Brian Heasley
10 min read ⭑
“God walked for pleasure regularly with Adam and Eve … God’s original plan was one of a regular encounter — a set-aside time of walking and talking. Of course, we know it all went wrong! But this was the original intent — for people to walk with God.”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
My go-to meal would be what’s called a “pastie supper,” and it brings back strong childhood memories. I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but I now live in England. This meal is a totally unhealthy, carb-ridden dietary disaster with lots of potatoes, sausage and batter — all deep-fried.
But honestly, for me, it just brings back memories of growing up in a rather stressful time in the history of Northern Ireland. We used to have this dish on a Saturday evening at my grandfather’s house. On most Saturdays, the whole family — aunts, uncles, cousins and so on — would gather to be with each other. At the top of the road was a fish-and-chips shop called Ritchies. We would go and grab it as takeout.
You had a pastie if you couldn’t really afford fish, but I never knew this as a child. I just thought it was the obvious choice! A couple of years ago, I took one of my two sons there for the same meal. I’m not sure he enjoyed the food, but it was lovely to be able to share a piece of my history from the ‘70s with him. I love that food can evoke memory, and for me, a pastie supper reminds me of my family, all growing up in a working-class part of town. In reality, it’s not what you eat but who you eat with that makes food special.
Tânia Mousinho; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
I love to visit art galleries. Here in the U.K., all of London’s national galleries are free, and they house some of the most beautiful works of art. I love looking. I love standing still and noticing, looking at the color, allowing the work to speak to me or just draw me in. When I was about 18 years old, I was homeless for a few years, and during some of my darker times, I would visit galleries and just sit and look at the art. Somehow the paintings brought me peace and helped me make sense of my own head.
It’s only as I’ve become older that I have learned that so many paintings, especially 16th- to 17th-century Italian works, had been deeply influenced by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He advocated an approach to prayer that used one’s imagination to picture oneself in the story. Art highlights a world of sound, form, tints and poetic ideas that, as Kuyper once said, “can have no other source than God.” I used to gaze upon these wonderful pictures of biblical scenes and feel drawn to their beauty, drawn to the story and eventually drawn to God.
Perhaps as Kandinsky suggests, “Color directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers and the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
This spiritual experience, these “vibrations in the soul” that I felt when gazing upon art helped me so much back then — and still do to this day. I still love visiting galleries. I don’t always linger, though. Sometimes I just go to see one painting. I think more people should do this.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
I sometimes become entitled, especially when things are going well. Entitlement is about reward, rewarding ourselves or expecting special treatment. It sometimes comes dressed in words like “honor” or “respect.” It’s a dangerous thing for a leader. I believe in honor and respect, but when that’s just one-way traffic, we know something has gone wrong. Honor and respect then become loyalty, and over the years, I’ve sometimes seen these things morph into something unhealthy. If loyalty replaces honesty, leaders stagnate and die. I secretly reward myself with food, drinks and treats. I need friends to be honest with me, and I need to be honest with myself.
I’ve noticed that we can sometimes sin the most after we’ve performed at our best. Another thing I’ve noticed is that I stop mixing well. You start to feel you can only breathe rarified air and want a certain distance from people. A friend of mine talks about “the culture of the green room,” and if I’m not careful, I could get sucked into that world.
I think success and exhaustion are my two areas of kryptonite! Mentally, they can both lead to escapism. I could spend a lot of time imagining winning the lottery. In my head, I think, I would give 90% to the church, but somehow, all my dreams are about how I would spend my 10%. Escapism comes in all sorts of forms. Because of my poor, working-class upbringing, I wonder if the money dream is a deeper thing! We all have to escape fantasies. We need to keep them in check and bring them out into the open before they eat us from the inside and become real!
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
My passion is this: that people would connect deeply with God. I see this happen in so many ways, one of the greatest things that has sustained me through 30-plus years of ministry and life is quiet time.
I looked at my two sons in their 20s recently and thought, If I could give them one thing, one piece of advice, or even one resource to help them make it in life, what would it be? I thought about it, and it became evident to me that for the last 30 or so years, a quiet time has sustained my walk with God.
I go to church, I love corporate gatherings and I love to sing worship, but I realized that if I was only doing these things once or twice a week at a corporate gathering, this would not feed my soul or help me fully grow in my Christian walk. A strong devotional life will help sustain you, so I thought I would write a book about this.
I pulled together 14 short chapters and called it “Be Still: A Simple Guide to Quiet Times.” It’s not rocket science, but I’ve tried to communicate honestly what it looks like to build a strong devotional routine into your life. I’ve tried to do this in a non-patronizing and engaging manner, which of course meant I have had to be honest about my own struggles and growth as a Christian. I’ve really enjoyed being able to invite others into something you do yourself, knowing that it will bring them much joy and fulfillment.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
I’m invigorated by creativity. I love the beautiful, ninth-century Latin hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus.” It’s said that this line inspired Michelangelo when he was painting “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
God invigorates me through creativity. I’ve recently taken to drawing and doodling. I find it really helps me stay focused and keeps me in the creative zone. I’m trying to feed this part of my life more. I’m not worried about my drawings being good. I simply find it helpful, almost mind-emptying in a weird sort of way — perhaps more peaceful and tranquil. It’s in this space that I find my inspiration.
