Prayer - because we want to

Do you think Jesus prayed a lot because he wanted to pray, or because he thought he should pray?

This question caused me to stop and reflect recently.

Because I have really struggled for a long time to move my prayers from the “should” category to the “want to” category.

I can remember so many suggestions and exhortations from ministers and other Christians to set aside a specific time to pray each day. To designate a prayer chair, or to go to a certain place at a certain time each day. To get up early and ‘spend time with the Lord’. Prayer should be this, or prayer should be that, but it should be time dedicated solely to God. Done quietly, purposefully, sitting still.

For some people, I know, this works great, and much joy and peace and victory comes through this daily ritual of prayer.

But I struggle.

I resonated with some words that John Ortberg recently had to say – he also struggled to ‘set aside time to pray’. And when he did, and was praying, he felt tired, or not fully present.

That’s me. After a minute or two I can’t think what to say, and if I quieten myself to listen for God, my mind just wanders off in a million directions, or I fall asleep! I recently drew up a circle of prayer – a list of people that I want to pray for regularly. Those closest to me I pray for often, and as the circle moves out the frequency lessens. I go to my list at the beginning of each work day, and it’s really helpful, but even if I have 10 people to pray for, I can’t seem to go for more than a minute or two!

John Ortberg consulted a prayer coach who gave him this suggestion: “For the next week, don’t pray. Instead, take 30 minutes each day, and go do something you love to do. Something that makes you feel alive. And invite Jesus to do it with you.”

The next day, he went to the ocean, took his shoes off, and started to run, and invited Jesus to cone along. “And I found the strangest thing. When I thought I was supposed to be talking to him I found it effortful and difficult. Now that all I had to do was invite him, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I found myself effortlessly talking with him about ideas for sermon series, about concerns over my children, about needs of my church…and sometimes I just found myself wanting to point out pelicans and the waves to him.”

This is how I prefer to pray too. My mind works better when my body is moving, so each morning as I exercise, I invite Jesus to be present, and as my mind wanders over the various aspects of my life and the people in it, I lift these to God. These are the times when God gives me ideas, and revelations. Where my concerns seem to get lighter. Where my praise is richest and most heartfelt.

Prayer is a real mystery. I don’t know how it works, I just know it works!

And what works for me may not work for you.

And I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t let anyone give you the formula or the recipe or the prescription for what prayer should be. Explore all the different ways suggested. Give new and different things a try. If you’ve got something working for you now, stick with it. But remember there’s no set way, no set time, no set length, no set format.

It’s just communication with the Divine. An intersecting of soul and Spirit.

So find what works for you.

If that’s incorporating your prayer time into an existing activity that you already do each day, that’s fine! It could be driving, walking, shopping, drinking tea, doing yoga – anything where you usually have time to just let your mind wander.

Invite Jesus into it. Allow your thoughts to interact with His thoughts.

Enjoy prayer.

May for all of us prayer become a “want to”, not a “should”.

Life Is Like a Batch of Muffins?

Although on occasions when making muffins I will use a recipe and the individual ingredients that it lists, usually I just use a box of premixed ingredients. You know – add eggs, water, oil – then stir. May not be quite the same as compiling the individual ingredients, but there’s less chance of something going wrong, and you know exactly what you’re going to get at the end – so long as you take them out of the oven at the right time!

Low risk, guaranteed result.

Quick, easy. Enjoyed by kids who aren’t that fussed about quality, so long as there’s quantity.

Is your life like that? I know mine was.

Take the easy route.

Don’t risk it.

Do what everyone else is doing. Have what everyone else is having.

If you can’t foresee or guarantee the outcome, don’t try.

Just do whatever’s quickest and easiest. The safe way. The comfortable.

But what do you most often end up with? Poor quality. Sameness. Bland. No different to the thousands of other muffins being baked in kitchens around the country.

The Gospel, the good news, is a call to abundant life, life in all its fullness. A life that is rich, satisfying, fulfilling, full. Different. Quality.

Abundant.

Joyful, peaceful, rewarding.

A thrilling adventure, that one day will culminate in eternal life and a forever in God’s presence, but a life and an adventurous life that can be fun and purposeful and abounding in love, now!

