Be... faithful in prayer
So let me ask you: how is your prayer life? Please don't tell me that you have your prayer time in your car on your way to work. Yes, it is possible to worship there. And it is possible to listen to the Bible being read. But it is not possible to be concentrated, dedicated and focused on prayer.
Don't you believe me? Well, answer this: can you be concentrated on anything else while controlling a vehicle of over one ton in weight that can easily kill a person? Can you be concentrated on anything else while powering down a highway at the legal speed limit, trying to avoid traffic and get somewhere on time? Or, rather, should you be concentrating on anything else?
I would hope the answer is 'No'.
Prayer requires a quiet private space, where you can be alone with God and block everything and everyone else out. True prayer requires this because, as Jesus told His listeners during the Sermon on the Mount, true prayer cannot be a performance (Matthew 5:5-6). And the verb translated as 'faithful' here implies dedication to prayer as a habit and as an activity where you are concentrated.
Neither can it be a procession, where we preen and primp ourselves and show off our religiosity (Luke 18:9-14). If we start doing that, then as Jesus states, we will miss out completely on the blessings prayer brings.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not against public prayer, in church services or prayer meetings. It has its place. It's useful for leading public worship, confession and intercession. But if it is not a reflection of what happens in our quiet place then I have to say that it is nothing but a performance and a procession. It is acting. It is fake.
It is hypocrisy.
And I know that will hurt. But the Greek word we translate as 'hypocrisy' literally means a pretender or an actor. So when we put on a performance in public prayer and pretend to be something we are not, we are, in the truest sense of the word, hypocrites.
True prayer takes place in the secret place, when we are utterly alone with God. This is precisely what Jesus did (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16, 6:12).
Now, most of us don't live near a mountainside or a desert. However, there is one thing we can do. We can make space in our days for a time of prayer alone with God. I know that it is challenging when our days are so busy, but let me offer a few ideas as to how you can do it:
* Go to bed earlier and get up earlier when the house is quiet.
* Get into a regular routine and set aside a time slot in your day when you can be alone.
* Set up a little program of things you'll do during your quiet time, like reading devotionals, praying through the Bible, following a prayer list or even using prayer guides for the world like Operation World or the Joshua Project. Don't just have an empty time there. You are more likely to fall asleep. Make it interesting. Pray about things and people you care about. Pray about your plans for the day. Present them to God, no matter how small.
* Remember: the purpose of a prayer time is not a one way stating of wants and needs. God already knows what we need. No, a prayer time is actually a two-way conversation between you and God. It is not possible to have a quiet time without reading, meditating on and studying God's Word, the Bible.
* Invest in books that help you know the Bible better. Fee and Stuart's 'How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth' has been an immense help to me. Study Bibles and the wealth of good commentaries online are helpful too.
* Write down any thoughts you have. I've been doing it for a while now. They have been the backbone of these meditations.
* Don't confine prayer or thoughts on Bible verses to just those few minutes of your quiet time. Return to them throughout the day. Take Paul's exhortation to pray continually to heart (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So-called 'arrow prayers' when a situation of stress or need arises are just as vital as a daily quiet time because they maintain your relationship with and dependence on God.
This all seems fine, but how does it make us stronger and help us persevere through affliction or hope joyfully?
Let me give you a good example. For around three years I experienced a lot of stress and instability with my job. And it was hard. I'm the main breadwinner in my family. Not having a reliable, stable income was tough.
At last I secured a good job. Within the first few months of that job I was asked to travel to London, where all my bosses are based. I went, but with no little trepidation. I was still on probation. I needed a bit of stability. I could not mess this up.
I was alone in London in my hotel room. It was pretty quiet. So every morning, no matter how close to the office my hotel was, I got up as usual at 6am, got showered and spent time in prayer, Bible reading and Bible study. I drew a lot of strength from it. It set me up for the stresses of the day.
I was later furloughed during the first summer of lockdown. That was tough. Although not quite as stressful as looking for work, I knew the biggest battle would be in my own head. So I resolved to be as disciplined about my quiet time as I was when I was in London.
It really helped. It overflowed into the rest of the day and gave rise to this blog. Prayer gave me the opportunity to bring my day before the Lord, to lay it before Him, to talk to Him about situations that caused me stress and to leave it there with Him. When I start the day in prayer, I start it the right way.
But why? Why should we make this effort? Why re-arrange our day for this? Let me bring this text before you:
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
Matthew 11:28-30 NIVUK
Next to sleep, prayer is the ultimate in rest. Yes, I know there are prayer times when we are emotional. There are prayer times when we feel like we're bouncing off the walls, when our eyes are flooded with tears, when our voice is drenched with frustration and pain. None of that is wrong. But we need this time before God. We need to bring our needs, our longings and our feelings before Him. He is the perfect counsellor. He knows every detail about us (Matthew 10:30). He has walked the very path we walk (Hebrews 2:16-18). He not only knows us and our situation in the most minute detail, He is also powerful enough to do something about it.
So when we pray and bring our problems to Him, we are not doing Him a favour. No, we are doing us a favour. When we fail to come to Him in prayer, we are not neglecting God. No, we are neglecting ourselves.
I am absolutely dead against the rigid organisation of a quiet time as it if is a military operation. It should never be just routine. It should never be religiously or ritualistically or habitually applied. No, a quiet time should be an expression of love and devotion to God. We should want that intimate time with Him. We should need it.
My brothers and sisters in that little Pentecostal church in Tulcea knew this for sure. They had two prayer meetings a week: on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They started at 7pm and finished at midnight.
Honestly!
I would lead my team out to do street evangelism with young people on the Danube Delta boardwalk at around 7.30 and we'd come in for part of the meeting. We'd head out, come in a few hours later really tired and they'd still be going strong. While they were barely on to their second wind, I'd be creeping across the car park to the little wooden cabin that passed for a toilet to get washed and changed for bed, sneaking back into the bug-infested church basement where I slept and doing my utmost not to disturb them. I would fall asleep to the impassioned prayers of persecuted saints above my head.
I bet their personal prayer times were very interesting.
I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that a devotion to personal prayer has made an incredible difference in my life and my ability to cope with stressful and difficult events. I pray it makes the same difference for you too.
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