Sunday Reflections--September 16

I was all set to type up my notes last night, but Miss G had a terribly difficult time settling down. Instead of sitting in front of the computer, I ended up rocking my baby girl to sleep--a change of plans I didn't necessarily mind.

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This week's sermon about prayer focused on what our prayer should look like. Pastor Jameson used the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) as our template as we went through three questions about prayer.

1. Should we use patterns or be spontaneous? (v. 9) In the Lord's Prayer, we're given a pattern. The prayer begins with addressing God, then it's a request relating to God, followed by a request that's related to human needs. But before we think all we have to do is follow this exact formula, we need to know that this pattern is given to guide our praying. It's more of a launching point than a strict pattern to follow. The Lord's Prayer sets up the priorities of our praying. As we look at each line of the Lord's Prayer, we can allow it to inspire us about what to pray in those categories. I have heard of the ACTS pattern for praying, but Pastor Jameson mentioned the CHAT acronym yesterday:

Confess
Honor
Ask
Thank

2. Should we express intimacy or reverence? (v. 9) We can express both intimacy and reverence. "Our Father" begins the prayer on a note of intimacy, but we know that God should be given respect, too. In Him, we have both fatherly love and heavenly power.

3. Should we focus on big stuff or small stuff? (v. 9-13) In case you haven't caught on, the answer to all these questions is both. Pastor Jameson gave us some practical ways to pray following the format of the Lord's Prayer:

"Hallowed be your name." Pray that God would be honored by people around the world, whether those in public positions to give Him honor or those who are being persecuted for loving Him.

"Your kingdom come." Pray that Christians around the world would witness and spread the good news.

"Your will be done." Pray that our lives will conform to God's will as it is written in Scripture.

"Give us today our daily bread." Pray for our practical, earthly needs.

"Forgive us our debts." Pray to confess our sins.

"Lead us not into temptation." Pray that He will rescue us from the evil one.

This week, our challenge was to build on setting a time and place to pray by incorporating what we should be praying about. It was a good reminder of the basics of prayer.

Sunday Reflections

Today was the start of our church's new ministry year. Our senior pastor returned from his annual study break to begin a new series on prayer. The announcements were full of new programs that will be starting up again now that we're entering the fall season. Today also marked the beginning of a new adventure for our family.

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.