As I look at the world, I see most people wishing and yearning for ‘more’. Endless pursuits of adventure and pleasure and excitement. But it seems to me that without the living Spirit of God active in their lives, they’re all making muffins from the packet.

Jesus called us to live a life of unimaginable adventure. I mean, fancy having your life controlled by a divine spirit, for goodness sake. I never know what’s around the corner. Every day I’m surprised by the actions of God, by the goodness of God, by the love of God, by the paths that God leads me down. The chance encounters. The incredible blessings.

Every day is a day of different ingredients.

So if your life feels bland, ‘mass-produced’, safe and easy – I want to encourage you to give it all up for following Jesus. And then watch your life become so tasty and unique and unexpected and ‘full’.

Every Knee Shall Bow

First there was ‘planking’ – now there’s ‘Tebowing’.

American footballer Tim Tebow has sparked the latest craze to sweep the internet.

The Denver Bronco’s quarterback is a devout Christian, and has become known for getting down on one knee to pray during NFL games - often when he has assisted in scoring a touchdown. Now everyone’s ‘Tebowing’ – defined as: '(vb) to get down on one knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.'

Pictures are being sent into a website set up in his honour from around the world, showing fans 'Tebowing' in landmark locations such as the Sydney Opera House and Israel's Wailing Wall.

Others can be seen indulging in the practice while surfing or after carrying out allegedly life-saving surgery on a patient.

Tebow's performance was so good in Sunday's game against Pittsburgh Steelers - during which he threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to secure a last-ditch win - that it prompted TV presenters on CBS to join in on the craze.

He threw a total of 316 yards over the course of the game. With John 3:16 the most famous verse in the Bible, many on social networking sites and internet forums have suggested is further evidence of the divine interventions they believe the player benefits from.

Having followed this Tebowing craze for a few weeks now, I’m reminded of the hope that the Bible professes, and the line from the chorus “He Is Lord” – every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Thanks to Tim Tebow, all around the world people are getting down on one knee in the action of prayer. Now all we need is for them to actually pray. And to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

That’s our hope. That’s our mission.

May we be a people who bow our knee.

And may we join Tim Tebow in witnessing to our faith, and bringing others to their knees.

An exercise in Godliness

One of things I value in life is physical fitness. I’ve always tried to keep fit and placed importance on physical exercise.  And I try to eat healthily. Well… I try. Sort of. Sweets are my weakness!

So another new year rolls around, and I start over again with resolutions to exercise every morning, and to keep the calories under a certain number each day.

This coincides with reading a book my friend Michael gave me called The Compound Effect – a motivational book that suggests that if we make better choices, with discipline and consistency, these will become habits that will have an exponential effect over the long term of our lives. Where most of us go wrong is that we lack the discipline and consistency to stick at things long enough for them to become habits. We give up too quick. We slacken off. We revert back to our old ways.

Hopefully armed with the inspiration this book has provided, my choices will become habits. And you’ll see a fitter, healthier me over the long term.

Last night I read 1Timothy 4:8 – “Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.”

I wonder how many of us made some spiritual resolutions this new year? How often we place importance on our physical well-being, our physical appearance even, yet continue on neglecting the spiritual.

I made a decision just before Christmas that I would spend the first 15 minutes of each working day, when I arrive at the office, the first, most important thing, before anything else - prayer – and specifically for my circles of influence. (my family, friends, corps people, colleague officers, leaders)

And after 3 weeks, it’s coming close to being a habit.

There are other spiritual exercises such as fasting, solitude, meditation, reading, mission, relationship building etc that we should be engaging in, and setting goals for, and ingraining into our lives as habit.

“Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.” The NIV translation of 1 Timothy 4:8, instead of spiritual exercise, uses the word ‘Godliness’, which can sound a bit dull, or scary or unattainable.

But the essence of Godliness is self-giving love.

Of all the spiritual exercises, the greatest, most beneficial exercise, the foundation and building block of spiritual fitness, or Godliness, is love.

David Roper says, “Life is a journey into love, and there’s nothing so beautiful as a godly soul. Physical exercise is good, no doubt, but there is something far, far better: It is to love.”

May 2012 be the year when your choice to exercise love, backed by discipline and consistency, becomes a habit.