Lent 2011 - Day 2

John Wesley once said, "Prayer is the lifting up of the heart to God: All words of prayer, without this, are mere hypocrisy."*

In the season of Lent, one of the key practices we are to be about is prayer, but according to this, it's not the  words of prayer that are important, nor even the length of prayer, but the reason for our praying. It's the heart of the matter, literally. 

I don't know about you, but I needed to hear that. I, too, often get distracted in my own prayers and their purpose. I mean, I know why I pray, but the question is, "is it for the right reason?" When we lift up our prayers is it just our desires for God to work, or some kind of balm for our own soul that says we believe God might just hear us and maybe answer?

Or is it as it should be, to lay bare my heart to God?

This Lenten Season my task is simple, to dig deep in to my own soul and reveal whatever I find to a God who is longing for it, and ready to salve whatever pain it costs. Because the goal of Lent is to prepare ourselves to fully embrace the resurrection, which means we need to fully embrace God who fully embraces us....no matter what.

So, dig deep and open up!

Peace ><>

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*Day 1 of 40 Days of Wesley: Sermon #26 Upon the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 6.

Day 2 of 40 Days of Wesley: Sermon #48 Self-Denial

Pestering God

Luke 11:1-13

I believe that many people are afraid to pray.

They are afraid that:
they will say the wrong things...
they might make God angry...
they won't get answered anyway...
they are simply pestering God!

Regardless the reasons we don't pray (or are afraid to) the reality is that God is waiting on us to pray. Yes...waiting, with anticipation, to hear from us, from you!

And there is no pestering God.

If there is something on our mind, then we are supposed to pray about it. And if it is there every day, then pray about it everyday...every moment, even. God just wants us to call.

When Peggy and I were dating, we'd spend what seemed like hours on the phone together. I'd sit in our living room at the phone desk (this is way before cordless phones which begins to date me!) and talk quietly so no one else could overhear our conversation. But as I remember it, there wasn't much to listen to because we'd spend much of the time in silence, no one saying anything. Fortunately it wasn't long distance either.

Prayer is simply having God's attention and giving God ours. And if our time together is just sitting quietly together, then that's okay too. It doesn't bother Him a bit..in fact, it's what he wants.

Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find;
Knock and the door will open. (Luke 11:9, MSG)

So don't think you will pester God, just ask for what you need...


...and you'll get.

Peace ><>
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That Poor Fig Tree

Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it. (Matthew 21:22-23, NLT)

I had the privilege a few years ago to lead a group of women from our church in a Disciple Class called "Jesus in the Gospels." It was one of the most fun classes I've ever led and one I hope never to forget. We had such great discussions and discovered some amazing insights from these great women of faith. One of my most precious memories of that class took place when we studied this passage.

it follows a story of Jesus going to a fig tree to get something to eat and upon finding nothing, he curses it "never to bear fruit again." As the disciples walk by the fig tree the next day they are astonished as they find it withered and dead. That's when Jesus simply told them that this is what happens when you believe what you pray!

What makes this so memorable is that one of the ladies in the class, Alice Ann, never got over this action by Jesus. Now she did not question Jesus' power or even the message he taught through it, she just didn't understand what the poor fig tree had done to deserve such a curse. And it wasn't just one class session that we discussed this...I believe we talked about it almost every class until the end of the year!

It was a bit comical to be discussing something totally different when Alice Ann would say, out of the blue, " I just don't understand why that happened to that poor fig tree."

I appreciated her questions and her undying trust in Jesus Christ and I'm sure He got that question when Alice Ann got to heaven!

But I also wonder how often we miss the point of something because we can't get over the details?

And I wonder how often we pray without expecting anything in return?

That's really the point of the story anyway. Jesus was always provocative in some way, here he challenged the disciples to see how to pray with expectation; to speak it, believe it and it will be done!

Do you believe what you ask for will happen? Or are you more concerned about the details of how it will get done? This is where our doubts come from and what we need is to over look the details and just wait with anticipation on the results of our prayers.

This group of ladies sure didn't miss this part of the story. In fact, while we talked about "that poor fig tree" all year, we also saw amazing things happen because of our prayers as a class...

...because we believe what we asked and we trusted our requests in the hands of a faithful God.

Peace ><>
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Praying...but never alone.

Matthew 14:23

I always wanted to "go up into the mountain to pray." You know, just like Jesus did. Not that I think there is something special about any particular mountain or that we can get closer to God by being at a higher elevation. Heaven is not reached by height as the people at Babel discovered long ago. But to get away, really away from all the distractions in order to focus on God, on prayer. It sounds great and nearly impossible!

