Painting the picture.

Painting the picture.

Jesus tells us in Luke 18:1–8 about a widow who keeps knocking. She doesn’t stop. She doesn’t care how she looks. She’s not trying to impress. She just needs justice. And she believes someone’s listening.

Yet G-d isn’t like the unjust judge. He’s the perfect Judge, righteous, merciful, and near. Psalm 9:7–8 says, “He has established His throne for judgment, He governs the people with equity.” He’s not annoyed by your knocking. He’s waiting for it. When we knock, He doesn’t hand us stones. He gives us bread (Luke 11:11–13). He calms the storm, not just the one outside, but the one inside (Mark 4:39). He sees the chaos of our scrolling, the noise of our feeds, the ache behind our filters. And He says, “Come to Me, all who are weary.” (Matthew 11:28).

Let’s talk truth, prayer feels empty when we’re using it to escape. Real prayer is not escape, it’s immersion. Like the mikvah/baptism. You don’t walk into a mikvah dressed to perform. You strip down. You submerge. You come up reborn.

Showing the first step by personal example.

I’ve stood in that kind of prayer. Elijah prayed for death under a broom tree (1 Kings 19:4). I’ve been there too running from lust, greed, alcohol, dealing drugs and spiritual predators. I cried out for the end. And G-d? He didn’t shame me. He met me. He whispered purpose. He answered, not always loud, not always as I wanted or visioned, YET always present.

I’ve returned to the same vomit more times than I can count (Proverbs 26:11). But like with Esther, who moved unseen in a palace of compromise, G-d was already working in the background. The world couldn’t see it, no one even said His name, Yet my Neshama/soul knew.

Effort

And now, youth, I’m not asking you to pray pretty. I’m asking you to pray real. To knock like your life depends on it. Because it does. And the Judge isn’t locked behind some cosmic door. He’s standing at your door, knocking too (Revelation 3:20).

Practice

Mikvah Moment “Return and Be Washed” based off a Carl Jung exercise.

Showing the first step toward immersive, soul-honest prayer.

Set the scene quietly and intentionally- The lights are dim. There’s a large bowl of water at the front, like a still pool. Stones rest beside it. Candles. A basket of paper and pens.

Speaker- “This is for those of you who are tired of hiding. Who’ve got pain, guilt, fear, addiction, stuff nobody sees, but your soul never forgets. You’re not here to perform. You’re here to ask Abba for real.

Take a slip of paper. Write down what’s chasing you

Something you're running from.

A habit that keeps pulling you under.

A prayer that feels unanswered or too raw to speak out loud.

Fold it. Bring it forward. Press it into the water with a stone and let it go. Let it dissolve. That’s your surrender.

Then take a candle. Hold it. Let it remind you that you’re not alone. That G-d’s been in your storm, in the silence, in the small details, moving even when you didn’t see it. He is the light of the world The Lamp that never can be covered”

Read slowly as students participate- “Create in me a clean heart, O G-d, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

“Let us examine our ways and return to the Lord.” Lamentations 3:40

“He calms the storm to a whisper.” Psalm 107:29

Sermon on the mount is one I greatly enjoy as the reminder of Law, Gospel and just how amazing our G-d is for if He can feed and harbor the birds what more shall He do for us as His children!

Closing prayer- “Ruach Elohim, breathe over these waters. See every cry offered here, every unspoken ache. Speak again, not with thunder, but with Your whisper that says, “I see you. I know you. I love you still.”  Wash us tonight, and wake us up to You, let us hear your voice again, “You are Mine.” In the name of the One who was immersed and rose again, we return. Amen.

Remind them this can be done anytime one needs a reminder, Yet ultimately it doesn’t matter the body of water, the physical stone, the flame. If it all ended tomorrow the only thing that would matter is the crying to Abba so raw and true He in His compassion came down from Heaven and was Incarnated By the Holy Spirit and made Man. Baruch Hashem for He has risen He has risen indeed! Haleluyah!