Readings for today: Ezekiel 29-31, James 5
“Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:13-16)
I’ve been praying about prayer lately. Perhaps it’s because I feel like I’ve fallen into a bit of rut. Perhaps it’s because some of my normal spiritual disciplines have become routine. Perhaps it’s because I find myself running out of words when I pray or simply repeating the same phrases over and over again. Perhaps it’s because the list of people I pray for is long and I don’t want to rush through their names. Whatever the reason, I’ve been asking the Lord to teach me how to pray on a deeper and more intimate level and He is answering my prayer. Here are just a few of the reflections I’ve written down over the last few days…
November 18 - “Prayer is colossal work. It is the nakedness of a soul intent before God - heart and mind and will, answering deep unto deep.” Prayer involves the whole person. Heart, mind, body, and will. It requires each of these facets of a person to intentionally direct themselves towards God. It’s a posture physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. This is the secret to true prayer. It is about orientation. I think of my Muslim friends who orient themselves towards Mecca or my Jewish friends who orient themselves towards Jerusalem. As a Christian, I orient myself towards no earthly city. No earthly place where a Temple once stood. No, I orient myself towards a Person. I fix my soul’s gaze on Christ. He is the fount of heaven from which I drink. He is the bread of heaven on which I feast. He is the joy of heaven which fills my heart. He is the strength of heaven which sustains my life. He is the wisdom of heaven which guides me through life’s challenges. He is the comfort of heaven in the midst of my griefs and losses. No matter where I am, He is there to greet me. No matter what condition I find myself in, He is there to receive me with open arms.
November 23 - Prayer is simply entering into Your presence each morning in the silence and quiet before the noise of the day gets too loud or the demands force me to pick my pace. To stand in that place before You with all the confused business of my life and this world spread out at Your feet. To try and see things as You see them. To try and see the people as You see them. To seek to understand the situations as You understand them. To have compassion. To open my heart to grace. And then to take up the burden once more onto my shoulders, full of confidence that I do not bear the burden alone, and go about my day not really having known what I should pray for but knowing that even as my words fail the Spirit prays for me with groanings too deep for words. This is what it means to pray.
November 25 - Prayer begins by slowing down long enough to truly see people. To listen long enough to truly hear people. To spend enough quality time so others feel valued and of worth. Prayer is attending to the hearts and souls of others. Hearing the words behind the words. Paying attention to body language and what’s being communicated subconsciously as well as consciously. Prayer is spending your day focused on others and then bringing them before Me in the quiet of your office at the end of the day. Keeping them in your mind’s eye with all their hopes and dreams, fears and failures, hurts and confusion, anger and frustration, joys and sorrows, loves and desires as you come into My presence. Holding them out to Me as I speak blessing and grace and peace over them. I know their needs before you speak them. You do not have to give Me a list. You can simply speak their names and the names of their children and any particular burdens you know they carry before Me and trust Me to meet them right where they are. You can do this not only for the individuals and families you know but also for entire churches and communities and nations. You can hold up the Town of Parker before me. The State of Colorado. The United States. You can hold up before Me the people of Ethiopia and South Sudan and Uganda and Bangladesh and Dominican Republic and North/South Korea and Afghanistan and Bolivia and the many, many other nations you’ve been and where you have friends doing My work. I am with them in their suffering and heartbreak and I am at work bringing beauty from the brokenness just as I am doing with you.
November 26 - Doug, the challenge of prayer has very little to do with finding the time for it or the space or the quiet or the solitude. It has very little to do with the internal wrestling that ensues when you feel you aren’t being heard or your prayers go seemingly unanswered. It has very little to do with the doubts that creep in when you try to make sense of prayer or evaluate it’s effectiveness or square it with science. No, the real challenge for you is allowing yourself to be stripped naked before Me. To be strapped in the “prison house of your own life.” To sit long enough for all the stuff you try to hide or stuff down deep inside to bubble to the surface. Prayer keeps you honest. Prayer keeps you real. Prayer reminds you that you cannot run from yourself nor from Me. You cannot hide from yourself nor from Me. You cannot ignore yourself nor can you ignore Me. We are linked - you and I - in an eternal relationship. We are locked - you and I - in an eternal dance. So hear my invitation to pray yet again this morning…““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7) I am always here, waiting for you with open arms.
These are just a few of the thoughts that I’ve had recently and I believe they are leadings from the Holy Spirit. Ways He is answering as I seek to learn more about how to pray. You see, I want to be a man of prayer. I want to pray righteous prayers. Prayers that are powerful and effective for healing and forgiveness and reconciliation. Prayers for peace and wholeness and shalom. Prayers for my family, my church, my country, and my friends around the world. I want to pray bold prayers. God-sized prayers. Prayers of faith that will move mountains, drive out demons, and bring revival. I want to pray in such a way that the devil trembles and the kingdoms of this world shake. I want to pray such prayers not for my own sake but for the sake of the world God loves so much. Lord, teach me to pray!
Readings for tomorrow: None