prayer in the Spirit

God really seems concerned about what we say to Him.

First, He gave us the Psalms.  Bonhoeffer said that the Psalms differed from every other book in the Bible in that, while the other books are God’s words to us, the Psalms are words He gave us to say back to Him.  If we take the Psalms as our pattern for prayer, it’s amazing the kinds of things we’ll be confessing to God!

Not only did he give us the Psalms though, He also gave us the Holy Spirit.  Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

When our words fail us, God has plenty of them! The Holy Spirit can fill us with words to say, to God or to anyone else.  All we have to do is ask.

“Prayer in the Spirit” is not strange or mystical. It is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through you.  God will give you the words to pray as you pray,  letting you know exactly what you need to be praying to God.

First, we need to get still.  Quit trying to be eloquent to God.  Just be quiet and still.  Let God take over your Words.  The Holy Spirit is in every believer.  He is longing for an opportunity to guide your thinking and your praying.  How can He, though, when we are constantly jabbering,  our minds racing,  our heads filled with the empty blather or the radio, television, and internet.  We need composure. We need quiet. More than anything, we need to let the Holy Spirit show us what we need.

Be still before God. Wait for Him to speak. This will be hard at first, but there is no easier way.  We have to be still.  In time, we will experience the promptings of the Holy Spirit,  moving inside. The Holy Spirit will show us precisely what we need, and bring our real request to God.  What comes out of our mouth in public prayer is often very different from what is really on our hearts. God’s Spirit can get to the matters that matter much better than we can.

Prayer in the Holy Spirit is not as mystical or arduous as we suppose. It is only resting in God, and letting Him do the talking, in us and through us.

Thank You, Father for the Holy Spirit, Who leads us to You, fills us with You, and speaks to You on our behalf.

Thank You that when we do not know how to pray, You not only listening to our stammering ineloquent tongues, but give us the words that speak from our heart to Yours.

Grant us, today, the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Mend us, make us, fill us, use us.  Make us like a glove on your hand, demonstrating Your power and Your personality to everything we touch today.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

So get into your place of meditation and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in your prayers.  First, though, ask Him to enlighten you as you read the passages below,

Romans 8:12-14 When are we the sons and daughters of God? What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God?  How do you know when you are?

Rom 8:15-17.   The word “Abba” is the Aramaic equivalent of “Daddy.”   What is the difference between calling God “Father” and calling him “Daddy”?   What does this tell us about God’s relationship to us?

Rom 8:26-27 How does the Holy Spirit help us in our praying?

Confessions of a Good Boy

King David was a man after God’s own heart. As a ruler, he was wonderful. As a soldier, he was superb; as a poet, he wrote the Twenty-Third Psalm; but as a sinner, he was an adulterer, a liar, and a murderer. He slept with Bathsheba, and deceived Uriah into a death trap so he could marry his wife.  How can we account such two-faced behavior?

David is by no means unique. Many of us who have made an effort to get close to God, have a dark side as well.  A trusted church treasurer steals from the church,  a missionary gets a woman pregnant, a well-respected elder is caught up in internet porn, a minister commits murder to cover up an indiscretion. These are not hypothetical examples—they have all happened. 

Sin splits us into two people—a public one and a private one.  We become hypocrites, phonies.  The world thinks us good, but we know we are sinners.

David’s confesses in Psalm 51.

1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. . . .

David does not plead for justice, but for mercy. David knows that he does not deserve to be forgiven.  A hundred good deeds to now cancel out one bad one.  He cannot undo the sin he committed with Bathsheba, or bring her husband back from the dead.   

3-4 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. . . .

All sins are against God, because all sins involve a breach of contract with Him.  When we hurt others we hurt God as well. 

10-12 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

David knows he cannot turn himself around. He must have God’s power to overcome the sins that have possessed him.  He realizes while his inner heart is separated from God, he can never have true joy, so he is willing to confess his sins to God and before others, to ultimately regain the joy of his salvation.

16-17“ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

David’s hope is not in what he can give to God, but in having a broken and contrite heart.  We who have so long buried out sins inside of us can only be revived and renewed by opening out hearts to Him.  We can only change when we are broken before Him.

This is what the prayer of confession does for us—it is a cleansing of Conscience before Him, and opening of our soul.

This week, keep a hidden record of your personal prayers of confession.  Tell God everything, even the things you do not want to admit. Then ask God to show you what else you need to confess.  It is a hard, difficult thing if it is done correctly.  But in the end you will experience God’s grace and forgiveness in a way that you never knew before. 

Read Psalm 51 aloud to yourself.  How much of what he says rings true for you?  Are you guilty of hidden sins yourself? Confess those sins to God, and experience God’s forgiveness.

Search my heart, o God, and show me what I need to change.
Watch my heart and help me to run away from temptation.
Cleanse my heart and make me  follower of your ways.
Fill my heart and make me joyful all the days of my life.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Let's Get the Basics

Before we get on to the training, let’s go through some of the basics.

