Print This Post

I’d like you to imagine that you look in you diary tomorrow and there’s a 10 minute slot booked out.

And that 10 minute slot has been booked out by Christ himself – and he has said to you “You give me those ten minutes, I will make sure I’m there.”

As the time approaches, there’s a buzz on the door and in walks Jesus Christ, in person.

He’s dressed as most of us are today and he’s come to give you ten minutes of his time, in the same way that you’re giving ten minutes of yours.

His opening gambit takes you my surprise “My child, how would you like to use these ten minutes?”

You can talk about anything. Thank him for anything, confess anything and anticipate anything – the ball is in your court.

This ten minute s just for you

Don’t you think that would be an extraordinary experience?

Every time we come to pray, that is what happens. We may not see Jesus physically (although we might conjure him up in our mind’s eye, but when we pray,

• heaven touches earth

• the divine touches the human
• the transcendent touches in imminent
• God meets with people

For me that puts prayer in a completely different category

• no longer is it a matter of saying phrases parrot fashion, no longer am I restricted to a formula or a method
• instead I’m enjoying an intimate relationship with someone who loves me more than any other person possibly could.

We believe that God does everything by prayer and nothing without it.

• So this morning I want to ask a simple but profound question about prayer – how do we go about it?

I want to share with you how I go about it most of the time – there’s nothing magical or special about this

But I believe and experience that whenever we pray, regardless of background or education of spiritual expreince … when we pray – heaven – touches – earth. And God meets with people.

In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching his disciples

and many of us who know this ‘sermon on the mount’ will realise that it’s most probably a conglomeration of what Jesus has been teaching his friends – people like us.

We saw last time there are two things that God can’t stomach when we come to prayer –

Showing off (using prayer as a vehicle for our ow pride)

Theobabble (meaningless phrases we can easily trot out and which may sound good, but are not matched with the traffic of my soul).

What our heavenly father desires of us is a deep and intimate relationship. That’s what He offers and that’s what we receive.

Prayer is powerful means of communication. It brings us into communion with almighty God himself. It means that at a moment in time there’s a contact between me and my heavenly father. Prayer is deliberately entering into communication with God

Today – very practical – How do I go about praying?

Many of our prayers are emergency prayers – ‘Help!’ – ‘Why?’ – ‘What on earth do I do now?!’ kind of encounters.

Like the unbeliever who fell over a cliff

• as he began falling he grabbed hold of a tuft of grass
• he found himself suspended, dangling in mid air – sea crashing beneath him – 200′ below
• he shouted out in desperation “God, if you’re up there help me!”
• To his astonishment he heard a voice “I am here – let go of the grass and trust me”
• thought …
• “Is anyone else there!”

3 OBSERVATIONS – THEN A SIMPLE PROGRAMME

Prayer takes time

We live in a world where multitasking is becoming the norm we can feel that prayer is just another pressure to fit into an already overcrowded google calendar.

Linda Smart, sitting stationary at a set of traffic lights took a drink from her water bottle

• was spotted by police and fined £20 for not being in control of her car!
• she was multitasking tasking – and in the police’s view this was a crime.

Some people say they can pray on the run

• don’t need to put time aside to do it
• you try building a marriage on the run – or any human relationship!
• Not only is this inadequate prayer, but it sends out a message “God, you’re really not that important to me”
• I can scan facebook, send my email or make the breakfast and talk to you at the same time.

Confession time e.g. Recently Rosi talking to me – I was tapping at the computer

• Rosi indignant “You’re not concentrating on me!” – and she was right!

If we want a rich, genuine, authentic joy-filled relationship with God then giving him some time is a key.

• But, you say, “My time is so precious!”
• that’s exactly the point!
• The person or the thing or the project to which we give our most precious time is the person or thing or the project that we love the most.

Time is just about the most precious commodity that God gives us because no moment ever comes twice

… Prayer takes time.

If you want to set a target, set a realistic one.

