10/03/2017
How is my prayer life? This is a something that we should ask from time to time and it should cause us to adjust our praying according to God’s response in answering this all important question. It is more than introspection. When we pose our question it requires that God also weigh in because it is He with whom we speak.
“And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."”
Mark 9:28-29 ESV
When Jesus had cast the unclean spirit out of the boy, the disciples wanted to understand how He was able to do this and they were not. The answer to that question should have convicted them like no other. “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."
Are there things in your life that you pray over, but in which there seems to be no answer? Do you kneel repeatedly before God asking of Him and receive silence? If so I would first ask if you were truly listening, but then I would also ask “are you praying, or just talking at God?”
Every morning I rise before dawn to read, pray, and write, and sometimes I might even write before I pray. There is a purpose in that order, but it wasn’t always so. I used to rise in the morning and go immediately into prayer. I had items that needed to be addressed and I ran down through them as though by their sheer repetition God might be worn down and answer my plea. What I was doing wasn’t bad, but it didn’t allow for my preparation to pray, and it didn’t come as part of a conversation, but more from by desire to unload my needs. I had needs, other people had needs, and answering them was so important that I should put my prayers first... even before my relationship.
I am a morning person. I wake up ready to begin my day, but by evening I am longing to retire... I am exhausted. On the other hand, my wife Ann is a night person. Ann rises later in the morning, and If I speak to her before she has had time to consume a couple of cups of coffee I have set myself up for correction. I go by the old adage “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy, and wise!” Ann on the other hand would readily tell you that this is not true of everyone, and that many people don’t hit their stride until later in the day... and she is right.
I can’t tell you how often I have awoken in the morning to find the house rearranged, the kitchen clean and my coffee cup sitting in front of the coffee maker, or any number of amazing things. It is as if I were Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” and in sheer joy I say “I haven’t missed it. The spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine [day].” On the flip side, Ann finds this to be true as well, but it is what I have done in the wee hours of the morning. The point of this story is that we all have times when we are most productive, and that is true of our ability to pray as well.
I often wake up sometime after midnight and feel the need to pray. What happens next depends on the urgency that the Holy Spirit has placed upon that calling. It is the difference between a child crying “HELP!” Or someone waving as they turn away and saying, over their shoulder, “call me.” In fact, it boils down to whether the Spirit has called me from slumber at all, or if something is troubling me and I just need to pray. If the Holy Spirit is calling me, I dare not ignore the ring, but if I am needing to pray for myself then I need to prepare my spirit for the conversation.
Being still, Reading, and sometimes writing, before I pray allows me to prepare myself for prayer. Having a conversation with God is like having a conversation with anyone else in that we must first seek them out. Then, once we have found them, we need to be in the right frame of mind to have the conversation. Prayer is intimate discussion with our Father, and it is also our time of petition before the creator of the universe. We come to our Father with an embrace and love, and we come to the Creator in awe, and supplication... each of these requires us to still ourselves and prepare our mental state for the interaction.
How is your prayer life? Are you treating every conversation as if it were a decree, or a time to read a list of demands? Have you even found God’s presence before you begin to speak? Is your mind in the right place for the conversation that you wish to have, or are you just going through the motions? Do you find yourself as a night person attempting to pray in the morning when they are not all there, or a morning person praying in the evening when they are already spent?
Your prayer life might be great and satisfying, and you may have found just the right times for your most meaningful interactions with the almighty, but is there some habit of yours that might be irritating God, or Vic’s versa, that if addressed could make your time together even more rewarding and intimate? We have these times of honesty with our spouses, and those around us... why not God? Revealing, or hearing, corrections can be difficult, but once they have been addressed then the relationship reaches a new level of comfort and the road to one another’s hearts is smoother and without distraction. Telling Jesus, or the Father what is bothering you is only part of this kind of conversation... listening as you receive corrections is the other part.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the absolute honesty we can have with one another. I thank you for the many corrections I receive from you and how they bring us closer together. Holy Father, help me to prepare myself before our times of prayer. Lead me to that state of mind in which I can come before you with my heart circumcised and prepared to experience you in supplication and awe. Be patient with me Father as I concentrate on my love for you and prepare myself for the embrace I have for you. When I pray my needs, and the needs of others, let me do so out of love, sincerity, and from my heart; never let me read a list to you Father, because when doing that I have no part, no true concern, in my requests. Let my heart and spirit open themselves to you, and let my ears hear your voice as you speak to me in the quiet of my closet. Give me the humility I need to hear your voice and to do your will. Let our time of prayer reflect my desire for you and not just my own desires. Jesus teach me to pray, and correct those things that keep me from praying effectively. Teach me to open my heart before entering my prayer closet. Teach me to hear the will of God, and teach me to obey. Show me the awe, the wonder, the majesty, the glory, and the grace of my God as I bow before Him... never let my prayers treat Him with disrespect, but honor Him always.
Rich Forbes