The Discipline of Prayer
I’m sure you’ve felt them before. Moments where you were confronted by death, disease or the depravity of humanity and found your heart breaking. You’ve wondered, “why God would allow this?” Perhaps there were moments you were at work, school, church or at home and wondered if there was more to life than what you have been experiencing.
I would bet that the vast majority of humanity knows this sensation. We may not know exactly how, but we know somehow, someway, our lives and the state of the world around us falls short of something.
There is something deep and timeless within us all that remembers...
WE WERE ALL CREATED TO BE IN PERFECT, INTIMATE, MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CREATOR.
In the beginning of the Genesis (first book of the Bible), God created the heavens and the earth and all living and breathing things. Once it was established, He then set apart a place for Him to dwell among His creation. The garden of Eden was the first temple, the first place on earth where humanity and God walked and worked together. A paradise free from death, disease, depravity, and the longing for “more than this.” Here mankind, the most god-like of all creation, was placed, never to be apart from the divine and intoxicating presence of God.
I am not sure how many of you are familiar with the narrative found in the third chapter of the book of Genesis, but here we can read about the fall of man and the loss of paradise. The wisest and craftiest of all the animals, the serpent, planted fear and doubt in the heart of the first man and woman. A fear communicating the lie that we were not as great as we could be if we were apart from God. That we would never be truly be like Him unless we could discern and determine right from wrong apart from Him, for ourselves.
Two bites of some fruit later and the world we were called to subdue and dominate spun out of control.
Sin,
chaos,
death,
disease,
betrayal,
and so on and so forth.
And to this very day, humanity has been striving for control over the chaos we created. All seething and clawing to create some semblance of security.
That promotion, the pay raise, the house, the car, the wife, the husband, the family. I will gain control of my life if I just…
or if I can only…
And it never works.
Are we forever doomed to chase after that which was lost? Can anything be done about the death, disease, and depravity that came about as a result of us determining good and evil, right and wrong for ourselves, apart from God?
We can PRAY. (Prayer = Thoughts and words directed toward God in faith.)
Now, I want to take a moment and address the pragmatic thinkers in the room. I would guess that I know what most of you guys are thinking… How the hell is prayer going to undo, or even improve the chaos of my life, especially when so many followers of Jesus pray regularly and there is still a devastating amount of death, disease, and depravity in the world?
Don’t worry, I will get to that, but first I want to take a look at a few more places in the scriptures to better explain my point. The first is found in the same book as our creation account, the book of Genesis, chapter 20.
In this chapter, one of the nomadic forefathers of our faith, Abraham, was living in a Land called Gerar (modern day south central Israel). During this time, Abraham was afraid that the King of Gerar, Abimelech, was going to kill him because he had a hottie for a wife named Sarah. Abaraham told Sarah to lie to the king (and everyone in Gerar) and tell them that she was his brother. This, in Abraham’s mind would prevent anyone from killing him to get to her.
I know, I know, so not cool, a little gross, and insanely cowardly. Anyway...
King Abimelech does notice Sarah and since he has been told that she is Abraham’s sister, has her brought to his palace. That night, before he makes his move on Sarah, God speaks to the king in a dream and it goes like this;
Genesis 20:3-7 New Living Translation (NLT)
But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”
But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”
In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her. Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”
As you can probably guess Abimelech is both terrified of God and a little pissed at Abraham. He returns Abraham’s wife and Abraham does pray for him, saving both his life and the life of his people.
What’s really cool about this passage of scripture is that it’s the first time in the Bible the word “pray” is ever used. In the original language the word used is palal. A word meaning to intervene, interpose, mediate, or intercede.
Why am I sharing this?
PRAYER IS A DIRECT MEANS OF DIVINE INTERVENTION INTO THE CHAOS AND MESS OF OUR LIVES.
When we pray, we are communing with the Living God and inviting Him to draw near to us. As a result, He intervenes on our behalf, in our lives and in the world around us.
Isaiah 56:7, Matthew 21:13, and Mark 11:17 are just a few bible passages that refer to the Temple/House of the Lord as a places of prayer. When followers of Jesus, filled with His Holy Spirit pray, we become the dwelling place of God on earth, we become His Temple.