John White Quote – The fight

Years earlier I had attempted to pray. Dissatisfied with the quality of my Christian life and having some (now forgotten) exhortation on prayer, I set my alarm for 6.00 a.m. and determined to begin the day with two hours of prayer and Bible study. It was winter. English houses are not only dark, but miserably cold in the early morning. My eyes were sore, my nose ran, I shivered and I still felt dirty even though I had washed and shaved. The silent house seemed strangely unfriendly. Determinedly I prayed – for my immediate family; for distance cousins, uncles, aunts; for neighbours and friends. Then I looked at my watch to find that only five minutes had gone by. Somehow I had to carry on for another hour and fifty-five minutes. Time stretched ahead like a cold eternity.

I managed to keep on praying for 25 minutes by which time I had exhausted every possible topic of prayer. A little uncertain of myself I decided that it might be appropriate to study the Bible. Not knowing where to start I elected to master Paul’s epistle to the Romans. I read with a vague sense of dissatisfaction. How did one study the Bible? I frowned and tried to concentrate, but the words stared back at me inscrutably, coldly determined to hold their own counsel.

Somehow I managed to go on frowning and reading for the rest of the two hours. But I was licked and I knew it.

I kept on going for another two days but on the third day I acknowledged my defeat and crawled miserably back to bed thirty-five minutes after I got up.

After that I put prayer and Bible study out of my mind., It was for saints and martyrs. I was not made of praying stuff.

Any John Whites around?

How about saying “10mins / day, Except Wednesdays when the kids go early” Lord, that time is yours – or whatever suite you personally.

• We don’t want to be casual about it, but when we do this we’re not loading ourselves with guilt when we miss a day.
• At the same time I’m saying to the Lord “This is the desire of my heart and the intention of my will …”
• and his blessing flows towards us when we live like this.

Prayers easily get forgotten

Therefore it can help to write down the the traffic of your soul

Buy spiral notebook or create a new folder in your PC

• use 1 page per day
• use outline
• use any trick that gets you going!

Scripted praying >>>

How to pray

When we pray we bring two attributes of God together

Transcendence & imminence

• transcendence refers to the aspect of a God’s nature and power which is wholly independent of the material universe, beyond all physical laws.
• There’s no part of space or time where He isn’t
• This is contrasted with immanence, where a God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to us in prayer.

Prayer brings these two together – the God of the universe is present, personally with me.

There was a time when I made a pact with God about this.

It’s a pact I have never regretted, but no always lived up to.

It started with a single sentence that gripped my heart at the time … It was printed on a nondescript prayer outline given to me by a friend. It said this:

“prayer is not an exercise or activity, it is an encounter with God himself”

at that moment I realised that God wanted to meet with me as much – actually more – that I wanted to meet with him. From then on prayer took on a different perspective.

It will probably never impact on your heart in the same way it did on mine, but nevertheless it’s a principle that points us to the wonder of prayer. A personal encounter between creator and creature – God and man – Christ and me.

Make a pact with God

PACT = agreement – both sides agree to do something = treaty – written down

P – Praise God

Here is where you spend some time praising him:

The focus is on who the Lord is and the Bible full of pictures to help us

• loving father – gives good things to his kids
• powerful king – sweeping enemies out of the way – and that for the sake of you and me
• devoted mother (“as a hen..”) – not all images of God are human – not all images of God are male
• wise judge (cf. Luke 18)
• safe refuge
• Ask yourself “Lord, which of these images do I need to know you are now for me in my situation today

Bible also full of attributes

• faithful
• consistent
• powerful to intervene – “Is anything too hard…?”

Praise Him with a song use a song – jot it down

• there is no doubt in my mind that the Lord has endowed the church with a wealth of new and relevant music in the last 20 years that is deep and meaningful and profound. (There’s also some twaddle!)

there is also a wealth of classic songs that have stood the test of time.

