A Deeper Look at Prayer

me

Mark 1:21-45

As we examine prayer, there are three important things to consider.

• having a total dependence on God; there is no room for the American idols of independence and self-sufficiency.
• pray not like the Pharisees, but like a child; be honest and say how you feel.
• believe that God actually does hear you; your Father listens and he is pleased to meet with you.

Brian touched on a lot of things that relate to how I feel and how I have approached prayer recently. Why do I keep skipping church and missing out on these insights?! smh, would've been helpful to me during 24/7 prayer.

Jesus was completely dependent upon the Father and says so in John 5:19

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

He embraces this state of helplessness and inadequacy apart from the Father because through his dependence upon Him, Jesus enjoys God's love, acceptance, intimacy and friendship. At first, it may seem unnecessary for Jesus to have to pray, but once we understand this strong dependence he has on his Father, we can begin to see the beauty of Jesus' prayer life and the implications it should have on our own.

The things Brian described about being in a state of prayerlessness - feeling distant and far from God, alienated, isolated, alone, unloved - have been true for me. I have existentially felt all of them and been inclined to cope with it by having the attitude of self-sufficiency. "If God is not there for me, then I guess I will just have to be there for myself, taking care of my own life." It's not that I didn't want to feel close to him or be in his presence. It's more like I felt alone, and instead of coming to him dependent and helpless, I accepted loneliness and relied on my own efforts to alleviate it. I tend to do that - withdraw and recluse - rather than seek God with a poverty of spirit. I need to learn to be okay with those dual realities of deep and profound prayer: 1) that I am helpless and inadequate without my Father. I desperately need Him and must acknowledge my utter dependence on Him for everything in my life. I must let go on my independence. 2) God has not forsaken me. Instead, he has loved me and offered his eternal friendship to me. Incredible.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5

Father, help me to embrace this sense of inadequacy apart from you, just like your Son. Drive out the fear that holds me and restrains me from giving you more control and authority in my life. Continue to break me of this independence I have been taught to espouse all my life. Humble me and teach me to walk with a poverty of spirit that opens myself up to you...daily. Amen.

I really liked the connection made between weakness and grace. When we admit our true condition - one of weakness and dependency - God's grace is right there accessible and available to us. It is stored for us and waiting in the room called Prayer. And when we refuse to pray, when we refuse to accept our weakness and great need, we then reject God and the grace he gives. When we prefer our facade of strength to the truth of his unparalleled grace and love, we remain trapped in the cycle of prayerlessness and absence of intimacy with our Maker. The truth is I don't know how to always forsake my strong will and self-determination. I'm tempted to even want to make myself stop being so self-reliant, perhaps through some kind of discipline or act of will, but that itself would expose my folly. I can not, however much I want to or try to, change myself. Not by my own actions or will. I need GRACE. I need God's mysterious grace that somehow transforms me and makes me new. I think this reality of grace will always perplex me because I don't fully get it. I want it, I know I need it, but for some reason I still find myself resisting it. It's like I see Jesus, I love him, I want to be close to him, share my meals and life with him, and yet I stand there in front of him immobilized and afraid to take a step toward him. And I just kind of envision my need to simply kneel down in that moment and let myself be broken and torn, let the pain and harsh realities of my life just hit me and humble me. And then it's like that transaction that is going on in my heart leaves me bare and naked before my Lord. And instead of me needing to get up the nerve to take that step toward Jesus, he, watching this beautiful personal embrace of weakness, walks toward me with a cloak of his grace and lays it over me.. Covering my sin, my brokenness, my fears, my disobedience, my doubt, my faithlessness, my double-mindedness, my... everything.

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' - Luke 18:13

Jesus, thank you that your grace is on the bottom shelf, and that it is for the lowly.

God desires that we pray like children - honestly, openly and without guile. I thought it was quite interesting when Brian brought up the story of Nathanael and his classic line in John 1:46

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”

Nathanael has no filter. He just says exactly what he thinks. No matter that he just insulted... GOD. And not only that, but his mother, family and whole people group as well. But before we can go off and judge him for it, we have to consider Jesus' own response in John 1:47

"Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."

I find that Jesus rarely, if ever, responds in the way I expect him to. Here he says something very intriguing. I almost want to be like, "Jesus, did you hear what the guy said?! C'mon, where's your rebuke?" But he says everything purposefully. And we need to want to hear his purpose here. I would agree with Brian's interpretation that Jesus loves Nathanael and his unashamed lack of pretense. Though this isn't the context of prayer, it still can speak to us about not worrying whether we are "getting it right" all the time with God.