WHEN WE PRAY, WE BECOME THE PLACE WHERE HEAVEN TOUCHES EARTH!
Prayer is first used in the bible as a means of intervention. Abraham was caught in a chaotic mess of his own creation (much like all of humanity- ever since we decided to determine right and wrong, good and evil for ourselves) and God said to pray. Not “fix this up this mess and deal with the consequences,” but “pray.”
We see this perfectly modeled in the life of Jesus documented in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (the first four biblical books of the New Testament known as the gospels).
Jesus lived in a way that brought literal life to the dead, healing to the sick, restoration to the lame, the deaf, the blind, and the mute, and freedom to the demonized and spiritually oppressed. His death brought the forgiveness of sins to any and all who chose/choose to follow Him.
What was His secret? Prayer. The New Testament Gospel accounts frequently record Jesus sneaking off to pray alone. Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 9:18, and Mark 14:32 to literally just name a few.
The disciples knew this was the key to the insanely powerful life Jesus led. That’s why in Luke chapter 11, verses 1-13 the disciples approach Him as He was finishing prayering and asked Him to teach them how to pray! To pray! Of all the things they could learn from this powerful man; healing the sick, restoring the broken, commanding the elements, authority over unclean spirits, etc… They asked Him to teach them how to pray!
Luke 11:1-4 New Living Translation (NLT)
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.”
The disciples knew that Jesus’ prayer life was the key to His impact on the people and world around Him. If we take a quick look at the way Jesus teaches the disciples to pray in this passage we can see a few things:
Jesus tells His followers to refer to Creator God as Father, demonstrating the need for intimacy.
Jesus ensures that His followers are aware that the Father’s name is to be kept holy and He is to be honored as Lord of all.
Jesus teaches His followers to pray for the Father’s kingdom to come on the earth as a way to partner with the Father’s will for the earth.
Jesus is teaching His followers to depend on their Father for provision.
Jesus is showing His followers to ask the Father for forgiveness of their sins and reminding them to always forgive the sins of others.
Jesus is reminding His followers to pray to the Father for protection from future temptation and sin.
I recommend reading all of Luke 11:1-13. I believe many followers of Jesus are disheartened when it comes to prayer because they have forgotten this portion of scripture. I have also seen a huge change in the effectiveness of my prayer after going back and studying this portion of scripture, along with others in regards to prayer. So many times we are not seeing God move when we pray, because we have not been praying the way Jesus showed us how to…
In the book of John, chapter 5 Jesus gives the people of His time another insight into the secret behind His authority and power on earth.
John 5:19-21 New Living Translation (NLT)
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.”
Jesus is saying He is unable to do anything on His own! He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because if Dad can do it, we can do it.
Jesus was constantly going away to pray as a means of spending time with His Father. Jesus spent intimate time with the Father, learned what the Father’s heart (or desire) was for the world and people around Him, and then partnered with the work His Father already wanted to do.
I feel really strongly to pause here and talk about Jesus’ study and knowledge of the Old Testament writings. All the disciplines of our faith work together and many of them overlap as we will explore in the weeks to come. Prayer draws the Father near to us and us to Him, the discipline of study is an excellent way to reveal His heart toward us and the people around us. Jesus was saying that when we are near to the Father, and know His heart, we can do what we see Him doing. That is the secret to the powerful life that Jesus lived. That’s why in the prayer Jesus taught His disciples in the book of Matthew chapter 6, He tells them to pray for the Father’s will to be done on earth in the same way it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-13 New Living Translation (NLT)
Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Now, let’s go back to the question we posed at the beginning of this post. How the hell is prayer going to undo, or even improve the chaos of life, especially when so many followers of Jesus pray regularly and there is still a devastating amount of death, disease, and depravity in the world?
Prayer answers the death, disease, and depravity in our world, because we, like Jesus, are inviting heaven to touch earth once again (as in the time of Eden) and have its way. Like Jesus, we can draw near to the Father during our times of prayer and discover His will for ourselves and the people/world around us. Once we are in the place of intimacy with the Father, armed with His will for the world around us, we can go out and pray like Jesus did, effectively, and see change like we saw Jesus make.
