Many years ago, I learned a valuable lesson - the world around you can help you pray.
I remember Rosemary Green, wife of Anglican theologian Michael Green, asking those of us attending a prayer seminar to pick an object - any object - and use it to stimulate our prayers. I remember choosing my watch and being surprised by how it caused me to think about God.
I often indulge in this prayer aid when I go for a walk. For instance, yesterday I noted the white snow and thought of Christ's death to cleanse me from sin. I thanked him for that. A little further on, I saw a tree that was bare of leaves and reflected that sometimes God has to strip me of wrong things in order to encourage new growth spiritually.
Often, that leads me into other prayer paths. And God will use these things to speak to me, giving me answers to problems that have been troubling me.
When you think of it, this is a very old practice.
The psalmist David's imagination was filled with pictures of the world around him. It poured out into his songs to God.
Take the famous twenty-third psalm.
David was a shepherd before he was a king. Clearly, the simple everyday image of a shepherd with his sheep caused him to think of God as he wrote this psalm.
As a shepherd, he had taken his sheep to water and good pasture. He had defended them against marauding beasts.
Recalling this, he burst into a song of praise to God. God was his shepherd. He protected David. He provided David with all he needed. He took him through dark valleys where his life was threatened just as David's sheep had been stalked by wild beasts.
It is a delightful - and refreshing - way to pray.
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Praying in God's presence
It's easy to fall into rote prayer - rattling off words without thinking.
I confess I usually do when I'm saying grace.
Francis Chan, a very engaging speaker and author of Crazy Love, touches on this in a short video which I'm attaching to this post below. He tells how he used the same words throughout his childhood and teen years while saying grace at the family table.
This rote praying spilled over into other areas of his prayer life. It wasn't until adulthood that his prayer life changed. He started praying as if he was in God's presence.
It seems so obvious. Jesus said he would always be with us. So of course, God is present when we pray.
But often we pray as if we are talking to a blank wall. And our hearts are not in our prayers.
Francis Chan's imagination was fired by the picture of God on his throne in Revelation 4. He began to pray as if he were speaking to God on his throne. His prayer life gained new vigour and meaning. He was talking to a God of power and might.
The writer of Hebrews touches on this picture of the throne of God in Hebrews chapter 4. He says that Jesus understands us because he faced all the trials and temptations we have on earth. Now, he is our high priest intervening for us before God the Father. He concludes:
"So let us come boldly before the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."
I love that image. The God of Revelation 4 is also the God of Hebrews 4. He is a God of power and might and he is a God of mercy.
When we open our eyes to God's presence, we pray with more intensity and confidence.
He really does listen. He is sympathetic to our struggles. He wants to pour out his grace on our needy hearts.
I confess I usually do when I'm saying grace.
Francis Chan, a very engaging speaker and author of Crazy Love, touches on this in a short video which I'm attaching to this post below. He tells how he used the same words throughout his childhood and teen years while saying grace at the family table.
This rote praying spilled over into other areas of his prayer life. It wasn't until adulthood that his prayer life changed. He started praying as if he was in God's presence.
It seems so obvious. Jesus said he would always be with us. So of course, God is present when we pray.
But often we pray as if we are talking to a blank wall. And our hearts are not in our prayers.
Francis Chan's imagination was fired by the picture of God on his throne in Revelation 4. He began to pray as if he were speaking to God on his throne. His prayer life gained new vigour and meaning. He was talking to a God of power and might.
The writer of Hebrews touches on this picture of the throne of God in Hebrews chapter 4. He says that Jesus understands us because he faced all the trials and temptations we have on earth. Now, he is our high priest intervening for us before God the Father. He concludes:
"So let us come boldly before the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."
I love that image. The God of Revelation 4 is also the God of Hebrews 4. He is a God of power and might and he is a God of mercy.
When we open our eyes to God's presence, we pray with more intensity and confidence.
He really does listen. He is sympathetic to our struggles. He wants to pour out his grace on our needy hearts.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Does prayer work?
The Bible says that prayer matters.