When I find inspiration, a creative thought or idea then comes to me and almost haunts me. The Spirit makes me restless, so it bugs me until I can get it out of my head and down on paper. The thought gets under my skin until I get it written down. I know that sounds a little like a negative process, but it isn’t. I may become aware of something growing in my head and then wake up and write it down — even if it’s 5 in the morning. Then, once it’s out, I can chill. When I get overcome with urgency, that’s often when I find the Creator Spirit of God at work in my own life.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?
The Bible began with a regular encounter. God originally walked with Adam and Eve in a garden. The Hebrew verb “walk” in its reflexive conjugation as used in Genesis 3 means “walking for pleasure,” and there is an implication that this was a regular occurrence — not a one-off!
God walked for pleasure regularly with Adam and Eve.
I love this beautiful picture of people who would regularly walk with God for pleasure. God’s original plan was one of a regular encounter — a set-aside time of walking and talking. Of course, we know it all went wrong! But this was the original intent — for people to walk with God.
So I created a garden for my spiritual life, not a literal garden, but a physical space in my life for a regular encounter. The Hebrew word for “garden,” gannah, literally means “a covered or hidden place.” My garden, my covered, hidden place, is a chair I sit in every morning. I get up, make a coffee and sit for an hour in this same chair. During this time, I use prayer beads to help me focus, I have a small wooden cross I hold, I write in a journal, annotate my Bible, read a devotional and quietly talk to God while also trying to listen to him. I try to get into this garden every morning.
But then, what happens in the garden doesn’t stay in the garden! I take the feeling of the garden with me throughout the day. My garden becomes the walk I go on, my garden can be the sanctuary of my car or even the gym. (It’s nice to turn a place of physical exercise into a place of spiritual exercise.) My garden is standing still while the kettle boils and asking the Lord to rise in me. My garden is music that stills my stress and focuses my mind. My garden is the art that I stand and stare at. My garden is the wonder of creation that, if I walk slowly enough, I get to look at.
I try to take the mundane repetitive aspects of my everyday life and turn them into gardens. Maybe I’ll travel a little slower, breathe a little more deeply or still my heart and mind so that, throughout my day, I enter small, covered, hidden places where I can regularly walk for pleasure with my Creator and become more aware of his constant presence.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources — lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are three resources that have impacted you?
Three resources that have impacted me deeply.
The first one was an app we developed at 24-7 Prayer called Lectio365. I’m a contributor to this app, and it came out of our movement, but it has deeply impacted me by helping me pray the Scriptures every day. It’s super reflective but not cheesy, and it always seems to have a little nugget of truth to inspire or encourage me.
A book I’ve revisited recently is “A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness” by Gene Edwards. It’s an older, short book that I read in my 20s and have recently revisited in my 50s. I think it’s a helpful book for anyone experiencing divisions, pain or leadership strife. And it’s also helpful as a cautionary tale of how not to lead!
My third resource would be “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. This book was written in the 17th century and is super easy to pick up as an ebook. Once you get past some of the ancient language, you can take it as it is — a beautifully simple book that helps us understand that the presence of God is to be found in more than just our meetings.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season — and tell us what it’s done for you.
I’m currently reading Mark Sayers’ “A Non-Anxious Presence” for the third time. This is a beautiful book that was written for our time. It’s been so good for my soul and has reminded me time and time again of living and leading as a non-anxious presence.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I’m beginning to dream about my next book, so I’m currently in that uneasy stage of lots of ideas and a sense of structure — but no time to get it all down. I’m stirred by the idea that we need to notice God more and that we’re busy and rushed, yet God is revealed all around us. Alongside that, I’m increasingly disconcerted by the introversion of the Western church and feel stirred that, once again, we need to equip people for mission work.
Where do you encounter God’s presence? In a church service? In prayer with a friend? In the stillness of your room with a Bible?
The truth is, as Brian points out, we can encounter God’s presence anywhere. He’s not limited to specific places or times. Wherever we are, we can reach out with our hearts to meet with him and listen for his voice. God’s regular walks with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were just a small picture of the closeness our heavenly Father designed us to have with him — and that we can have with him through Jesus Christ.
So what does a regular encounter with God look like for you? What are some ways God may want to meet with you that you hadn’t considered before?
Brian Heasley is a long-term pioneer within the 24-7 prayer movement and has years of experience in local-church and pioneer missions. With his wife, Tracy, he pioneered the work of 24-7 Prayer in the party area of Ibiza, Spain, developing rhythms of prayer and mission to bring about change in a place the British press once described as Sodom and Gomorrah. Brian is passionate about prayer, missions and justice as well as leadership that’s both sustainable and life-giving, rooted in a rhythm of devotional and prayerful responsiveness. Brian’s latest book is Be Still: A Simple Guide to Quiet Times.
