Prayer

Claire and I have started a family blog in hopes that it will encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is our prayer that Jesus Christ will guide you as you read this blog, and that he leads you on quiet paths by still waters (Ps 23). That is why this initial blog will be entitled and dedicated to prayer. There is so much misconception about what prayer is, that one must first reflect on what it is not. Jesus said that appropriate prayer is not of vain repetition. He even goes as far as to say that this is meaningless. How does this affect the believer? First, God does not honor your prayer more because you put enough our "Lords" or "Our Lords" in it. He does not smile when you repeat the model prayer, otherwise known as the Lord's Prayer. His eardrums are not tickled when you act like you are holy, because you can speak really really fast. There are those who think that they must put on an act when they pray, as if by changing their voice they might open up a direct line with the most Holy. This may come from them observing and learning from those who pray badly, or they may think that they can fool God. Others are so flippant when they pray that they simply pray whatever falls from their brain and out of their mouth first, however they give little thought to their words or the consequences of those words. This may stem from a form of Christianity that gives very little thought to Christ or God the Father, but instead gives precedence to man and his impressions. Obviously, that form is a lie and not true faith. So if prayer is not a mere shutting of the eyes and mumbling flippantly about this or that, then what is it?

There are two things to be said about prayer. First, it is to be practiced in the quiet and alone. Second,  it is to be done in groups as an act of fellowship with one another, service for one another, and ultimately communal worship and supplication before the throne of God.

To the first point. 1 Thess. 5:17 states that believers are to pray without ceasing. This is the idea of walking with God continually. Now, before anyone begins to think that this is something we do as a favor to God, let me express that this is done in obedience to God, out of a love and joy for His presence that can only come from Grace which He has given us in Christ ( you may desire to read that a few times, it's a lot deeper than it sounds to the American ear) The end result is obedience to Micah 6:8 "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Again this can only be conjured in the heart of man, through the Grace of Jesus Christ. Again after a parable Jesus states that a man is to pray in his closet and not in the open where men may hear and think that he is righteous because of his prayer. Thus there is a gross need for personal prayer, which is expressed by one being made prostrate before the throne of the almighty God in humble service and simple supplication. There is another component. Prayer is not mere talking, but also a sitting back and listening. This listening is done with the opened Bible, and in scripture memorization. We do not look at existential experience, or mere knowledge for our answers. God does not rely on the perception of man to reveal himself perfectly, because man does not perceive perfectly, but instead God reveals himself perfectly through his word, and that is the foundation of Christian belief. Dear Christian do you see your high calling? Are you a priest in his kingdom of priests? O what a high and lofty calling! To fall before the Lord and be allowed to speak to Him directly! How beautiful! How wonderful! How scary!

Finally prayer is to be done in groups as an act of fellowship with one another, service for one another, and ultimately communal worship and supplication before the throne of God. First, every-time early Christians gathered together they prayed together. This was the common practice. I pray that you would take part in that with brothers and sisters. There is little on earth that compares with praying with fellow believers. To hear how our Father has formed their hearts to love Him and worship Him. It is in these moments that one sees the church as a body, each loving differently and recognizing truths in different ways. This communal prayer is commanded in James 5:16, and there is nothing more freeing. Prayer is also a service to other believers. This is also commanded in James 5:16 (i'm not going to type it because I want you to go look it up). When we pray for the needs of other believers God receives more glory as His mercies and answered prayers are revealed throughout the Church body. Also, it is a way to serve one another, which is what we must be about doing continually. Lastly, this is worship before the throne of God. When an Amercian Church member  says the word worship, he typically has in mind a cheesy man standing behind a guitar belting out romantic love songs about his love for God. That my friend is not worship. Worship is recognition of the attributes of God and reveling in those attributes, and the grace that one can even recognize those attributes. All in all worship is the only response to the Gospel. When we sing congregationally  it should be in prayer and worship to God. When we gather together to play board games, to cut wood, to watch a movie it should be done prayerfully and as an act of worship. A famous preacher named Paul Washer smashed my idols when he said that there is no idea in scripture about things being secular and others being sacred, as far as the Christian life is concerned. You see that is a Catholic idea, not a Christian one. All things in the life of a Christian are sacred, and are to be done as acts of worship. Paul washer says that even the pots and pans in Christian house are sacred. This is true. So much more then is your personal prayer life. O reader would you please seek God? Even now would you bow before his awesome holiness? Will you dance for the mere fact that you can bow before that holiness as a justified man/ woman? Three quotes and I am done. Charles Spurgeon is the person I turned to five years ago to learn how to pray. This is what I have learned from him. "The lack of personal prayer is the Locust that is eating the Church."; "There is a vulgar notion that prayer is a very easy thing, a kind of common business that may be done anyhow, without care or effort. Some thing that you have only to reach a book down and get through a certain number of very excellent words, and you have prayed and may put the book up again; others suppose that to use a book is superstitious, and that you ought rather to repeat extemporaneous sentences, sentences which come to your mind with a rush, like a herd of swine or a pack of hounds, and when you have uttered them with some little attention to what you have said, you have prayed. Now neither of these modes of prayer were adopted by ancient saints. They seem to have thought a great deal more seriously of prayer than many do now-a-days." "God forbid that our prayer should be a mere leaping out of one's bed and kneeling down, and saying anything that comes first to hand; on the contrary, may we  wait upon the Lord with holy fear and sacred awe."

We pray that you are encouraged by this. Please seek our holy Father. He is there and will not turn His child away. O that we spent more time before the throne than in mere mindless entertainments. Who at the end of their life will say, " I wish that I had spent more time in front of the television"; or "Man, if I had only filled my mind with a little more filth"? Love what God has created, but as you enjoy life and enjoy what the Lord has made...Worship! O seek God! Seek Him while He might be found! Seek Him because He is worthy of every second because he has given you every second as a gift, not to be squandered, but to be invested!!! Seeek Him o Christian, and when you find Him please do not be quick to look away.