume the impure for it will steal our lives and the lives of our children. Syncletica’s comment reminds me of Syrup of Ipecac which is given in small doses to induce immediate vomiting in accidental poisonings. It is a horrible, intense vomiting that expels the poison from the system. The cleansing, though, is better than the result of the poison.

People often think of prayer as this great conversation with God that will result in peace and the answers to all of our needs and questions. “Just get before God and it will be okay,” they say. Other times people think of prayer as a practice that, if done diligently, will move the heart of God to be pleased and bless us.

Prayer is, at its heart, a conversation with God – Our Father. It is a time to submit requests and seek peace but the spiritually experienced will tell of how the conversations are often then directed by the Father to areas of our lives that need more discipline and purity. Having our “secret” sins and difficulties so exposed is painful. The deeper the prayers and the more time we spend with the Father, the cleaner we will become but that cleanliness of mind, soul and heart does not come easy or without purging.

Many a man has prayed for revival and then found himself required to revive himself in tears, conviction, struggle and change. Prayer and fasting bring us to the Source of Life that alone is able to purge our evil thoughts and sometimes that will be painful.