The last few years I have been trying to address disconnects in my
life. The disconnects are those things that I know what God's word says,
yet that truth is not functioning powerfully in my daily life.
1 Chronicles 16:11, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 4:1, Psalm 145:18,
Proverbs 15:29 , Isaiah 62:6-7 , Matthew
6:5-13 , Matthew 7:11 ,
Luke 6:12 , Luke 18:1 , Romans 8:26 ,
Philippians 4:6 , Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:1-2,8 , James
1:7 , James 4:6 ,
James 5:16, 1 John 1:9
John 17 , Exodus 32-34 ,
Psalm 51, Chronicles 20, Ephesians 1:15-23 ,
Ephesians 3:14-21 , Acts 7:54-60, 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10
Such is the area
of prayer.
Prayer comes in
many packages. There are prayers of gratitude and acknowledgment of our God, we say these to
start or end our church services, as we sit down to a meal, at a bedside, or even before a
football game. There are prayers that are ongoing communication to our God throughout
the day, as we whisper the names of those we love and situations we are facing.
What about what Jesus had? Or what Elijah had? Or what David had? Their
prayers were more a way of life, a prayer life, even the term communicates that
it has a life of it's own.
Jesus withdrew
often to talk to His Father in prayer. Elijah, in constant communication
with God, prayed prayers of boldness. David, desperate for God to answer,
sang His prayers to God. Their lives exhibit to us, chunks of time for nothing
else but prayer. As I have been asking God to teach me what this looks
like and how to do it, I have looked at men and women that I have admired
through the years. These are men and women that God has used in the
church and in the world. Their walks with God, the testimony of what
their lives have stood for, and or their writings, are things that God has used to disciple me. I found a common thread, it was prayer.
Their prayer time was more than an activity of duty, it was setting aside much time to encounter God, to seek His direction, and to intercede. The Word of God was the material of what they
prayed. I have been inspired, corrected, and convicted by studying prayer lives
in scripture and of those that I sense possess something I do not.
Adoniram Judson
would seek to withdraw seven times a day from business and company to lift up
his soul to God in private. Robert Murray McCheyne said; "I must
pray before seeing any one. This must be secret prayer. I can do no good
to those who come to seek anything from me apart from it. I feel it is far
better to begin with God, to see his face first, to get my soul near him before
it is near to another." Edward Payson, a pastor in the second great
awakening, was called Praying Payson, it is said that he wore groves into the
hardwood floors where he would pray because of how often and how long he would kneel before the Lord. The prayer life of Hudson Taylor, George
Mueller, Amy Carmichael, Martin Luther, and David Brainerd, certainly was a key
that unlocked something supernatural in their lives and the life that God had
for them.
There was another
common thread in the lives listed above, they were desperate. They knew
who God was, they knew who they were, and they were desperate for Him to do
what only He could do. These common threads, ask me questions about my
own prayer life that beg for answers. Am I, (are we) desperate for the things
only God can do? How long will I, (will we) keep living the same way but
desire a different outcome? Does the life, the power, the change, come
any other way except through a life surrendered, centered with His word, and in
constant prayer?
Often we spend
more time talking about prayer and studying prayer, than actually
praying. I truly believe if we are going to see God move in our lives,
families, churches, nation, and world, God's people are going to have to pray.
(2 Chronicles 7:14, James 5:16 )
We must set aside time in our own lives and in the lives of our churches
to seek His face. We used to call them prayer meetings, where we came together
to meet with God and with each other through prayer. They seem to be no
longer "relevant". Is prayer
no longer relevant? We have regulated prayer and given it only a snippet of
time in our lives and in our churches, yet keep longing for God to do
something. We are anemic and have lost
power as the church because we have forsaken our only Power for a pitiful substitute
of what we can do. We have ceased to call our houses of worship, houses of
prayer, because that would not be cutting edge enough to draw a crowd. (Matthew
21:12-13)
Just some thoughts
this afternoon as I ponder prayer.....
Still learning to
abide,
Kim
kimday1964@gmail.com
Below are some of
the scriptures I am learning to live in and some quotes that are written on
scraps of paper and scattered around my home. If you are interested...
Scripture on
prayer:
Prayers to study
in Scripture:
Some quotes to
ponder on prayer;
"God does nothing except in response to believing
prayer." John Wesley
“God shapes the world by prayer.” E.M. Bounds
"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment
with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten
Boom
"The prayer power has never been tried to its full
capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in
the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing
challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and
mighty things which thou knowest not!'" (J. Hudson Taylor
"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No
earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." E.M.
Bounds
"Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will
entice a man to cease from prayer." John Bunyon
“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to
preach.” Charles Spurgeon
“What the church needs today is not more machinery or better,
not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can
use— men of prayer, men mighty in prayer" E.M. Bounds
"Prayer does not fit us for the greater
work; prayer is the greater work." Oswald Chambers.
Thanks for sharing your heart Kim.
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