Like any relationship, our walk with God can lull, get
bogged down by routine, and suffer from preconceived misconceptions. You know
the sort, when we second guess the other person’s response without waiting to
hear it, or worse enter into an interaction, already spoiling for a fight even
when one isn’t offered. Prayer is the principle way we connect with God. Jesus
both did it himself and commanded us to do it too, but one can lose the spark
in their prayer life and worry if it will ever return.
Location can make all the difference to making this happen
in your prayer life. I have been helped along on my journey by the opening of
the new 24-7 Prayer room at HTB. 24-7 is a movement founded by Pete Greig and
has spread across the globe: you can discover more by clicking on the link at
the end of this post. But back to the prayer room: this is no damp cupboard of
a room, but a beautifully appointed series of spaces housed in an unassuming
port-a-cabin on the church’s main site on Brompton Road. I went along for the
first time with Persia Lawson, founder of an organisation called Addictive
Daughter and a lady who definitely rings true with the name of this blog. What
we discovered was that our hour felt like five minutes and we were drawn to
worshipping in a different way; one moment we were singing songs the next
praying to God on comfy floor cushions, and finally writing our entreaties on
an enormous whiteboard. In a weird way and dare I say it for fear of sounding sacrilegious,
it was an opportunity to remember why one fell in love with Jesus in the first
place. And why in an increasingly secularised world, one continues to follow
him.
Expectation is also pivotal in our prayer life. The oft
quoted passage regarding prayer was made by Jesus himself and in it are some
key ingredients to making for a better and more engaging prayer time:
“Ask and it will be
given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who
knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew
7: 7-8
Whilst I have never been a fan of prosperity gospel type ‘name
it to claim it’ practises, there is a lot to be said for actually asking God
for the desires of your heart. Often, especially those who have been Christos
for a while there is an embarrassment to admitting to needs and wants, that it
is somehow ‘not spiritual’ to ask God for stuff when there is a war going on in
a far corner of the world, or the inevitable situation of others in seemingly
worse situations that yourself. But Jesus says it clearly, ask and it will be
given to you. God wants us in our prayer life to bring everything before him: our
wants and our needs, our dreams and ambitions, our wins and our losses. The
fact that he already knows them is not the point, what is pertinent is that when we choose to
share them with him, we are not only being
honest and trusting, essential to developing any relationship, but also expecting a response. We ask because our
expectations, stem from a belief in God’s loving concern for our situation, not
that somehow saying it out aloud will ‘jinx it’ or that worse, God has no
interest in us at all.
Sometimes prayers do not get answered as we would want or
seem to have got a heavenly ‘None for you today or indeed ever’ reply. It is
here that that seek and knocking part in the passage help. Seeking can
sometimes mean we discover something entirely unexpected, the true answer as it
were rather than our preferred one. Sometimes the discovery can seem unwelcome,
but here is the nub, without a seeking heart in one’s prayer life there is no
spiritual development. Relationships hold no safety nets, but that does not
mean they are any less rewarding or one should avoid them at all costs, whether
it be with God or indeed with each other. When Jesus talks of knocking he is of
course referring to the spiritual gift of perseverance. Periods of challenges
and knock-backs are there for us to develop this gift, one that ultimately
makes us better people, more Christ-like, as he too endured on the cross. I
hope I am not alone when I say that many times I have felt too upset, angry
even, to seek or knock as it were. Sometimes I have felt a heavenly ambivalence
to my situation, or that I seem to be getting seconds and thirds of
Perseverance Training. But again Jesus says, the door will, eventually, even if
it feels like an eternity be opened to you. And what a welcome one will have too!
You see, prayer is just a prelude to the real thing, an
eternity spent in the bosom of God’s love.
A father who wants to give good gifts to all, where there are no favourites
or haves and have-nots. Where we all by His grace and mercy become
Have-Lots-And-Lots, because abiding in Him is bigger than any challenge, need,
drama or situation in this life and a whole lot more fun to boot. So let’s get
on our knees or up on our feet, silently, or shouting out loud and wait for the
Divinely Authored Magic to Happen! I'm actually, rather excited.
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