Learning to Pray
I have been increasing my faithfulness to prayer lately. I attribute this increase in communication with my Father to several things.
First, preaching through the Sermon on the Mount challenges me to take the “righteous acts” of giving, praying and fasting more seriously.
Also, I have been reading much about prayer during my summer reading schedule. Hopefully this weekend I will conclude Philip Yancey’s new book Prayer: Does It Really Make a Difference (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006). I strongly recommend the book for anyone wanting to learn more about prayer.
Additionally, I have been praying more because more of you are asking me to pray for you. I do not know why, but many more of you email me your concerns or mention them to me in the hallway on Sunday, asking me to pray for you. As a result, I spend more time in prayer each day than I have in a long time.
Another reason I find myself devoted more to prayer is simply because the more I pray, the more I want to pray or the more I realize I need to pray. When you pray long enough, you learn you cannot pray enough.
The Bible is replete with examples of people praying. A singular statement in Mark’s gospel helps me understand the importance of spending more time in prayer. Mark records,
If Jesus made prayer a priority as the Son of the Living God and Savior of the World, then how much more should I make prayer a priority?
Perhaps the greatest reason why my prayer life has increased in time and intensity is due to my commitment to pray for the entire CrossPoint family a little each day of the week.
I made a commitment to pray for each of you by name last May. Sure, I have always prayed for CrossPoint in general terms, and only in specific terms when it felt necessary. However, after reading Mark Dever’s book The Deliberate Church (Wheaton, Illinois: CrossWay Books, 2005), I was convicted to pray for each of you by name.
The first week I prayed for you was wildly exhilarating. I was so charged by the experience I challenged our staff to do the same. By the fourth or fifth week, my prayer for you became a burden. For several weeks I struggled. The more I prayed for you, the bigger the burden would grow. At times the burden was debilitating. After realizing the burden was self-inflicted, I returned to amazing moments of intercession.
For those of you wondering how or what I pray, let me explain my last three or four prayer cycles. A prayer cycle is when I pray through the entire roll of names before I start back over, usually in the opposite direction.
As you know, I have an alphabetical listing of every CrossPoint member in my daily prayer journal. It usually takes me an average of 15 days to work through the 47-page list. That typically translates into praying for 25 – 30 people per day.
When I pray for you, I work on a particular theme throughout the cycle.
One of my favorite themes is to quietly call out your name before the Lord. I usually do not have a particular request. Sometimes when I do this the Lord will impress me with what to pray and sometimes He will not. Whichever the case I audibly call out your name, wait a moment, and if nothing comes to mind I move on.
Another theme I have recently worked through is what I call my “repent and believe” prayer. This is where I ask the Lord to call each CrossPointer I name to live a life marked by repentance and faith. I like that prayer because I see it being answered in such a dramatic way each week.
Another way I pray for you is by noting the needs I am aware by your name. Some of you are awaiting a new job. Others are awaiting the arrival of a new baby. Some are praying for the opportunity to have a new baby. Some are depressed. Others are going off to school. A few are battling a terminal disease. Whatever your need, I usually list it beside your name and ask the Lord to meet that specific need.
This week I am building my prayer for you based on a simple passage in Proverbs 15:33, which reads,
All the rest of this week and the next, I will pray that passage over every CrossPointer who calls CrossPoint home. Can you imagine what will happen to a church when the people adhere to that simple sentence? Imagine what would happen if only the pastor would practice that kind of humility?
We might have revival. I think we are already having revival, what about you?
In closing I wanted you to let me know how I can pray for you. I consider it an honor to love this congregation and to shepherd it in faith and prayer.
First, preaching through the Sermon on the Mount challenges me to take the “righteous acts” of giving, praying and fasting more seriously.
Also, I have been reading much about prayer during my summer reading schedule. Hopefully this weekend I will conclude Philip Yancey’s new book Prayer: Does It Really Make a Difference (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006). I strongly recommend the book for anyone wanting to learn more about prayer.
