Learning the Way of Prayer

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt 5:5)

Who are the pure in heart?  They are the ones who only look toward Jesus Christ.  They do not gaze to the right or the left.  They seek the Lord’s answers and do not look toward the world or self for guidance.  His priorities become their priorities.  There are no desires, but His desire.  They have no will, but His will.  Their heart is undivided…pure!

It is a generally accepted truth that what we gaze upon, we become.  We subconsciously and consciously reflect the values and norms of our culture.  Many of our thinking and behavioral patterns are actually a reflection of our societal paradigm.  Most of us never realize what we are reflecting until we visit another country.  Thus, we have become what we have gazed upon.  

To incarnate a pure heart, we must gaze upon the Christ.  To incarnate His love, gaze upon the cross as this is the very definition of love.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).   If I reflected the love of my Lord and Savior, then I would love without restraint.  I would love someone who will not or can not love me in return.  The love of Christ is a costly love.  Yet, I would be able to spend this love extravagantly toward others because when the love of Christ pours through us, it is constantly and supernaturally refilled and renewed.

So today, I invite you to pray this prayer:

Lord, give me your heart…a pure heart.  I acknowledge that there is a veil that covers my heart and prevents me from fully reflecting your love.  So today, I claim your promise that “whenever anyone turns to [you], the veil is taken away….and we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [your] glory, are being transformed into [your] image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from [you].” (2 Corinthians 3: 16-18).  Lord, hold my gaze toward you so that my heart becomes your heart and my will becomes thy will.

© [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

I woke up early to pray and wouldn’t.  I don’t know why I wouldn’t pray.  I found 1000 reasons to not pray.  I didn’t have to be to work until noon and wanted to devote a portion of the morning to prayer.  Instead, I looked at the front page of the paper and then I washed some dishes, started a load of laundry, answered email and began a small project.  

None of these things were urgent.  Last night, when I went to bed, I had every intention of waking up early to pray, but I couldn’t.  Wouldn’t??  Ugh!  

What is wrong with me? Like the apostle Paul, “what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”  (Romans 7:15).  Why is it so hard to pray some days? 

I summoned all of my strength and finally sat down to pray.  Immediately, I realized the folly of my morning.  I felt a strange mixture of consolation and remorse as I prayed my opening petition, “Lord I acknowledge you in all my ways, make straight my path. (Prov. 3:6)  Walk before me, behind me, surround me with your presence and most importantly, walk through me.” 

As I finished my prayer time, I realized that I had wasted the morning.  By not praying first, my work was only my work.  I missed the opportunity of allowing him to establish the work of my hands for His glory.

© [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

As we continue to journey through Lent, let us not forget to pray for those who worship Christ at great personal cost.  Recently, I was reflecting on the intense persecution of Christian believers around the world and I was reminded of the following story. 

About 150 years ago, a group of missionaries traveled to a small village in northeast India and led a man, his wife and two children to claim Christ as their personal savior.  Their conversion story spread throughout the village and angered the village chief. He summoned the man before the village and demanded that he renounce his Christ or face execution. 

As the man was considering this crucial decision, he began to sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” 

Enraged, the chief ordered the archers to shoot the man’s two children. As both of the boys lay dying on the ground, the chief asked, “Now that you have lost both of your children, will you renounce your faith?   If you don’t, you will lose your wife too.” 

The man replied by singing, “Though no one joins me, still will I follow. Though no one joins me, still will I follow. Though no one joins me, still will I follow. No turning back, no turning back.” 

The chief became enraged and ordered the wife put to death. He asked for the final time, “Now I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live. There is no one for you in the world.” 

The man then sang, “The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back.” 

Eventually the courage of this man and his family would lead to the conversion of this chief and the entire village, but he didn’t know that at that time of his death. His call was simply to be unashamed of the gospel. The death of this man and his family was a tragedy, but “what man meant for evil, God can use for good.”  Gen 50:15. 

Let us remember that an estimated 150,000 Christians are martyred each year because of their faith (17 Christians are martyred per hour).

Please remember to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who practice a courageous and dangerous faith in Christ.  As you pray today, please take the opportunity to watch the following video (the images are powerful).  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lgEh66-F_0&feature=related

 © [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

I woke up this morning worrying about how the day would progress.  I had too much to do and too little time.  I almost skipped my prayer time, but decided that I had made a commitment to this new prayer practice and I need to stay consistent.  So, not praying was not an option. 

