Notes from Friday, May 7th, 2010: Prayer

Prayer (Thompson 31-51, Foster, CD, P)
Prayer is the most basic and foundational expression of our relationship with God.  It is the activity through which we talk to God, listen to God, and enjoy his company.  In some sense, most of the spiritual disciplines we have been discussing involve prayer of some kind.
It has been said that a desire for God is fuel for prayer.  When we pray, we need to give God our full attention, just like we need to give our full attention to any other person with whom we may be speaking.  We need to develop a prayerful lifestyle, so that we are able to listen to God in every situation and hear him in every conduit through which he may speak; including scripture, nature, other people, our circumstances, and our dreams.
We are all beginners at prayer. It’s a learned behaviour that no one ever really masters. Many excellent volumes have been written about prayer which would be a benefit to us to read.
“The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity. This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer. It is confirmed in work, the morning prayer determines the day. Squandered time of which we are ashamed; temptations to which we succumb; weaknesses and lack of courage in work; disorganization; and lack of discipline in our thoughts and in our conversations with others most often have their origin in the neglect of morning prayer.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Psalms)
How to pray
Simple Prayer – God is waiting for us and welcomes us in prayer even with all of our selfish and sinful motives. ”We do not try to sort things out, the good from the bad…our concerns dominate our prayer experience…we make mistakes…but we confess and begin again…” (Foster, Prayer, 9).  Like in the imprecatory Psalms (eg., 137:9), our feelings, whether legitimate or not, should be included in our prayers. We need to pray whether we feel like it or not – even while we struggle with sinful feelings.  Like anything else, once we get started, the feelings often follow.
Of course, it is easy to get discouraged, to lapse, or to give up entirely.  To prevent failure:
  1. Have a set time each day when you pray.
  2. Have a set place where you pray that is relatively free of outside distractions..Quiet your thoughts, focus on your heavenly Father…
  3. Have a spouse or friend who prays [the same material] who will meet with you periodically for discussion and mutual support.”  (Webber, 5-6)
  4. Be prepared for inner distractions and be patient with them. Rather than fight them head-on, simply note that your attention has wandered, and redirect it to God (Thompson, 50).  Sometimes it is easier to silence a distraction by writing the item down.  We can also ask for others to pray for us in our struggle with this.
  5. Realize that prayer is the most powerful and efficient use of our time.  It releases the forces of God, which cannot be contained.

Prayer Of the Forsaken

When God seems distant and remote from us, we still need to pray.  This is a common experience (Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jesus…), and it does not mean that God is angry with us or that we have strayed from him, even if we are angry with Him.

Our actions and prayers need to come out of an attitude that says, “I do not understand what God is doing or even where God is, but I know that he is out to do me good.” (Foster, Prayer, 24)

Prayer of Examination

In this prayer, we examine our consciousness to “discover how God has been among us and how we have responded to him; to remember his mighty acts on our behalf.”

We also examine our conscience, asking God to search our hearts so that evil can be identified and excised and that good can be encouraged and celebrated.  “If the examination is solely a self-examination, we will always end up with excessive praise or blame [for ourselves].” (Foster, Prayer, 30)

Guidance from Holy Spirit  (Ortberg 132; Foster CD 175)

“Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying, but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” (Ortberg, 135)   “We cannot be transformed if we close ourselves off to the guiding power of the Holy Spirit” (Ortberg, 150).

God does not need to use symbolic sounds or images to guide my thoughts like people do (although he may use them).  God can make his thoughts directly present to us, so that they are almost indistinguishable from our own thoughts, at least in the way they occur to us.

Guidance from the Holy Spirit is not “insider trading” information advanced to us because of a special relationship with someone “in the know.”

God’s guidance is primarily intended to help us become more like Jesus, which is our destiny (Rom 8.29).  Following his guidance does not guarantee us the kind of future that we dream of for ourselves, or even immunize us from loss or tragedy, but it does build up trust in God and Christlikeness in ourselves.  As a secondary concern, God may speak to us about particular ways to make specific decisions.