I remember so clearly seeing this in 2014 when I began working full time at a barbershop in downtown Bethlehem. I had just left a well paying job at the prompting of what I desperately hoped was the Holy Spirit to barber full time. I wanted a flexible schedule so I could be active in our local Jesus community. I wanted a job that would allow me to share Jesus with the people at work. No better place than a barbershop right?
This was a very scary time for me financially. When we make decisions in faith, a very natural bi-product is a tremendous increase in prayer. (Haha)
I was so scared I wouldn’t make enough money that I was praying constantly for the provision of God. During that time, Jesus just began to give me peace and told me that He would take care of me. I was a new barber so I didn’t have many clients and I wasn’t that great at first so people weren’t rushing to get into my chair. As a result, I would never make a lot of money, but randomly I would get a client in my chair who would pay me $100+ for a haircut. I remember opening the front door of my apartment and finding envelopes full of money with my name written on them. People from my Jesus community would hand me cards full of money, telling me that Jesus told them to set the money aside and give it to me. Jesus was teaching me that God was truly a Father that provided. This gave me so much peace that my prayer life started to evolve. I began praying for provision less and began thanking Jesus for taking care of me. Gratitude quickly grew into appreciation, and appreciation into delight. I began sneaking away throughout the day just because I wanted to be with Jesus. I began worrying less and I could not shut up about how Jesus was paying my bills. Everyone in the barbershop heard about my crazy Jesus money stories.
Then, my prayer time evolved again. I began to pray for the people around me to experience what I was experiencing. I would pray for my coworkers, family, friends, and clients more and more.
That’s when things got weird in the best ways.
I began to have visions (at first I thought I was having weird daydreams) of the people I was praying for. I would have a subtle sense or feeling that that Jesus wanted to tell them something about life, or their identity, or a past trauma. It took a little while for me to gain confidence but I began sharing with them what I was seeing or sensing. One after another, the people I would share these things with would be impacted, sometimes profoundly. To be fair, I was wrong quite a few times, it took a little while to distinguish between my brain and the voice of Holy Spirit. Luckily, I was surrounded by people who loved me and gave me room to be wrong.
Then the miracles started. Yup, you read that right. Miracles. It began with a friend and I praying for one of my coworkers knees. It was hurting and after we prayed it didn’t hurt. A skeptical coworker thought he was faking so asked us to pray for his eye to be healed. He was jumped and beaten by a group of men and his eye was sunken back into his skull and always caused him pain. We put our hands on his face and prayed for Jesus to heal his eye. When we took our hands off of his face, his eye was back to normal and the pain was gone! This barber didn’t say anything, his face turned pale white and he sat in his barber chair and stared in the mirror for 45 minutes!
After this something changed in my life and the life of my Jesus community. We began to believe in the power of prayer. We began praying for hours a day and praying for healing for everyone we could. We have seen broken wrists, torn rotator cuffs, scoliosis, and so many more ailments and illnesses healed in seconds! We have even seen someone’s eyesight returned to them.
Not only physical but emotional problems were healed as well. At the different gatherings of our Jesus community people would stand up in tears and ask for forgiveness for wronging one another. We have seen such interpersonal healing and forgiveness take place as a result of us praying for one another. We have even seen someone who was illiterate, completely unable to read, be touched by Jesus after praying for him and given the ability to read! I know, I know, it sounds crazy.
But the fact of the matter is that our prayer as followers of Jesus can restore us (and the people around us) back to the standard of Eden. The question really is...
WILL WE MAKE TIME TO PRAY AND BECOME THE PLACE WHERE HEAVEN TOUCHES EARTH?
Raquel and I have seen a profound impact in our lives whenever we have aligned ourselves with Jesus in prayer. If we are being honest, it’s been way too easy for us to neglect this discipline in our personal lives. Even as I write this out I sense Holy Spirit reminding me of times in life when I was more devoted to prayer and calling me back to that level of devotion.
Maybe you can join me? Let’s intentionally take time daily to get alone, get quiet and pray the way that Jesus taught His followers to pray. Knowing that He wants to draw near to us and show us His desires for us and the people around us.
Comment below and let us know how it goes for you. We’d love to hear from you. If you have cool stories that were born out of time in prayer, we would love to hear those as well!
Until next time,
We are Ecclesia