No matter where I've gone, I've never been able to fully focus my mind and soul in prayer. There are always distractions, either by the environment or from within. There always seems to be something getting in the way and not even a mountain can help that!

I've spent some time alone in the Galilee and I discovered something. Even in the places of Jesus' most intimate prayers, he had distractions. Some of them were similar to mine, the weather, the view, the sounds of nature and even the inner distractions of hunger, of the day's schedule, the future. What is strikingly different though between Jesus' prayer time and mine is his focus. He had much more on his mind than we every will, yet he was able to pray. What we miss at times though is that he prayed often all night!

I wonder if it was because of his distractions?

Regardless of what they are or how many there are, the good news for us is that we can get around them just like He did, by simply praying. The truth is, while we are never truly alone, away from our thoughts, or circumstances or even our environment, we are also never alone from God! Which means that if we are not able to get away to the mountain, then we go to God wherever we are, whenever we can. And if our prayers last all day, in between tasks, during down times, while commuting to work or to the grocery, then so be it.

The important thing is to pray...because God is where we are and waiting to hear from us!

Peace ><>
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Attitude Adjuster

As children grow, they learn appropriate behaviors in many ways, by our examples as parents, through loving discipline and positive reinforcement. But there comes a time (starting at about age 2) when parental/child boundaries are challenged, and rebellion begins. It's not rebellion for rebellion's sake, rather it's a part of the learning process. And as parents, it's our job to alter and mold their behavior.

In our house we have been known to use the phrase, "you better adjust the attitude." Meaning we are seeing inappropriate behavior and it's time to change. But if that phrase didn't work we would follow with "if you don't change your attitude, I'll change it for you!" And we did have the "Attitude Adjuster," a paddle that I don't ever remember using, but it did it's job.

Most of the time our little discussions worked. Today we have new methods of adjusting attitudes now that our children are older, but I have learned something, that this behavior continues through the teen years, sometimes even through college and beyond. But at some point most kids grow up in body and behavior.

The problem is we still need attitude adjustments sometimes! (and not just the kids!)

There is a subtle lesson in Hannah's story from 1 Samuel. She is the wife of Elkannah, but has no children which has made her very sad. Life is hard for her in her own home. (with Elkannah's other wife always putting her down.) She finds comfort in the encouragement of her husband but especially in her prayers at the Sanctuary.

It was one of those special days of prayer when she was especially distraught when she cried out to God for help and Eli the priest gave her words of comfort. But did you notice what happened when she left the Sanctuary? She responded to Eli, "Think well of me - and pray for me! she said, and went her way. Then she ate heartily, her face radiant." (1 Sam. 18, Msg)

Hannah was changed through her prayer.

That's because prayer is an attitude adjuster!

As we grow up in faith, we still find our attitudes out of whack at times. We may not be rebelling, but we might find ourselves distraught, angry, disappointed, hurt, depressed, you name it. But just as I teach my kids, the same holds true for me and you, we can choose how we respond to our life-circumstances. We still need our attitudes adjusted sometimes. And just like Hannah, we can use the purest form of attitude adjuster...prayer.

It can change our outlook and give us hope, because it's communicating with God!

"Adjust the attitude!"

Pray!

and discover God's Peace ><>
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Simple Prayer

I don't know always where to start my prayers. There are times when I want to pray, but I don't know exactly how to begin. And when I just begin, sometimes I feel like I'm tripping over my words, not communicating clearly to God what I want to say. But the truth is, God understands, even when we stutter and stammer and speak using words and ideas that don't always go together to describe a feeling, a circumstance that seems to defy description. God simply gets it!

That's why simple prayer is so important. It is the prayer we start with, from where we are in faith, in life. It's as simple as, "God, here I am, here's my circumstance, here's how I feel. I don't know if it's right, but it's where I. Now let's move on from here." That's what God wants from us, brutal honesty. Even if it means that you say things like, "What have you done to me God?" or "Why me?" God's loves it when we are raw and spiritually naked. That's when we are the most vulnerable, not to hurt or destruction, but for molding and shaping. For healing, and for clothing in God's way.

Simple prayer is the most important prayer. If we wait until we have prayer figured out, the faith all understood, then we might miss the relational building blocks that this type of prayer offers. God is not waiting for a great prayer, but waiting for yours and mine, as simple as they may be.

So let's pray...

God, we don't know always how to pray or what to say when we do pray. We use words wrongly, we don't even know our own language well, but you understand our cries like a parent does a child. Thank you for listening to our heartfelt whimperings and selfish groanings. Listen to our circumstances, hear our needs, answer our prayers and give us faith to trust you to move the mountains from our path.

You are our God, we pledge to be your faithful people and hear our prayers.

Amen.

Now, don't you feel better?

Peace ><>
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