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Saturday, February 26, 2005
Sometimes we can see too many trees and not realize that we're standing in the middle of a forest. That's the way it can get when listening to a sermon series in church that lasts for 16 weeks or something, and it can even happen when we're in the middle of a four-part series on prayer. So let's step back this morning and look at the forest.
We learned from our initial outline that prayer is something that Jesus told Israel they should be doing. And doing it differently than they had been. Check out Matthew 6 as a reminder.
Prayer is simply talking to God. I feel like there's so much emphasis on formulas or words or the alleged "power" in prayer that you see in Christian bookstores that we lose sight of the reality that prayer is nothing more than communicating with God. It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. It's simply conversing with God. It doesn't even have to be "out loud."
The purpose of it is simply to develop a relationship w/God. It isn't to treat God as some cosmic Santa Claus and ask him for things with the expectation that He'll bring them. It isn't to treat God as some aged Old Man and visit with Him on occasion because we feel like we ought to, either. Like any relationship, you get to know each other through conversation.
The reality is that prayer moves us from our agenda to God’s. We aren't going to change God's mind. We aren't going to bring up some magic bullet that's going to have God saying, "Hmmm...I never thought of that before, so maybe I should do it this way now." Prayer helps us block out the world, ourselves and focus more on what God wants and how He can best be glorified.
We need to be praying without ceasing. The idea is like that of a hacking cough. Whenever something pops into your mind you can pray for it. Short, sweet and to the point. Imagine spending pretty much all day every day in an attitude of prayer that you verbalize as it comes to mind...that's praying without ceasing, and I'd suggest that alone as a lifestyle would revolutionize your realtionship with Him.
We do need to be having intimate times w/God. Those times we "set aside" a time to be alone with Him. Jesus did it at the busiest times of His life, when He needed God's special grace. Those should be a part of our lives as well.
The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus’ “model” for prayer. It was never intended to become a memorized rote prayer. Each line gives us insight as to what the content of our prayer should be, and you can check out the archives for a very detailed discussion of this.
The “results” of prayer are (from Paul's prayers):
That we would become aware of our calling. Who doesn't want to know what God's calling is for each and every one of us?
That we would understand riches of glory & His inheritance. If we really "got" this, it would change the way we view the here and now in untold ways.
That we would experience His power. If we really "got" this we'd stop living anemic lives.
That we would experience the Holy Spirit. Ditto.
We would know His love. Isn't his what we all really want out of life, anyway? To love and be loved? And can you imagine how your life would be different if you walked through it knowing the love of the Creator?
More could be written, and we could spend a year or more on the topic of prayer...but the bottom line is that we should be choosing to be people of prayer, so the application is obvious: Am I a person of prayer? If not, what can be done to change that?
Brent 4:21 AM
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