Dear Elim Grace,
Since we’ve entered into 30 days of fasting and prayer, I’ve been reminded how difficult it can be to pray. The best of intentions at night to wake up early and pray often slip away with your dreams. Yet, I’m reminded of what Henri Nouwen said: “The only way to pray is to pray, and the way to pray well is to pray much.”
We must not give up praying! Do not “grow weary,” says Paul, of continuing in the good works produced by and belonging to the Spirit (Galatians 5:8-9). Why? Because if we sow to the Spirit, if we keep pace with the Spirit, we will reap the life of the Spirit. Jesus reaped in our place on the cross the life of sin we had sown. Now we reap the abundant and eternal life He sowed through his death and resurrection. This “work” of praying is the work of Jesus sowed, cultivated, and reaped in you by the Spirit.
So, if this is true, that prayer is the activity of the Spirit in us, then to pray without ceasing, as Paul said, can be understood as an ongoing awareness of, attention to, and living in the presence of God. A learned response to the God present with us. Learned and developed.
The one explicit time the disciples asked Jesus to teach them anything was when they asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) Why this one explicit time? Why this one specific thing? My answer is the first of five principles I’m reminding myself of daily over the next few weeks:
PRINCIPLE 1: Prayer is the one thing important to everything that we do
The disciples didn’t ask, “Lord, teach us to preach” or to “heal” or to “work miracles”. Of course they were equipped and sent out to do these things, but are not all these things covered in prayer from first to last? For the disciples, and for the church, all things are done in a spirit of prayer and supplication. An attitude of complete dependency on the Lord Jesus. Yes, prayer is the one thing important to everything that we do.
PRINCIPLE 2: The best thing you can do for tomorrow is to be the kind of person God can lead today
“Lord, teach us to pray,” because prayer is how we are brought into what God is doing today. Jesus said tomorrow has enough to worry about (Matthew 6:34). Today seek the kingdom of God. Today seek Him. Today worship Him. Today follow Him. Today walk in obedience. Today keep pace with the Spirit. Today sow to the Spirit and tomorrow you will reap the life of the Spirit.
The best thing you can do for tomorrow is to be the kind of person God can lead today. Prayer shapes us today—our listening, our speaking, our acting—so that we can follow Jesus into tomorrow.
PRINCIPLE 3: Obey every impulse to pray
No where is this principle put more to the test than when reading the Scriptures. Or I should say, when following a Bible reading program (which I do and highly recommend!). If, on any given day, the Spirit lands on the first verse of the first chapter you’re scheduled to read, STOP! Forget the other 3 chapters! Stop, listen, pray, and be with the God of the Scriptures.
When I write or text someone asking if there’s anything I could be praying for this week, as soon as I read their reply, I stop and pray. When I listen to someone in my office, at their home, or over coffee at a bookstore, and they ask me for prayer, I stop and pray right then and there. Obey every impulse of the Spirit to pray. Obedience shapes attitude and then attitude shapes obedience.
PRINCIPLE 4: Pray often and pray brief
During this fast I am trying to set apart up to one hour every Monday morning for prayer (I am not good at setting aside large chunks of time to pray). Yet, I believe prayer is first and foremost an unceasing conversation with God, both planned and spontaneous. At all times and in all places. Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Give constant expression to your thoughts and desires in prayer. Elsewhere Paul reminds us that the key to not worrying about anything is to pray about everything (Philippians 4:6-7). Yes, pray often and pray brief.
PRINCIPLE 5: Pray big
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20) God is able! God is not limited! Don’t be afraid to pray big! For things that unless God does them, you can’t make happen. Prayer is not about God making up for what we can’t do. The Christian life is not we supply 50% and God the other 50%. No, the Christian life is a life in which we never cease to humbly and joyfully look to God for everything that we need. As Peter put it, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) All things means everything, not a percentage, no matter how big or how small.
God’s answer to our prayers is never the isolated act of a stranger, the appeasement of a disinterested father, nor the exasperation of an aggravated king. Every answer is the act of a loving Creator, a faithful Father, and a wise King. So pray big!
Dear Elim Grace, join me. Let’s ask daily, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And then let’s pray.