At our small group in Chichester – we spent some time in worship and I read these words

O THOU WHO CAMEST FROM ABOVE

The pure celestial fire to impart,

Kindle a flame of sacred love

On the mean altar of my heart.

There let it for your glory burn

With inextinguishable blaze,

And trembling to its source return,

In humble prayer and fervent praise.

A friend of mine exclaimed “Where did you get that from!?”

What I didn’t do was to recite the rest of the song.

At a time when I dearly wanted to go into the ministry (but God said no) this song meant a great deal to me

I can remember pacing the corridors of the University department where I was working saying these words to myself …

Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire

to work and speak and think for thee

still let me guard that holy fire

and still stir up your gift in me

Ready for all your perfect will

my acts of faith and love repeat

till death your endless mercies seal

and make the sacrifice

complete

eventually God led us to change direction and the rest is history.

Use a Psalm or other passage of scripture >>>

Let your heart take off – don’t hold back >>>

A – Admit to God

There is a dark side to the human personality

this is when I allow the Holy Spirit to have access to the rooms in my life I would otherwise prefer to keep locked.

Psalms 24

3. Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour.

How do I handle my own wrongdoing?

face it

be honest about it. Don’t mince your words

Martin Luther “don’t lie to God!”

run from it

repentance = the act of turning

enjoy your freedom

Let me ask you something

why does the Holy Spirit prompt us about our sin?

to make us feel guilty – yes – BUT …

that guilt is intended to be a temporary state!

1 John 1:9 “If we confess..”

Some observations about confessing our sin

Sometimes we have to confess the same thing several times over

before I have a real awareness of God’s forgiveness.

Sin is not always dealt with in s single prayer time – actually hardly ever dealt with in one go!

Sometimes God withholds confronting us with our sin until he knows we can take it

He is gentle with us – he knows we’re fragile people

• but when he does confront us – when you realise that there is a sin present – do something about it!

E.g. Psalm 32 “Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven ..”

Just listen to the other images the Bible uses

sin is ‘not counted against you’

• (c.f. penalty points on driving licence)

no deceit

no double standard – I’m clear in my conscience to face the world with freedom and confidence –

confidence in God

No longer is he a slightly threatening authoritative figure, but instead he’s my loving father

C – Come to God

Enter his presence – cf. veil torn in two – access is yours!

* imagine sitting, kneeling or lying in his throne room.

bring your requests

Ask and it will be given you

Seek and you will find

Knock and the door will be opened to you

(This is, of course, a quirk of the English language, but even so, it gives us a useful reminder of how to sue some of our time with him … A.S.K.

• “Lord, you know how easily I get angry – help me to keep my temper today – and Lord, please remind me that I’ve prayed this when my hackles start to rise!”
• “Lord I just cannot understand what Ian says on a Sunday – for goodness sake give him something intelligible next time round!”
• “Lord I want to see you move in power in the church – so move in me first!”
• “Lord it really matters to me that we see some results from our prayer triplet”
• “Lord you know that our budget isn’t going to balance this month. Please provide for us!”

bring your weights

things that trouble you – worry you – cause anxiety

Matt 11: “Come to me all of you who are weary and bowed down and I will give you rest”

come just to listen

You might like to ask “If Jesus were here now, what would He be saying?

(verify it with scripture of course, because God never contradicts himself!)

Sometimes He’ll plant an idea, or a person’s name in your mind, so act on it – and see if He was in it.

When you do this, be prepared for some surprises

T – Thank God

Philippians 4

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It won’t take long before you have a whole list of things to thank God for!

• examples of His faithfulness / protection
• examples of His timing – divine appointments – the right person – the right place
• examples of other people in whose lives your prayers have been answered.

In fact I can almost guarantee that when you do this you won’t want to stop!

OFTEN I’ve got to the end of this and felt “Lord – do I have to leave it here?”

Bike analogy [can only learn to ride by actually riding >>>]

Summarise >>>