Praying mirrors the Gospel (pt2)

Yesterday we looked at the 6 am Christian and how our attitudes to prayer can be wrong... today we are going to look at how praying mirrors the Gospel. These are notes taken from a Team Day by Jim Walford.

If I was to ask you this question - "What is the best thing about being a Christian?" what would your answer be?

Perhaps it may be on the lines of eternal fire insurance - a one way ticket out of hell or even being a part of a community where you are accepted.
When I watch programmes on TV about what Christianity is, I am always swallowed up by the sheer amount of talk about how Christianity can improve your life or how its about following the 10 commandments.

But I think we sometimes miss the best thing ever about being a Christian which is having a relationship with God as Father. Furthermore within this relationship, like any relationship there is communication. This is prayer. We can pray to our Father who created the heavens and the earth.

During our Team Day with the South West, Jim Walford opened our eyes to the warmth of being able to communicate and enjoy our relationship with our Father in heaven. He took us back to the state of our being which is helplessness. We are helpless, proud beings that like to think we are in control but actually we are utterly dependant on our Father and like children we need to see that we are helpless and need to come to our Father for everything...

This is how praying mirrors the Gospel. Its the helpless dependence on our heavenly Father and we approach him by no achievement of our own but by His sons blood. But the point being is that the Father delights in us coming to Him as little children, depending on him, asking him for everything we need and enjoying a relationship with him. God looks at the humble and receives him -

"This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word" - Isaiah 66:2

Just three quick points as I know this has just been a summary of what we were taught:

1. Why pray? - Because we can cry "Abba Father" as sons of the Father
2. How? - Like a child, helpless and dependant on our father
3. What? - Pray everything, all worries, ideas, wants, needs... he is listening.

Praying is good, whatever time of day it is...

(I apologise that this came up on your RSS feed early - blogger went crazy and published this early!)

The 6 am Christian (Pt1)

You know who I mean. That Christian that wakes at 5 am in order to pray at 6 am... you know this person because they tell you that they do this... and if you say you pray later then that - well your prayers are obviously not heard. There are some real bad attitudes with praying and we (I) can fall into two camps - Guilty Christian and Proud Christian. Both thinking waking up early to spend many hours in prayer or even bible meditation is more godly then praying at 10pm...

Night Owl - Guilty Christian?

This Christian is perhaps the night owl and prefers the midnight silence where the house is still and you open your bible and read "when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;" (Psalm 63:6). In the darkness the light of the Lord seems brighter and you rejoice of the day that's been...

But then you read those biographies of George Muller and other great missionaries and theologians and they recall how they woke up so early and prayed for hours starting at 4 am.... eekkk... Guilt Guilt....

Or you meet a fellow Christian and they go on about how their 3 hour prayer was a blessing and they are so disciplined everyday cos they woke up so early...then they stare at you and the words spit out of their mouths "So what time do you get up?"....eeekkkk Guilt Guilt Guilt....What runs around your head? Well... this is what runs around my head...

I am a failure for not being spiritually disciplined as you...(Guilt!)

My prayers are obviously rubbish compared to your morning soaked prayers...(Pride!)

I should just be like you (strange pride and Guilt)

The Morning person - Proud Christian?

This Christian enjoys the sunrise and sings with the birds... they enjoy opening the bible as the suns beams ripple across passages such as "But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you." (Psalm 88:14) They rejoice that a new day is being unfolded....

But sometimes pride seeps in and your heart begins to shout "hey, I woke up early to pray..."... now everyone knows..eeekkk pride!. Its easy to think you are doing well when you get up at 6 am everyday to pray...but what if you miss it? eekkkk guilt..... oh no! Better set three alarms....

Or you easily get up and enjoy it and yet see any other Christian who might get up later but stay up later as less then you... evidently you are better... eeekk pride.

I think both attitudes are simply dangerous. This is not cultivating the right attitude to prayer. I am a night owl, my best times with praying to God and reading the bible is at night. Many people I know are morning people and enjoy prayer early in the morning. Both I think both are great...I am not sure it matters what time it is, the important thing is our hearts and talking with our loving Father through the Son...

When we start to feel guilty or proud we need to come back to the Gospel. We need to come back to the Cross. Who are we in Christ and does that change depending on the time of the day?...

Maybe we need to start encouraging each other to pray and to embrace diversity and character in prayer...

Inspired by this post: God is a morning person and satan is a night owl...

Pray for Cusco

I am not sure how much of the news in Cusco has reached England, but I thought I would bring it to your attention and ask you for prayer. My friend sent out a good brief description of whats happening, so I am going to use that (Just to say, I am not in Cusco):

The area around Cuzco and Macchu Picchu in Peru has been hit badly by rain, floods and mud slides during this week. 

Thankfully there have been very few fatalities, but the current guess is that 10,000 people have lost their homes. Macchu Picchu is a major tourist attraction in South America- google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about! At the moment it is completely cut off from everything, apart from by helicopter. Over 2000 tourists have been stranded there since Monday, and there are still about 800 there now that need helicoptering out. It is estimated that it will take 1 month to get the road and rail links to Cuzco and Macchu Picchu repaired. In the meantime, these places are somewhat cut off, apart from by air. Now is summer in Peru, and so key tourist time. The loss of the income from tourism for this month will be huge. Food and water are available, but more expensive than normal, and in fairly short supply.