But many Christians have doubts. I admit I sometimes wonder.
Why do we doubt?
I believe it is because we don't see how God is answering our prayers. We feel prayer doesn't work. And we give up.
We're like the soldier under attack in the trenches. The situation looks desperate in the soldier's eyes. He feels the battle is lost.
But God is like the general who is receiving information from the battlefield and from aerial surveillance. He knows the battle is won.
I often think of God's words in Isaiah 58: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
It all comes back to trust. Am I willing to trust God even when I don't understand?
I realize now that many of the things I have prayed for over the years have been answered with a resounding "Yes." Only, I didn't know it at the time. And sometimes I even thought he was saying "No."
I am still blind to much of what God is doing in my life. But I am learning that God is at work in every aspect of my life - from the smallest, everyday details to the big picture.
That doesn't mean that God will always give me what I want. He will give me what he knows I need.
And perhaps some of his answers will come when I am long gone. Here is pastor Robert Morris speaking about my great prayer hero George Muller and the friend he prayed for all his life.
But many Christians have doubts. I admit I sometimes wonder.
Why do we doubt?
I believe it is because we don't see how God is answering our prayers. We feel prayer doesn't work. And we give up.
We're like the soldier under attack in the trenches. The situation looks desperate in the soldier's eyes. He feels the battle is lost.
But God is like the general who is receiving information from the battlefield and from aerial surveillance. He knows the battle is won.
I often think of God's words in Isaiah 58: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
It all comes back to trust. Am I willing to trust God even when I don't understand?
I realize now that many of the things I have prayed for over the years have been answered with a resounding "Yes." Only, I didn't know it at the time. And sometimes I even thought he was saying "No."
I am still blind to much of what God is doing in my life. But I am learning that God is at work in every aspect of my life - from the smallest, everyday details to the big picture.
That doesn't mean that God will always give me what I want. He will give me what he knows I need.
And perhaps some of his answers will come when I am long gone. Here is pastor Robert Morris speaking about my great prayer hero George Muller and the friend he prayed for all his life.
Monday, 4 February 2013
God's face, not his hand
Daniel Henderson has coined a phrase that captures an important truth: "Seek God's face before you seek his hand."
Speaking for myself, I am inclined to rush to God with requests. I'm in a hurry to get what I want - sometimes telling myself that God wants what I want.
But Henderson, who has written books on worship-based prayer, says that our relationship with God will change dramatically if we turn our attention to him first.
In essence, he is saying that "seeking God's face" means loving and worshiping God and getting to know him in an ever-deeper way. "Seeking God's hand" is all about asking him for whatever goodies we want at the moment.
There is nothing wrong with asking God for something. That is an important part of prayer. But Henderson and other authors say that we 21st century Christians need to change our focus. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus.
The psalmist David makes this point in Psalm 27:4: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
Gazing upon God may seem like a waste of time to us in our high-speed world. This attitude even infects our activities as believers. In the back of our minds, we feel the work of the church will never get done if we spend time contemplating and worshiping God.
But Henderson says that worship-based prayer transformed churches he led in California and Minnesota. Group prayer suddenly became life-changing for people who participated and his church in Sacramento, California almost doubled in a few years. That church then planted several daughter churches.
It's hard to sit still and worship God when deadlines are just around the corner. But many great Christians have done just that.
Cultivating a strong relationship with God through prayer and reflective reading of the Bible was a hallmark of George Muller's very busy life starting and running several orphanages in Britain in the 19th century. He did not make any major decision until he was absolutely certain God wanted him to do it.
In his books, Henderson urges his readers to take scripture passages and use them as prompts for worshiping God for who he is. As we worship, our minds rise above our circumstances and we are able to pray for our concerns with greater understanding and hope.
If our hearts are in tune with God, we are more likely to see God at work.
Speaking for myself, I am inclined to rush to God with requests. I'm in a hurry to get what I want - sometimes telling myself that God wants what I want.
But Henderson, who has written books on worship-based prayer, says that our relationship with God will change dramatically if we turn our attention to him first.
