Back in July, Dave was offered a part-time position in the children's ministry at our church. It was an amazing opportunity for him, but it was a hard decision to make because taking that job would mean our family would have to return to the main campus of our church, a place we'd left last fall to help start a satellite church campus closer to our house. We prayed about it, discussed the pros and cons, went back and forth about what Dave should do, and finally decided that God was leading Dave back into vocational children's ministry and our family back to the main campus.
Because we promised to stay at the satellite campus through the month of August, today was our first Sunday back at the main campus. As I was sitting in the service, feverishly taking notes on the topic of prayer, I decided that today would also mark the beginning of a series I hope to keep up on the blog. In order to better process what I'm learning each week at church and to hopefully encourage at least one of my five readers, I'm going to use this spot to summarize each week's sermon.
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In the first week of a series on prayer, Pastor Jim shared three motivations for praying based on John 15:1-8:
1. The Relationship Motivation
2. The Desperation Motivation
3. The Fruitfulness Motivation
Too often we view prayer as a transaction and God as a cosmic vending machine. We pray that God will give us a promotion at work, and if it happens, we're happy and feel like prayer worked. But that's not the main purpose of prayer. Our main motivation for praying should be the relationship that will grow out of it. The branches that grow from the grapevine in John 15 symbolize the connection and intimacy we will have with God.
We often view prayer as something that should be done for the big things. We may pray for an upcoming surgery but not for finding our lost keys. We may thank God for getting us through a big test, but we may forget to thank Him for getting us through a normal work day. John 15:5 says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." As much as I may think I'm getting through life on my own, I'm really desperate for God's presence in my life. I am 100% dependent on Him. Pastor Jim posed a question for us that has really made me consider the state of my own prayer life: Are we desperate enough to make prayer part of our daily schedules? Looking at the current state of my prayer life, I have to admit I don't act like I'm desperate for God to be a major part of my life.
The final motivation for prayer is fruitfulness. John 15:8 says, "This is my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit." According to Pastor Jim, fruit can be character traits (the Fruits of the Spirit); good works done in Jesus' name; the people we introduce to Christ; and answers to prayer. Answers to prayer is probably one of the most popular fruits as far as what people would like to come from prayer, and sometimes we focus on prayers that God hasn't answered. Instead, we should focus on all the things that God has said and will say yes to.
Pastor Jim challenged us to decide when and where we will pray this week. I've decided to designate my time feeding Miss G in the morning as my time to pray. It certainly happens every day, so I'm hoping that will help me build this habit in my life. If you're realizing the need to be more disciplined in your prayer life, I encourage you to start by designating a time and place to pray for 10 minutes every day this week. Don't let guilt be your motivation to pray more. Instead, be encouraged by the relationship that will deepen, your desperation for God to work in your life, and the fruit that will come.
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