When you approach God, do so with a heart free from guile. Free from deceit. Free from falsehood. The image of a child really is the most appropriate when we come to examine prayer. For what is a child other than a little bundle of uninhibited honesty? They say what's on their mind and how they feel. And we don't learn this kind of prayer by listening to the eloquent, half-sermonizing prayers of those who do so out loud. No, there is no formula or correct method. All one has to do is go into a secret room, where it is just God and them, and pray. Talk to him like who he is... your Father. Abba, daddy. I needed to be reminded of that. I shouldn't be intimidated by prayer or feel inadequate in my attempts to "know exactly what to pray." I sometimes have the wrong image of God, maybe even the kind that Brian brought up, of a God who sits back and waits to see if we will come to him. And if we manage to, then he will contemplate whether to show his love, grace, and self to us... No, he is not like that at all. He is a good dad, one that I never knew until being brought back into right relationship through Jesus Christ.

Intimacy is something that we make time and space for. Man, is that true! And do I need to take that seriously! I'm trying, though :)

I hadn't thought too much about the first recorded words of Jesus before in Luke 2:49

"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

 Just like with his response to Nathanael, I am not expecting these words from Jesus. But again, there is something deeper being said here. There is always this desire for him to, as Tozer would say, "fly back to be in the room with God." When you think about it, Jesus is always escaping from the crowds and people to be alone with his Father. And in this passage from Mark, he does it again. The question is how often am I doing it, and is it a strong yearning to be in the presense of the Father that motivates me to retreat away like Jesus?

The last aspect of prayer was whether we actually believe that God will hear us. Does he listen and respond? In John 15, Jesus reminds us to "ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." If we see God as our Father in heaven, then we should not be timid or afraid to ask him for things that are on our hearts. We should be thankful that we serve a God who has made himself available to us and has extended to us the great gift of "Whatever it is, all you have to do is ask." I grew up being mostly fearful of asking my father for things, and I think that has affected the way I interact with God during prayer. It's important for me to be reminded of the truths of who he really is and what he is like, because it is so easy for me to forget and then feel distant or somehow undeserving of God's love, affection, and response during prayer. And I suppose that is why I cling so much to the Bible; it is God's words always reminding me of who He is that seem to bring me back to life when I feel weary and discouraged. Thank you so much for that, Lord.

And speaking of the Word, do we also believe what it has to say when we come to God in prayer? For example in Revelation 21:5 when it says,

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Do we believe that God is actually making everything new? Broken relationships. Acts of injustice. Personal hearts. When we pray, do we do so with faith and expectation, knowing that our God intervenes and cares about our situation? Do you know that the world is different because you have prayed for it? The world is affected by our prayers. I need to be reminded of these things. There is some mysterious way in which it is changed because we intercede and appeal to our Father. I need to believe this more and be encouraged to pray boldly and from the heart. James comments that, "You don't have, because you don't ask." And why don't we ask? Perhaps it is from lack of faith, or doubt. God won't hear me. God doesn't care about this. What's the point? A sense of apathy and indifference replaces earnest child-like faith and hopefulness. I desire a renewal of this spiritual eagerness and expectation to hear from my dad in heaven. I know he is listening.

Not only do we believe, but do we care? When we pray, is it from a deep longing and desire to see the world renewed and restored? Are our emotions a part of our prayers, do we weep for our neighbors, family and friends who are still in the bondage of sin and death? It is not all emotion or all intellect; both play a part when we come to God. He wants to address our minds as well as our hearts.

We cannot settle to just work but not pray. To demonstrate effort but not effect. To show outward love but not power. Or to see ministry done but not transformation. We need to be a different community of God's called ones. Grace, faith and risk-taking should mark our lives. When we take risks, we become more desperate. And when we become desperate, we pray. In that place of prayer we find grace, love, acceptance and friendship with God. There he reminds us that he is pleased with our efforts and boldness to follow him in radical ways. There we are also challenged and encouraged to take greater risks, knowing that Jesus is always with us as we step out in his name.

Perhaps we do not pray because we do not live risky lives. I feel as though that is true for me. It's likely we are living out the life God has called us to when we experience nervous feelings about what it is we must do weekly. When was the last time these "butterflies in the stomach" happened to you? I want to be more of a risk taker for Jesus and come to know and believe there really is nothing to fear. There is nothing that can compare to or overshadow His eternal love and friendship. Nothing. I thank you so much for this, Lord.