In essence, he is saying that "seeking God's face" means loving and worshiping God and getting to know him in an ever-deeper way. "Seeking God's hand" is all about asking him for whatever goodies we want at the moment.
There is nothing wrong with asking God for something. That is an important part of prayer. But Henderson and other authors say that we 21st century Christians need to change our focus. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus.
The psalmist David makes this point in Psalm 27:4: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
Gazing upon God may seem like a waste of time to us in our high-speed world. This attitude even infects our activities as believers. In the back of our minds, we feel the work of the church will never get done if we spend time contemplating and worshiping God.
But Henderson says that worship-based prayer transformed churches he led in California and Minnesota. Group prayer suddenly became life-changing for people who participated and his church in Sacramento, California almost doubled in a few years. That church then planted several daughter churches.
It's hard to sit still and worship God when deadlines are just around the corner. But many great Christians have done just that.
Cultivating a strong relationship with God through prayer and reflective reading of the Bible was a hallmark of George Muller's very busy life starting and running several orphanages in Britain in the 19th century. He did not make any major decision until he was absolutely certain God wanted him to do it.
In his books, Henderson urges his readers to take scripture passages and use them as prompts for worshiping God for who he is. As we worship, our minds rise above our circumstances and we are able to pray for our concerns with greater understanding and hope.
If our hearts are in tune with God, we are more likely to see God at work.
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Prayer saves time
The title of a book by Bill Hybels sticks in my mind: Too Busy Not to Pray.
It's catchy because it seems so completely opposite to the facts. Prayer obviously takes time and who has time to waste?
If we sat down and thought things through, most of us would realize that we have lots of time. It's just that we fill our time with things that often don't need doing.
But that's not Hybels' point.
His point is that we are so busy running around that we waste time simply running around. Sometimes we do things that are not going anywhere because we haven't consulted the one who knows what's going to happen.
Hybels, pastor of the world-famous Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area, is a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. In his book, he says he loves getting to the office and plunging into the many things that need doing. And, with a church like Willow Creek, there's lots to do.
But years ago, he felt God telling him to pray. So he spent a lot of time reading about prayer, studying Bible passages on prayer, and - finally - praying.
He shares what he has learned about prayer in his delightfully-written book.
For me, the most important lesson is that priority number one is getting to know God intimately through talking to him and listening to him. After that, other issues start falling into place.
Jesus is our best example. In Luke 6:12-13, we read that he spent a night praying before choosing his disciples. Frequently, we are told that Jesus prayed before spending a tumultuous day preaching to -and healing - thousands of people.
What Jesus gained from prayer was assurance and direction from the Father in what he was to do. The Father and the Holy Spirit strengthened him and prepared him for his crowded and strife-torn days healing, speaking and debating with hostile enemies.
Hybels talks about calming his active mind by "journaling", talking to God in a written journal. I find this a very helpful practice, often bringing a quick solution to a problem by presenting it to God and receiving his response.
But you can come into God's presence and present concerns to him and receive his inner strength and assurance - whether or not you write in a journal.
As a believer, I know that it makes sense to bring God into my daily life. If his thoughts are greater than my thoughts, why not get his input?
It will save a lot of time if I make the right decision early rather than late.
It's catchy because it seems so completely opposite to the facts. Prayer obviously takes time and who has time to waste?
If we sat down and thought things through, most of us would realize that we have lots of time. It's just that we fill our time with things that often don't need doing.
But that's not Hybels' point.
His point is that we are so busy running around that we waste time simply running around. Sometimes we do things that are not going anywhere because we haven't consulted the one who knows what's going to happen.
Hybels, pastor of the world-famous Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area, is a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. In his book, he says he loves getting to the office and plunging into the many things that need doing. And, with a church like Willow Creek, there's lots to do.
But years ago, he felt God telling him to pray. So he spent a lot of time reading about prayer, studying Bible passages on prayer, and - finally - praying.
He shares what he has learned about prayer in his delightfully-written book.
For me, the most important lesson is that priority number one is getting to know God intimately through talking to him and listening to him. After that, other issues start falling into place.
