Prayer

The Cost of Prayer

February 23, 2018 1 Comment

The cost of our redemption is succinctly captured in the phrase, “Jesus paid it all.” So, why do we treat prayer as a struggle? Why is it a struggle to pray? We struggle to pray not because prayer for us is meant to be a struggle. It is not that God Himself has ordained for us that prayer must be a struggle. God does not gain from our struggle to pray. Rather we have gained the right to pray from His struggle.

 

And yet, I do struggle at times

to pray.

And I struggle

in prayer.

 

Oswald Chambers suggests our struggle in prayer may spring from unsettled regions of our heart and mind, places where we have not yet rested in the redemptive work, agony, struggle of Jesus Christ.

 

The more we get into the atmosphere of the New Testament the more we discover the unfathomable and unhastening leisure of our Lord’s life, no matter what His agony. The difficulty is that when we do what God wants us to do, our friends say, “It is all very well, but suppose we all did that?” Our Lord did not tell all the disciples to sit there while He prayed. He told only three of them. The point is that we must take as from God the haphazard arrangements of our lives.

 

If we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and the domination of His lordship, we also accept that nothing happens by chance because we know that God orders and engineers circumstances. The fuss has gone, the amateur providence has gone, the amateur disposer has gone, and we know that “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8: 28). If Jesus says, “Sit here while I go and pray over there,” the only appropriate thing we can do is to sit.

 

We ought to give much more time than we do— a great deal more than we do— to brooding on the fundamental truths on which the Spirit of God works the simplicity of our Christian experience. The fundamental truths are redemption and the personal presence of the Holy Spirit, and these two are focused in one mighty personality, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for the emphasis laid on the efficacy of the Holy Spirit to make experientially real the redemption of Jesus Christ in individual lives.

 

Remember, what makes prayer easy is not our wits or our understanding, but the tremendous agony of God in redemption. A thing is worth just what it costs. Prayer is not what it costs us, but what it cost God to enable us to pray. It cost God so much that a little child can pray. It cost God Almighty so much that anyone can pray. But it is time those of us who name His name knew the secret of the cost, and the secret is here: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.”

 

Beware of placing the emphasis on what prayer costs us. It cost God everything to make it possible for us to pray. Jesus did not say to these men, “Agonize!” He said, “Watch with me.” Our Lord tried to lift the veil from before these disciples that they might see what He was going through. Think who He was— the Son of God. “My soul”— the reasoning mind of the Lord Jesus Christ—“ is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

 

Chambers, Oswald. If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer (Kindle Locations 223-229, 242-249, 256-259). Discovery House. Kindle Edition.

 

Heavenly Father,
I have struggled to drag myself forward into prayer. So, I’m going to sit here in this moment and trust You in the shadow of the your Son’s Cross. I will take each thought that comes to mind and consider it under your gaze and your grace. I trust you. May Your Spirit direct me into Your thoughts and your ways. Thank you for creating me anew as your child. Thank you for calling me into your Kingdom.
AMEN.

Change, Discipleship, Prayer

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After Noon Prayers

October 20, 2017 0 Comments

 

 

Most days my sight
avoids the intersection
of creation and sorrow.

 

Others are standing there.
I see them; they are caught mid-step
by the weight of loss.

 

Grieving in Mogadishu;
running as Rohingya;
neighbours on the other side of my heart.

 

Oh, that I could run.
Together we could kneel
before One who knows the hours.

 

We would cry
for mercy.

 

Change, Poetry, Prayer

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You may ask me for anything

May 9, 2017 0 Comments

Photo Credit: Peter Clarkson

Jesus has authorized his disciples to ask Him for “anything.” This pleases God the Father, for to ask Jesus glorifies the Father. Jesus’ intent has always been to glorify the Father. And now, he authorizes his disciples to ask Him for “anything” for they too are glorifying the Father by living immersed in the name of Jesus.


10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  John 14:10-14 NIV

 

What is the boundary of “anything?” Is this a blank cheque for our own pleasure, for our selfish interests, for own kingdom-building enterprises?

 

We know the answer. “Anything” is bound by the work of Jesus, living in us, and doing His work. “Anything” is bound by the name of Jesus. “Anything” is bound by the character of Jesus.

 

The character and work of Jesus is large but it does have a character that is not like the world. I do not expect that we can exhaust the realm of “anything.” We are probably not yet asking for enough, because we are distracted from the work He would do in us and in the world around us. So I’m back to believing and with believing comes surrender. Do I believe Him? Have I surrendered all my life, my relationships, my ambitions, my dreams to Him. I must surrender my will and my doing — so Jesus can do it. Have I surrendered? Have I asked, so he can do more than I can ask or imagine?

“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:14

 

Discipleship, Prayer

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Praying with Patrick

March 17, 2017 0 Comments


It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Here is a part of a famous prayer attributed to Patrick. I encourage you to pray with Patrick today. Take a moment now to pause and pray:

 

I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me–
against snares of devils,
against inclination of nature,
against everyone who shall
wish me ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.

 

Christ to protect me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit,
Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness towards the Creator.

 

Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. AMEN.

 

This prayer is part of the Breastplate of St. Patrick, missionary to Ireland.  Born 385 AD in England.  Enslaved in Ireland at age 16.  Escaped but returned to Ireland to proclaim the way of Jesus.  Died March 17, 461.

Discipleship, Prayer

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