Schaeffer on prayer and active passivity

Francis Schaeffer is an amazing man, who thinks deeply and asks many questions. I am currently half way through reading about his life story and I stumbled across a quote that really struck me:

If I woke up tomorrow morning and found that all that the Bible teaches concerning prayer and the Holy Spirit were removed (not as a liberal would remove it, by misinterpretation, but really removed) what difference would it make in practice from the way we are functioning today? The simple tragic fact is that in much of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ–the evangelical church–there would be no difference whatsoever. We function as though the supernatural were not there. -

Francis A. Schaeffer (True Spirituality).

Shaeffer makes the point that we rely on "human talent, energy and clever ideas".

How much of this would make a difference to your life? If tomorrow, God took away prayer and the Holy Spirit, would there be much difference in your life tomorrow as today? How much do we rely on ourselves rather then Jesus? Its difficult when we get our daily bread from Tescos and our temptations are in forms of chocolate ice cream.

Schaeffer says we need to approach situations with "active passivity". There is no excuse to not work for the Lord with all your strength and ability - it should be a joy. There is no room for idleness - so we are active and yet we are passive because we should be doing everything through Jesus, relying on Him, praising Him and realising that He does the work and we cant do anything without Him.

Maybe we need to step back and think with Shaeffer. Would tomorrow be different too today if God took away prayer and the Holy Spirit? Whom do I really rely on every day for everything - little or huge?

Reflections on Not Praying

Some days I pray. But most days they are fleeting prayers. Have you ever had those days? Where eather you find yourself not having time to pray and its a quick Hi, I would like this, Amen. Or there isn't even time for prayer, you have so much to do, so much on the agenda and list - when can you ever fit prayer in?

A really good book that a friend lent to me was, "Too Busy Not to Pray" - Bill Hybels. This was such a challenge to read as I ticked off all the reasons why I didnt want to pray. It brings us back to what the bible says about who God is, who you are praying to and what He can do and why it is good to pray.

But I know when I search my heart I can see the reasons why I don't pray, which are:

1. I am proud. I believe I don't need to come to God. I am in control and there is nothing God can do for me right now.
2. I don't have faith. I don't believe God can act or that He is listening.
3. I don't really know who God is. I don't know his character, his promises, his truth. If I did then it would be a delight to pray to Him.

It is very easy to go through your day and not think of God. It is easy to think that I don't need to pray to him and ask him to help me in this conversation, in meeting this person, when I am shopping, When I am cooking dinner, when I am doing a bible study. I have all that under control.

If you are a bit like me and think that praying is eather nonexistent, boring or a quick Hi, Bye. Then maybe we need to stop and consider why that is? What is the condition of our heart? Who exactly are we praying to? Is it Father Christmas or the Creator God who is all powerful and very faithful? Are we praying from the heart, pouring our all to God, repenting and willing to receive discipline as well as great Mercies?

Perhaps we need to get into perspective our lives and who we are living for. Maybe we need to get on our knees and say sorry for our proud, faithless hearts and ask God for Mercy and to show us who He really is.

Read this book. It will change how you think and remind you of why you should pray.

Praying like Ezra

Ezra 9 is an awe inspiring prayer. We are struck by his compassion, his humility, his raw exposure. Ezra cries out for the nation and their rebellion before God. Ezra sinks to his knees in verse 5 and lifts up his hands just after he has torn his garment and plucked his beard! Then he pours out his heart.

He says "I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, O God".
Do you ever think that sometimes your sin isn't actually that bad and God is more like a mate then a Holy God? Do we ever sink to our knees and blush in the presence of God because we know that our hearts are corrupt?

I find our attitude to prayer is sometimes off target. We forget that we are in the presence of a Holy God. But Ezra makes a point of uncovering the nations sin. Its not just about Him, but about Israel and how God saved Israel and showed favor and Grace towards them, yet they turn from Him and corrupt themselves with idols.

You can hear the cry in Ezra's heart. There is such love and passion there. My prayers are generally a quick thank you, please give me this, oh and im sorry... ! Flippantly I know that Jesus will forgive me, because that's what God is all about right?

Yet Ezra lays his whole self out to God and repents, seeking God for Grace and Mercy, yet knows full well that he doesn't deserve it. He seeks repentance for the whole of Israel and reminds God of His truth and faithfulness.

I praise God that He is very patient towards me and my half hearted prayers. My heart needs to be reminded that I don't deserve forgiveness, but God does forgive me because of His Grace. I want my prayers to be like Ezra, an outpouring of compassion, love, repentance and seeking Gods heart. I am reminded that we stand before a Holy God and there is nothing more we can do then fall to our knees and lift up our hands for v15 says, "none can stand before you because of this". But by the blood of Christ we are forgiven, but that doesn't mean we don't stand there trembling or being flippant. Pray like Ezra.