07/20/2021
As Christians we have sworn ourselves to Jesus, and we have picked up our cross to follow Him. We pray as He has taught us, and love Our Father alongside Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, so why is it that when we seek Him in prayer that we sometimes feel like we hear our words returning to us as an echo that has been offered up into a hollow and cavernous room? Our prayers reflect where our heart is, it is also true that when our mind wanders we can’t find God, and in those times our soul wanders, and isn’t listening for His voice, but to the world that has captured us… even if for that instant.
“And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.”
2 Chronicles 15:15 ESV
Praying with our hearts, minds, and souls fixed on God, and Jesus Christ, sounds like it should be easily accomplished, because we choose to remember only those moments when we have succeeded in doing so, and ignore all of the interspersed wandering of our thoughts. We ignore them because they are such a common distraction to us. I suffer from tinnitus, and hear a constant ringing in my ears. At night I turn the television on very low because the noise of it overrides the ringing that is magnified by the quiet of night, and this allows me to fall asleep. At some point I no longer hear the ringing, nor do I hear the television, because my mind has blocked them totally, and I find sleep. When we go into our prayer closet, and begin to pray, the noise of the world around us is like my tinnitus… it becomes magnified, and distracts us from our desire to hear only God. The world’s noise is so normal in our lives that we typically don’t pay it much attention, but when we attempt to find the silence of concentration, and walk quietly with God, it interrupts us. I am certain we have all experienced this.
“And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:11-13 ESV
Until we can hear the low whisper of God when we pray, we most certainly can’t receive His peace, and rest. Elijah struggled to hear it, and we do too. So how can we block the world from interrupting our conversations with God? How do we shut the door of our prayer closet tight enough that it shields us from the world’s banter?
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Sometimes the world isn’t a distraction to us during prayer because we have become so worn down by it, and our problems, that we fall easily into our prayers, and conversation with the Lord, like an weary laborer who finds his sleep out of sheer exhaustion. In these times of absolute surrender our prayers become stronger than the world outside. God uses our suffering to call us to Him…
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
1 Peter 5:10 ESV
However, more times than not, it is the application of our own will that can focus us completely during prayer. We begin by finding that perfectly quiet place and time, we concentrate on our love and relationship with God and Jesus, we call out to the Holy Spirit for help and resolve, we practice quieting our mind in frequent prayer, we quote scripture until we are made stable in the Word, and we give all of our problems over to God in the opening sentence of every prayer… and in so doing we leave them there.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Giving our worries over to the Lord is amazingly effective in focusing our prayers, and shielding us from the outside world during prayer, but there is discipline required if we are to leave them with Him. How often do we hand a care to the Lord only to begin trying to give Him advice on how to handle it… thus distracting us from further prayer? Or, how often do we get ready to leave our prayer closet, and take that problem back from Him on the way out?
So, if we want our prayers to be received by God, and not to return to us as if they were echoing within an empty prayer closet, then we need to offer them without their being taken hostage by the world’s noise, or our own inattention. We need to focus our heart, mind, and soul on the conversation we are having with our Father. Let’s listen as we pray today, snd pay close attention to how many times we let the world interrupt us.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our prayers and the time we spend walking with you through them. Help us Lord to be completely in your presence, and fully attentive to your voice, as we walk together, and discuss your will for us, and the plan you have for our day. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires to be first in all we do, and to have our full attention, and love in all we do. Praised be your name for your provision, and answered prayer. Great are you who settles our minds, mends our hearts, and brings peace to our troubled souls. Hear our prayers Father as we offer them to you pure, and unblemished by the world that shouts and screams to distract us. Let us pray fervently as Christ did, and not be warm in our prayers as we are so often inclined to be. Wash us in the blood of Jesus, and let us come before you worthy, undistracted, hot in our faith, pleasing to your palate, and prepared to receive your rest through our unhampered prayers.
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 ESV
Rich Forbes