Receiving Guidance

One of the reasons we don’t hear God is that we are not listening; we are not fully present to him when we worship or pray.  To mitigate this situation, practice his presence (see “Practicing the presence of God”).  Even when we are working on a demanding “spiritually unrelated” concern, we can be in prayer and worship deep within, cultivating a listening and responsive attitude in our spirits.  Each time we encounter a new person or situation, we can quietly pray, “How would you have me respond to this person/situation? How (if at all) do you want to work through me in this situation?”

“It only makes sense to ask God for guidance in the context of a life committed to seeking first the kingdom.” (Ortberg, 146). Don’t ask for guidance unless you are already committed to follow it when you get it, however unlikely (Acts 8.26ff) or insignificant it may seem at first. If we are going to be so bold as to ask God for direction, how dare we disobey him when we receive it?  This disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit and makes it more difficult for us to hear him in the future.

Listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice coming through others, even (or especially) unlikely sources.  Graciously, God can speak directly to even the most infantile of Christians, or even unbelievers about a matter concerning others, and his choice is often for our own benefit, even though it may be surprising.  When we ignore or dismiss such messages from others, we do so at our own peril. 

Prayer of Intercession

“As we consider prayer for other people or situations, it is easy for us to be defeated right at the outset because we have been taught that everything in the universe is already set, and things cannot be changed but the Bible does not teach that.” (Foster, CD, 35)

Knowing and listening to God for guidance is the starting point (see above).  Otherwise, how can we know what he wants us to pray for, and therefore what prayer he will honor?

We should not fear that we do not have enough faith to pray for something.  Jesus said that a tiny amount was enough (the size of a tiny mustard seed).  “Usually, the courage actually to go and pray for a person is a sign of sufficient faith” (Foster, CD, 39).

Journaling

Journaling “is a highly intentional reflection on the events of our days.  It differs from a diary by its focus on why and wherefore rather than on who and what.  The external events are springboards for understanding the deeper working of God in the heart.”

A journal keeps a record of God’s work in our lives to be used as a remembrance, much like the Passover meal was for the Israelites and the communion meal is for us  (Foster, Prayer, 33).  If we use a journal to record times of great spiritual moments, intimacy, guidance, triumph, etc., then it can be of enormous value in helping us to remember these times (just because we wrote them down).  Furthermore, this written record can be a great encouragement in future times of uncertainty or despair.

Life-Centered Prayer 

(Thompson, 94-95): “integrating the life of prayer into the ordinary events and decisions of everyday life.”

What Does OCC believe about Prayer? (from “Covenant Partner”)

  1. We are devoted to personal and corporate prayer and intercession.
  2. We believe that without the Lord we can do nothing and that prayer supernaturally moves the hand of God to act on behalf of His people.
  3. We are committed to prayer and intercessions our lifeline of power and enablement to accomplish God’s will and purpose.
  4. The church is called to be a house of prayer for all nations, populated by people who are called to be a royal priesthood of believers and a kingdom of priests, given to intercession for others.
  5. We must deal with the powers of darkness through concerted prayer, intercession and spiritual warfare, because Satanic powers are real and will resist us in building the church.
  6. Personal, daily prayer is the minimum, normal activity of every believer, and corporate prayer is to the power of agreement, which brings down spiritual strongholds.
  7. Strategic intercession is to be employed in all the ministries of the church with committed believers who are trained in prayer and effective intercession.

Discussion Questions

  1. How, if at all, are your days that begin with prayer different from those that begin without prayer?
  2. Where and when do you pray?
  3. Why do you sometimes not pray?  How can you change that?
  4. Share a time when you heard from God and what happened as a result.

Leave A Reply

Comments

Karrie (May 18, 2010)

Just wanted to let you know the MAY 28th Lazer Tag is going to be at Lazer Xtreme. I couldn’t leave a comment on the calendar page so here I am.

admin (May 25, 2010)

Thanks Karrie, I didn’t know that. I could have sworn it was called LazerQuest, I think it used to be…oh well, I’ll change it on the calendar ;)