Jesus is our best example. In Luke 6:12-13, we read that he spent a night praying before choosing his disciples. Frequently, we are told that Jesus prayed before spending a tumultuous day preaching to -and healing - thousands of people.
What Jesus gained from prayer was assurance and direction from the Father in what he was to do. The Father and the Holy Spirit strengthened him and prepared him for his crowded and strife-torn days healing, speaking and debating with hostile enemies.
Hybels talks about calming his active mind by "journaling", talking to God in a written journal. I find this a very helpful practice, often bringing a quick solution to a problem by presenting it to God and receiving his response.
But you can come into God's presence and present concerns to him and receive his inner strength and assurance - whether or not you write in a journal.
As a believer, I know that it makes sense to bring God into my daily life. If his thoughts are greater than my thoughts, why not get his input?
It will save a lot of time if I make the right decision early rather than late.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Victory in surrender
I can't think of a more powerful prayer in the Bible than Jesus' statement to the Father on the eve of the crucifixion: "Not my will but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)
Jesus, who was fully human, had just finished pleading with the Father to spare him the cross on which the whole of history hung. He knew that God the Father would have to turn his face from him when, on the cross, he took on himself all of human sin. The unbelievably close relationship between Father and Son would be broken for an instant.
Though sweating blood, Jesus surrendered to the Father's will. And he won the greatest victory the world has ever seen.
By this act, he opened the way for reconciliation between God and man. And he defeated Satan, ensuring that God's great plan for the world would triumph.
A friend of mine made the same decision when struck with cancer. After hearing the news from his doctor, he knelt beside his bed and prayed: "Not my will but yours be done."
During the last few months of his life, he spoke to many people about Jesus, leaving this world a victor.
It's hard to pray those words. I know it may mean giving up my own dreams and hopes.
To pray those words, I must trust that God's will is best. I must believe that God knows better than I do what is the right path to take in my situation.
Sometimes, God pours out amazing blessings upon people who surrender to his will.
George Muller, founder of orphanages in Britain, always sought God's will in his prayer life and he lived by what he learned. He never campaigned for money but always received just enough to feed and take care of the orphans. He died with not much more than pocket money to his name.
There are other similar stories. But sometimes we don't see what others would call a happy result.
My friend died of cancer. Yet he left behind him a wonderful legacy of faith. I am one person he touched during his last months of life.
Jesus, who was fully human, had just finished pleading with the Father to spare him the cross on which the whole of history hung. He knew that God the Father would have to turn his face from him when, on the cross, he took on himself all of human sin. The unbelievably close relationship between Father and Son would be broken for an instant.
Though sweating blood, Jesus surrendered to the Father's will. And he won the greatest victory the world has ever seen.
By this act, he opened the way for reconciliation between God and man. And he defeated Satan, ensuring that God's great plan for the world would triumph.
A friend of mine made the same decision when struck with cancer. After hearing the news from his doctor, he knelt beside his bed and prayed: "Not my will but yours be done."
During the last few months of his life, he spoke to many people about Jesus, leaving this world a victor.
It's hard to pray those words. I know it may mean giving up my own dreams and hopes.
To pray those words, I must trust that God's will is best. I must believe that God knows better than I do what is the right path to take in my situation.
Sometimes, God pours out amazing blessings upon people who surrender to his will.
George Muller, founder of orphanages in Britain, always sought God's will in his prayer life and he lived by what he learned. He never campaigned for money but always received just enough to feed and take care of the orphans. He died with not much more than pocket money to his name.
There are other similar stories. But sometimes we don't see what others would call a happy result.
My friend died of cancer. Yet he left behind him a wonderful legacy of faith. I am one person he touched during his last months of life.
Sunday, 13 January 2013
A blessing revolution
The Lord is turning my mind increasingly to the importance - and power - of blessing others.
I have written about this in an earlier post. But I have just finished reading about a powerful example of a blessing place in Wales - Ffald-y-Brenin in Pembrokeshire. The book, The Grace Outpouring, is inspiring.
