“How we pray is what we really believe.” Rod Dreher “O Lord, let it be the real me who prays, and the real you to whom I pray.” C. S. Lewis My prayer life has run the gamut from warm and fuzzy kind of praying, done mostly after I have had some great experience with God, to grumpy complaining and whining about the situation and circumstances I find myself in. One of my most memorable prayers ever was this, prayed during my university career (believe me, it was a career): “O God, I know you didn’t necessarily make me the way I am, but I feel like you did, and I resent you for it.” I hope I got points for honesty, at least. Scripture tells us to choose what we think about, and that surely must mean we are to make right choices when we pray. I certainly think God values honesty. If not I am really in trouble. On the other hand, I realize that my prayer life has been toxic rather than healthy far too often. I have focused all my energy on me, my problems, my weakness, my failures, and my fears and very little on God. I took a class on spiritual formation where we were taught to use the Lord’s Prayer as a model. Our teacher was a pastor who discovered a method of praying this prayer when we was, he now says, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Usually when I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown I just go ahead and plunge in, hoping to get it over with. Or that has been my history. Of course if you keep a brave face while doing this, people think you are courageous and resilient. But I digress. When we come to God in prayer, we are coming to the one who invites us into his presence as a dearly loved child. We may begin with the words “Our Father.” A Muslim woman was confronted with the claims of the gospel. Drawn by the Holy Spirit, she was at the same time terrified to leave the faith of her life, her family, her nation and culture. One day in desperation she held the Quran and the Bible in her hands, and lifting them up, prayed “O God, which of these books is true?” The answer, not audible, but deeper than that, was “In which one am I spoken of as Father?” When I think of my earthly father, I remember a sensitive, artistic and broken man who struggled to communicate with his sons. Yet we loved him. We wanted to be with him. We certainly didn’t just rush into his presence and begin to pour out our troubles to him. In his case it wouldn’t have helped much, anyway. There is a place for pouring out our troubles to God. He wants us to ask, seek and knock. But I think what God wants from me most is that I want him. How often, when I have gone to prayer, have I gone to the Lord burdened with my troubles, fearful over my circumstances or tormented by temptations (and the fear I will give into them. Tozer suggested that many Christians are paralyzed by the fears of falling back into sin). Instead I need to recall what a privilege I enjoy as God’s child, simply to come to him and spend time in his presence. We are able to come to the Lord of all the Universe and be face to face with him, through the work and power of the Holy Spirit. This is where prayer should begin. Pastor
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 16:33:56 +0000
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