To me, Burning Man is primarily a prophetic experience – the entire experience out on the playa is an opportunity to exercise your power as a prophet. And what exactly does that mean? The Bible is full of prophets. Every author of every book of Scripture expresses spiritual insight through their writing that is still remarkably poignant millennia later.
In preparing for this year’s Burning Man, I have come up with a list of Biblical prayers to focus on each day on the playa. If you’d like, you are more than welcome to join in! Your prayers, your willingness, your active support will affirm this golden truth: We are all Prophets.
Day 1: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can’t interpret the signs of the times?” — Matthew 16:3
Dear God, help me focus my thought on hearing God speak to me through every situation and circumstance. Help me set aside preconceived notions about what is right and wrong, good or bad, and be willing to really read the signs of the times in everyone I meet – no matter what they look like or how they act. I want to see your beautiful, majestic work of creation in everyone I meet.
Day 2: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” — Revelation 21:1
Dear God, I want to experience heaven wherever I am. I want to feel the presence of your angels, the glory of your goodness, and shout hallelujah that the old has passed away and the fresh, vibrant, holy and new has been revealed.
Day 3: “Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise!” — Micah 4:4
Dear God, help me dwell in peace and security alongside others. I want to be at peace to be me even when I’m around people who seem so different! Help me be attentive to the needs of others and not to forget that my shade could be shade for another – and that the seed of potential for the awakening of the Holy Spirit lives in every one of God’s children.
Day 4: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” — Joel 2:28
Dear God, I want to receive your prophetic anointing in order to share your glory with the world. I want to see signs and wonders, not for my own amusement, but in order to open the eyes of others to your awesome love. I want the love of your Son Jesus to be so attractive, so unique, and so irresistible that we forget about religious belief and unite in spiritual affection.
Day 5: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” — Romans 12:2
Dear God, let my activity and interaction with others reflect your model for covenant relationship. Let my conversation, my thoughts, and my actions be acceptable according to heaven’s standard. May I see every man as a brother made in God’s image and likeness, and every woman as a sister in Christ. Let there be no separation between me and them, but let us all represent an individual piece of a most exquisite whole.
Day 6: “‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism'” — Acts 10:34
Dear God, may I set aside prejudices and old concepts today. May I examine myself and discover what might be keeping me at a distant from others or thinking pridefully. Give me your eyes to see your children the same way you see them. Give me your voice to speak with joy and gratitude. May I be blind to hate and receptive to the many gifts waiting for me today.
Day 7: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” — Matthew 5:23-34
Dear God, let me leave behind any and all resentment, bitterness, or envy directed towards my self or my fellow man. Let me be bathed in forgiveness on this day. Let me rejoice that I am made new, that the old man is burned away and the new man is established. Let all that is useless to my spiritual mission burn away, and may new strength and revelation follow me all of the days of my life. Amen.
Mary Baker Eddy, the female prophet and apostle of the 19th and 20th centuries, defines the word prophet in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as “a spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth” (pg. 593: 4-5).
Isn’t this what unites all of us at Burning Man? No matter our background, we all see and experience spiritual reality unlike anywhere else on the globe. We awaken to the nothingness of limitation, fear, and conflict and subsume those false cognitions with love, clarity, and infinite possibility. We are all prophets. Prophets of individual tribes, completely unique and different in how we prophesy, the languages we speak, our beliefs, our worship, our expression of the one Truth we all seek.
At this year’s Burning Man, I look forward to putting these prayers into practice by actively seeing every single person around me as a prophet sent by the supreme and glorious Father of all.
Stop by our camp (Isfahan & 9:15) if you can and receive support for your prophetic gifting. If you’re not actually at Burning Man, stop by mentally and take some time to pray for us each day! Spread it around wherever you are and take it with you to your next destination – awaken those around you by reminding them with your love that, in-deed, We are all Prophets.
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