Prayer is first of all talking with God.  Not to Him only, but with Him.  You will be doing more listening as talking.  Many people have the misunderstanding that prayer is something we say to God.  The Bible says, however, that it is possible to pray without saying anything at all!  Prayer is as much about listening as talking.
Think about prayer as a date with someone you love.  Does it matter what you talk about on a date?  What we say is not as important as who we are with. Prayer isn’t about getting answers, but having a greater communion with our Lord and Creator.

Prayer does not depend on when, how or where we pray. We may pray anywhere and at any time.  There are no rules regarding how or where we pray.  We may pray standing,  sitting, or lying down,  with hands raised or folded,  looking up or looking down,  with our eyes open or closed,  God hears it all.  God heard Jonah in a whale's belly—surely he can hear you wherever you are!

Nevertheless, rituals help us to focus our attention on God as we pray.  Even though the place and position do not matter to God, they do matter to us.  C.S Lewis wrote that what we do with our bodies when we pray matters, because we are creatures of flesh, not spirit. Our bodies need to pray as well as or minds. When we assume a particular stance for prayer, whatever that stance may be,  it helps to remind our wayward mind that we are there for a purpose. Christians discovered in ancient times that bodily positions in worship affect the attitude of the mine.  It is best to have an undistracted, regular time in a quiet place to pray. It is also best to have some idea of structure and order when we pray.  If it seems embarrassing to assume a position in prayer,  then get away and do it alone. 

Effective prayer involves faith. Try to imagine an infomercial for a new Wonder Chopper.  For a half an hour, the pitchman tells how it slices, dices, peels potatoes, and does all kinds of wonderful things.  Then he closes the infomercial by saying.  “Yes I hope you buy this wonderful product, but most of you probably won’t.”  I seriously doubt if he will sell many Wonder Choppers!  A salesman must believe that he will get a positive answer. 

 If God is God, then He will answer.  It is therefore important to understand something of the nature of God before we pray. 

God is Good.  He wants us to receive His blessings.

God is Great.  He has the power to make things happen.

God is Loving.  God really, really loves us.  He wants to help us in all things.  He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us.

Prayer involves repentance and humility.  Some pastors and churches teach “sure-fire” methods of getting what we want from God.  They will suggest that prayer is all about claiming promises from God—that when we want something, He must give it to us, whether or not it is something we ought to have. 

 This is ridiculous on the face of it.  God is in control, not we.  We don’t always know what is best for us. 

The Bible tells us, “All have sinned and come short of God’s glory.”  Unless we are as great and smart as God, we don’t always know what is best for us. Sometimes we need to be be reminded that we are not the masters of our own lives, that God is in control. 

Prayer involves Repentance. Repentance simply means “changing our minds.”  Many people in their pride believe that they are their own masters, that what they want to do is right.  This kind of attitude is not conducive to an effective life of prayer. 

“Humble yourself,” the Bible says, “And he will lift you up.”

We pray in Jesus’ name. This requires some explanation.

When we pray in Jesus name, we are not talking about words alone.  Jesus said in John 14 “If you ask anything in my name, it will be given you.” He was not giving us a magic word to use.  Saying “Jesus” is not like saying “abracadabra.”  Jesus is referring to His authority, not a sound.

The ritualistic mouthing of the name of Jesus does nothing for us. However, the realization that we come to God through the sacrifice of His Son is the key to effective prayer. It is not the sound of the name, but understanding that our access to the Father comes through Jesus’ blood.

When we pray, we need to realize that we are supposed to be there.  We are welcome in the presence of God because Jesus opened the door for us.  We can ask anything we wish, because He made it possible.

A Christian does not have to shrink from God.  We go boldly.  We do not fear that God will not accept us.  He has already accepted us in His Son. Anyone who believers in Jesus, and has accepted Him as Lord and savior, may come at any time into the presence of God.  In the great drama of God’s running of the universe, we have a backstage pass.  This is the access that Jesus bought for us.  Praying in Jesus’ name is praying with confidence because of what Jesus did for us. 

Prayer is not a force or a substance.  We Christians have the unfortunate tendency to think about prayer as if it were some flowing substance, like water or electricity. If we generate more prayers, we think we will get more results. If we have prayers going up from more than one person, then God will hear us more.  If this were so,  then the person who was more popular would have more prayers answered!  It is not the volume of prayer that makes a difference, but the value of the prayers we pray. 

 Prayer is not a commodity that accumulates by the number of people and times we pray. In Matthew 18:19, Jesus says

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."  Notice that he did not say five or six, but two or three!  There is value in many people praying for us. But the value is not in the number of prayers, but in the sincerity and passion of the people.

Likewise, just because a lot of people pray, does not mean God will change His mind.  God is in control. He does not make decisions based on a popular vote, but analyses what is needed and gives it, out of the abundance of His mighty power.  