The author, Roy Godwin, and his wife Daphne direct a retreat house where miracles happen routinely. There are miracles of people finding faith in God, of emotional healing, of physical healing.
Early on in their time as directors, the Godwins began blessing people who visited the retreat centre. The first time came after a couple of strangers dropped in to ask what the retreat centre was all about. After a cup of tea, the Godwins took them on a tour of the grounds, ending at the chapel.
The couple seemed touched by the presence of God so Roy Godwin offered to pray a blessing on them. They agreed and he prayed:
"I bless you in the name of Jesus to know God, his purpose for your life, and his blessings on you and your family and the situations of your life. Amen."
"They started to weep," Godwin writes. "The sense of the presence of God seemed tangible. I quietly let myself out of the chapel so they wouldn't be embarrassed by my presence. It was time to let God do what he wanted to do with that couple."
They came to him afterwards to say how grateful they were for this experience of God and he shared with them the good news of Jesus before they left.
In the following days, there were many more of these unusual and unexpected visits from people drawn inexplicably to Ffald-y-Brenin for life-changing blessings. And over the years, there have been miracles.
Godwin puts this all down to God's grace.
"God's desire to bless is absolutely outrageous," he writes. "Nothing can stop him. He has set himself with immovable intent to bless mankind. His longing is that Jesus shall have many brothers and sisters."
He notes that Jesus did not dwell on someone's sin before healing that person. He poured his grace out first, sometimes telling people to sin no more after healing them.
He suggests that Christians often focus on convincing people they are sinners before extending God's grace to them in love, hospitality and prayer.
He notes that God asked Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this blessing (Numbers 6:22-27):
"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you peace."
And God followed that up by promising to bless the people when Aaron and his sons blessed them in his name. That is a great promise.
For me, it calls for a change in the way I look at people and the way I think. It calls for a change of heart from critical and judgemental to loving and grace-giving.
It might even be revolutionary.
I have written about this in an earlier post. But I have just finished reading about a powerful example of a blessing place in Wales - Ffald-y-Brenin in Pembrokeshire. The book, The Grace Outpouring, is inspiring.
The author, Roy Godwin, and his wife Daphne direct a retreat house where miracles happen routinely. There are miracles of people finding faith in God, of emotional healing, of physical healing.
Early on in their time as directors, the Godwins began blessing people who visited the retreat centre. The first time came after a couple of strangers dropped in to ask what the retreat centre was all about. After a cup of tea, the Godwins took them on a tour of the grounds, ending at the chapel.
The couple seemed touched by the presence of God so Roy Godwin offered to pray a blessing on them. They agreed and he prayed:
"I bless you in the name of Jesus to know God, his purpose for your life, and his blessings on you and your family and the situations of your life. Amen."
"They started to weep," Godwin writes. "The sense of the presence of God seemed tangible. I quietly let myself out of the chapel so they wouldn't be embarrassed by my presence. It was time to let God do what he wanted to do with that couple."
They came to him afterwards to say how grateful they were for this experience of God and he shared with them the good news of Jesus before they left.
In the following days, there were many more of these unusual and unexpected visits from people drawn inexplicably to Ffald-y-Brenin for life-changing blessings. And over the years, there have been miracles.
Godwin puts this all down to God's grace.
"God's desire to bless is absolutely outrageous," he writes. "Nothing can stop him. He has set himself with immovable intent to bless mankind. His longing is that Jesus shall have many brothers and sisters."
He notes that Jesus did not dwell on someone's sin before healing that person. He poured his grace out first, sometimes telling people to sin no more after healing them.
He suggests that Christians often focus on convincing people they are sinners before extending God's grace to them in love, hospitality and prayer.
He notes that God asked Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this blessing (Numbers 6:22-27):
"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you peace."
And God followed that up by promising to bless the people when Aaron and his sons blessed them in his name. That is a great promise.
For me, it calls for a change in the way I look at people and the way I think. It calls for a change of heart from critical and judgemental to loving and grace-giving.
It might even be revolutionary.
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