My devotional time included meditating on the verse “for with you is the fountain of life; in your light, we see light.”  Psalm 36:9  

Only in the light of Christ is hope.  The hope of Christ drives out all fear (worry), for he is life and light.  By living in the light of Christ, we will cease worrying.  

My prayer for today:                                                                                                                 “Lord, I desire to be productive and successful. I confess that I worry excessively about the outcome of events.  My worry about fruitfulness robs me of the joy of today.  How can I live fully in your light if I am anxious about the next thing or a future event?   Lord, I place my day completely in your hands.  Lord, I have faith that you are a good God and that you are in charge of today.  Let me fully accept the gift of today.   Let me receive all that I need today for you are the “fountain of life and in your light, I see light.”  Lord, let me dance in your light! 

The result:                                                                                                                                   When I went upstairs to get dressed for the day, I discovered that I had spent an hour in scripture meditation and prayer time.  I was fighting with the thought, “you spent too much time in prayer. How will you get everything done?”  Yet, I felt great peace all day and I kept lingering on the image of myself dancing in the light of Christ.  As an additional blessing, all the things on my to do list were completed and I actually had some unexpected free time at the end of the day.  By relinquishing the day and the glory to Christ, he interceded by providing some unexpected workers who volunteered to help for an hour.  What a gift.  God is good.

 © [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church inNorfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

 Lately, I have become burdened with praying for the lost, the suffering and the missing. 

As part of my new prayer practice, I have been praying His Word instead of my words and this has been a great source of comfort.  I am hoping that you will join me this Sunday in our underground church and pray for those who God has placed in our lives who don’t know Christ. 

As an aid for this experience, we have built our own “wailing wall” where we tie on the names of those for whom we are praying.  We believe that our prayers pierce the wall of hurts and defenses that separate our loved ones from a relationship with Christ. 

I encourage everyone to use the prayer that I have been praying for the past couple of weeks.  I believe that this simple scripture prayer will bring hope for those who feel separated from the love of Christ.

Lord, thank you for placing ___________________ in my life.  Father, give me patience and endurance so that I will not cease praying for ___________________ until s/he has accepted Jesus Christ into his/her heart.  Lord, help me to remember to “continually ask [you] to fill ___________________ with the knowledge of [your] will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that s/he may live a life [you will find] worthy and please [you] in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of  [you]….Lord, rescue ____________________ from the dominion of darkness and bring ___________________into the kingdom of the Son [you] love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.   (Colossians 1: 3-14)

© [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

I am not a person who finds it easy to pray for an extended period of time.  For me, an extended time of prayer is hard work because I have difficulty sitting still and quieting my mind.

Because Jesus Christ is the center of my existence,  this area of my life has caused me much anguish.  I have taken time to read about prayer, study prayer and practice prayer.  I have dissected the prayer experience and have created prayer times that people have found transcendent and transformational.  In fact, people tell me that I am an excellent prayer coach.

I feel like a fake!  I’m a great coach, but I want to be a player!

I recently found out that the participants in the opening ceremonies at the Turnin Olympics (2006)  did daily drills for over a year. By the time the games began, they had practiced their routines more than ten thousand times?

Experts such as Daniel Levitin, the author of This Is Your Brain On Music, and Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers: The Story of Success figure that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to become an expert in almost anything.

So what does this mean for me?  I guess it means that I will have to pray for at least half an hour every day for almost a year to become a player.

The fruit of this effort is that each half hour spent in prayer translates to 30 minutes less time for me to be “doing something productive.”

Thus, the act of praying will mean that I will be forced to rely on God.

Please Lord, give me the faith and patience to rely on you.  “Not my will, but your will be done.”

© [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church,Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]

Day two of my new early morning prayer practice and I am already seeing changes.

The changes however are within me.  I prayed this morning (early again).  Then as I was making my bed, I had the thought (from God?) that I needed to pray for someone who recently wounded me .

This person does not deserve my love.  In fact, they will probably never apologize for wounding me.  Yet, there was the thought….”pray that you will love this person”.

I wish I could say that I immediately dropped to my knees and began praying, but the truth is that I just kept ruminating on the thought that this person does not deserve my love.  Yet, I know, that I don’t deserve the love of the Father.  I don’t deserve the gift of grace and forgiveness.

As my morning progressed, I found myself asking a trusted group of friends if they would pray that I would be filled with love toward this person.

It is now evening and I still don’t love this person who wounded me, but miraculously the bitterness and malice that I felt toward this individual has been lifted.

Lord, change me.  Not my will, but thy will…..

© [The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Growth; a ministry of First Presbyterian Church,Norfolk,Virginia] and [www.thewayofprayer.com], [2012]