Nevertheless, God wants us to work at prayer.  Prayer calls for passion!  “Seek and keep on seeking,” Jesus said, “and you will find. Knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened.”

“But wait a minute,” our heart says “doesn’t that contradict what we just heard? If the number or volume of prayer does not change His mind, then why doesn’t He answer us the first time.” 

The purpose of long term prayer is not to change God’s mind, but our own. God often does not bring an answer until we fully grasp the question. We need to know not only what we should correctly ask for, but also how important the answer is.  This only comes when we allow our minds to go back to the same request over and over. In time,  we come to the place of passionately, dearly wanting what God wants us to have.

When I was boy the biggest thing we looked forward to every year was Christmas.  About Thanksgiving, we made our lists of things we wanted and gave them to our parents. Our parents went out and bought some of them, usually within the next week.  But they did not give it to us right away.  They hid them in the attic or the basement until Christmas morning, when they all suddenly appeared. When they did appear, we had been looking forward to them all month.  I believe we appreciated those gifts more because we had to wait.

God also wants us to keep asking so we won’t forget where the answer came from.  How many times have we prayed for something and then when we received it, took the credit for ourselves?  As long as some part of us still thinks we are capable of bringing about change by ourselves, we are not ready to receive answers. 

We need both Public and private prayers.  Jesus encourages us to pray alone.  In Matthew 6:5-7 Jesus says

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

 Jesus encourages us to pray together.  The first thing the church did after Jesus’ ascenscion was to pray.  Acts 1:12-14-21

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived . . . They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”

After Pentecost, it was also one of the first things they did in Acts 2:42.  "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

Group prayer encourages to pray more.  This is true not only of prayer, but of everything we do.  Other people keep us in touch with each other. 

Praying alone and praying together is not contradictory. We should do both. Deitrich Bonheoffer once said that he who is afraid of alone should fear being with people, and he who is afraid of being with people should fear being alone.  We need both the praying with others as well as praying by ourselves.

In the next six weeks, you will be praying both alone and together. Don’t try to do this one your own.  Also don’t try to do it purely in other people’s company. You will need both the alone time and the together time to experience all God has to offer.  

Nothing I have said here is new. Anyone who has sat in churches for any length of time has probably heard most of this. It is not just Biblical; it is also common sense. 

But this is not the end of our knowledge of prayer. It is the beginning.  It is the practice that gives us the skills to be an effective prayer warrior.

Lord, help us to learn what it means to be in daily communion with you.  Change us through prayer, so that we may be your instruments for changing the world.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Confessions of a Failed Prayer Warrior

Confessions of a Failed Prayer Warrior

As a pastor, I have preached and taught hundreds of times on prayer.  The problem is I haven’t always practiced what I preach.

Why? I get busy. I get distracted.  I get bored.  Other people experience God’s majesty and joy—more often I have fallen asleep. Other people write of their closeness to God—my prayers seem to hit the ceiling and bounce off, without ever having seemed to contact the Divine Listener.  

When it comes to prayer, I can be a real hypocrite.

I think part of our (by that I mean my) problem with prayer is that we have heard much of prayer, but have never actually learned how. Prayer is not a subject to be studied but a skill to be learned. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him “Teach us to pray”, they did not have in mind “Teach us about prayer.”

It’s not that we don’t know what prayer is—we know very well. It’s the practice of prayer where we lack. We have heard sermon after sermon on prayer, but we do not know what to do.  In Jesus’ day, rabbis didn’t just teach on prayer, they were trained to pray. We have been taught, but not trained.

For most of Christian history, people were trained as well as taught to pray.  From their earliest years we learned sample prayers. We learned to fold our hands, bow our heads and recite “now I lay me down to sleep”. In our more individualistic times, we tend to avoid such ritualistic prayers.  We fear (and rightfully so) that prayer will become an empty ritual. But in avoiding methodology, we have allowed prayer to become an intellectual exercise or an emotional exercise, rather than a life skill. We learn prayer by doing, not studying.

How do we learn to play a musical instrument?  We practice! If we continue to practice, eventually we get better. Prayer is the same.  Effective prayer requires that we develop the necessary skills to get the most out of our time with God.

That is the goal of this series of lesson—to train in the necessary skills to become effective warriors. These skills do not come easily.  The only come with concentration and practice.  No one conquers the mystery of prayer easily or quickly, any more than we can learn to play the piano or solve differential equations easily.  It requires time and effort. We must set aside time and expend energy learning how to pray.  Only then will we experience the full measure of our life with Him. 

Consider the next six weeks basic training in prayer. We are going to start with the very beginning, learning the meaning and the potential of prayer in our lives.  We will learn to pray not the ritualistic prayers of childhood, nor in the lackadaisical prayers of a casual church attender, but to pray fully and seriously, with a vision towards finding the fullness of our wonderful God.