Additionally, I have been praying more because more of you are asking me to pray for you. I do not know why, but many more of you email me your concerns or mention them to me in the hallway on Sunday, asking me to pray for you. As a result, I spend more time in prayer each day than I have in a long time.
Another reason I find myself devoted more to prayer is simply because the more I pray, the more I want to pray or the more I realize I need to pray. When you pray long enough, you learn you cannot pray enough.
The Bible is replete with examples of people praying. A singular statement in Mark’s gospel helps me understand the importance of spending more time in prayer. Mark records,
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he (Jesus) departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Mark 1:35-36
If Jesus made prayer a priority as the Son of the Living God and Savior of the World, then how much more should I make prayer a priority?
Perhaps the greatest reason why my prayer life has increased in time and intensity is due to my commitment to pray for the entire CrossPoint family a little each day of the week.
I made a commitment to pray for each of you by name last May. Sure, I have always prayed for CrossPoint in general terms, and only in specific terms when it felt necessary. However, after reading Mark Dever’s book The Deliberate Church (Wheaton, Illinois: CrossWay Books, 2005), I was convicted to pray for each of you by name.
The first week I prayed for you was wildly exhilarating. I was so charged by the experience I challenged our staff to do the same. By the fourth or fifth week, my prayer for you became a burden. For several weeks I struggled. The more I prayed for you, the bigger the burden would grow. At times the burden was debilitating. After realizing the burden was self-inflicted, I returned to amazing moments of intercession.
For those of you wondering how or what I pray, let me explain my last three or four prayer cycles. A prayer cycle is when I pray through the entire roll of names before I start back over, usually in the opposite direction.
As you know, I have an alphabetical listing of every CrossPoint member in my daily prayer journal. It usually takes me an average of 15 days to work through the 47-page list. That typically translates into praying for 25 – 30 people per day.
When I pray for you, I work on a particular theme throughout the cycle.
One of my favorite themes is to quietly call out your name before the Lord. I usually do not have a particular request. Sometimes when I do this the Lord will impress me with what to pray and sometimes He will not. Whichever the case I audibly call out your name, wait a moment, and if nothing comes to mind I move on.
Another theme I have recently worked through is what I call my “repent and believe” prayer. This is where I ask the Lord to call each CrossPointer I name to live a life marked by repentance and faith. I like that prayer because I see it being answered in such a dramatic way each week.
Another way I pray for you is by noting the needs I am aware by your name. Some of you are awaiting a new job. Others are awaiting the arrival of a new baby. Some are praying for the opportunity to have a new baby. Some are depressed. Others are going off to school. A few are battling a terminal disease. Whatever your need, I usually list it beside your name and ask the Lord to meet that specific need.
This week I am building my prayer for you based on a simple passage in Proverbs 15:33, which reads,
The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
All the rest of this week and the next, I will pray that passage over every CrossPointer who calls CrossPoint home. Can you imagine what will happen to a church when the people adhere to that simple sentence? Imagine what would happen if only the pastor would practice that kind of humility?
We might have revival. I think we are already having revival, what about you?
In closing I wanted you to let me know how I can pray for you. I consider it an honor to love this congregation and to shepherd it in faith and prayer.
1 comment:
This post really speaks volumes to me at just the right time. It is so easy to let my prayer life get pushed out in the priorities of my "worldly life". I really appreciate the Proverb as it seems to be what God has been teaching me over the last year. I have been in so many situations where I depended on my own wisdom and pride. God has humbled me and is teaching me as I begin to work with my seven year old in his prayer life. Just last night he prayed before bed. He is stuck in praise mode. He does lots of "thank-you's" and very little anything else. I talked to him about the little acronym I learned when I was a child- P=praise, R=repent, A=ask, Y=yield. He asked about the last word, Yield. I said, "That means like the Yield sign we see on the road. We have to wait and see if anything is coming, then move. God wants us to wait on him and be open for his word and guidance before we move." Well, thanks God for that teachable moment. I heard my own words and realized what a hypocrite I was. Thank you for praying Proverbs 15:33. I plan on quoting it in my own prayers and working with my son to use scripture in his prayers as well.
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