Seeing like David

Where did the psalmist David get his gift for seeing God everywhere?  He opened his eyes.

Juan Carlos Ortiz, an Argentinian pastor and author, says he and his congregation stopped praising God with the same old phrases and began looking for God in the world around them.  It gave new life and joy to their worship of the Lord.

In his book Disciple, Ortiz said the breakthrough came during a men’s retreat in the country two hours outside Buenos Aires. 

The men were outside praying praises to the Lord with their eyes closed.  Ortiz says they sounded just as they did in the church basement in the city.

He opened his eyes and saw a flowering apple tree with a bird sitting upon it.

“Lord, how beautiful this apple tree is,” Ortiz prayed.  “The flowers are just fantastic.  Look at the bird, Lord?  Isn’t it beautiful?”

He says the other men opened their eyes to see what was happening to their pastor.  He continued praying about the beautiful, God-made things around them.

Then, others picked up the idea and joined in.  One boy climbed a tree and began exclaiming about the things he saw.

“Soon we all were in the trees (it was a very unusual prayer meeting), shouting like a bunch of monkeys.”

“It is true that sometimes we need to close our eyes and look deep inside ourselves,” Ortiz says.  “But when we praise God, we are reaching outside, and we find many more things with which to fill our praise boxes as we look around.”

He points to David’s many psalms which celebrate God and his creation.  David spoke about God and his power and glory by referring to the everyday things he saw around him.

The famous 23^rd psalm is a good example.  The psalmist equates God with the shepherd who protects, defends and guides his flock.  It is a brilliant example of talking about our relationship with God by painting word pictures from the everyday world.

So, Ortiz’ congregation now sits in circles as they praise God.  Their eyes are open and they pray as if God is right there with them – which he is.

Their praises are personal psalms to God.

We can do the same as we got about our day’s work.  We don’t have to wait for special prayer meetings.

Slow down and meet Jesus

I love the title of Bill Hybels' book Too Busy Not to Pray.

Prayer is essential in any believer's life - no matter how many things we have to do.  Jesus found prayer essential in his hectic, crowded, demanding life - so, shouldn't we?

Hybels devotes a chapter in his book to slowing down to pray.

He makes the obvious point that in our Western world, we are in such a rush that we have no time to be quiet before God.

"Authentic Christians are persons who stand apart from others, even other Christians, as though listening to a different drummer," says Hybels.

They are different "because authentic Christians have strong relationships with the Lord - relationships that are renewed every day."

"Any way you cut it, a key ingredient in authentic Christianity is time.  Not leftover time, not throwaway time, but quality time.  Time for contemplation, meditation and reflection.

Hybels describes his own routine for slowing down to meet Jesus:

• He begins his day by writing in a journal about what happened the previous day in his walk with Christ - the good and the bad;
• He then writes out prayers to God; and
• Finally, he listens to the voice of God as he becomes aware of the presence of God.

The value in doing this is that writing about what has happened helps slow down his racing mind and focus on God.

Writing out prayers is a step further, helping him formulate what he wants to say to the Lord.

And, finally, listening to the promptings of God helps him receive guidance from God.

It's a good way to slow down and meet Jesus.

Prayer opens the door

Prayer opens the door to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with our friends, neighbours and family.

Prayer prepares the ground as we seek the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people we know.

And offering to pray for people in need can be a first step to talking about Jesus.

Felicity Dale talked about the importance of prayer in a session at an Exponential conference about discipleship and evangelism in the United States.

She mentioned that her husband Tony, a medical doctor, reached out to patients in a poor area of London, asking them if they had ever considered praying about their medical problems.  This ultimately led to 50 patients becoming believers in the first year.

Alvin VanderGriend, author of  Shine His Light, tells the story of a non-Christian owner of a corner store in Brooklyn, New York, calling a Christian pastor and asking him what he was going to do about the fact that her store was being robbed frequently and drug dealers were in front of the store day and night.

The pastor suggested that he and a group would come down to her store once a week and pray for God's intervention.  She agreed and the group prayed earnestly at the back of the store during store hours.

They prayed for protection of the store and that the drug dealers would be dealt with.  In four weeks, four drug dealers were arrested, two frequent shoppers at the store became believers, and several weeks later the store owner became a Christian.

VanderGriend also writes about the amazing impact of a group of praying believers who offered to pray for people in a Bakersfield, California apartment complex. I wrote about that in a blog post on March 23, 2014.

On a broader scale, fervent prayer for cities can bring city-wide change.

Ed Silvoso writes in his book Prayer Evangelism about a city-wide evangelism thrust in San Nicolas, a city in Argentina.  The evangelism effort was centred on prayer and a unique "prayer fair".

San Nicolas was a spiritually dark city when the campaign was launched in the 1990s.  Pastors came together and prayed against the dark forces.

Believers from many churches prayer-walked the entire city, praying peace and blessings on the homes they passed.  Then, people prayed and fasted for several days before visiting homes throughout the city giving families a newspaper clipping and coupon mentioning a prayer fair that day.

Thousands converged on the prayer fair and were directed to the areas where their issues were being prayed about - family problems, marriage problems, health issues.  Miracles happened and many became believers that day.

I saw a five-minute video on the Bless Minnesota web-site at http://www.blessmn.org/ which speaks about the "adopt-a-street" prayer campaign in Newark, New Jersey in 2007.  Pastors and churches working together prayed for people along streets throughout the city.

The murder rate dropped 33 per cent after 33 per cent of the streets were adopted.  When 100 per cent of the streets were adopted, Newark had its first murder-free month in 44 years.

Prayer is powerful.  It opens the door to change.  It opens the door to people's hearts.  And more people enter the kingdom of God.

Pray for boldness

God pours out his strength and power when we come together to pray.

A great example is the young church in Jerusalem in Acts 4:23-33. The church is facing persecution with Peter and John hauled before the Jewish authorities for condemnation for talking about Jesus.

After Peter and John return to their people, the group breaks out in united prayer.

What they ask for is astounding - they ask for boldness in preaching the good news about Jesus despite persecution.  And God responds with a resounding "Yes!"  They go out preaching boldly.

I have just looked at a brief seven-minute YouTube video featuring famed Christian authors Francis Chan and David Platt talking about praying together and sharing the gospel.

Chan points to that incident as he talks about encouraging each other through prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to embolden us to talk about Jesus with those who don't know him.

He says that, for the last two years, he has been gathering together with others in a team that shares the gospel in the streets of San Francisco.  They meet for prayer beforehand - and they bolster each other's courage.

Chan and Platt admit they are like the rest of us - fearful of rejection.  But they speak of the joy of talking about Jesus with people who are receptive.

For Chan, a key is praying with others and urging each other on to speak about Jesus.

Along with that incident in Acts, he notes that the apostle Paul asks the readers of his letters to pray for him that he may be courageous in talking about the Lord.

In the end, it is God speaking through us. The Holy Spirit gives us the words to speak and the opportunities to share.

If we obey the promptings of the Spirit, God will work.  And we will be joyful because God has worked through us.

In a sense, we are stronger as we work together - and pray together.

This thought encourages me - fearful as I am.  I need the support of others through prayer.

Here is the video by Francis Chan and David Platt: