First Think, Then Pray Part Two

First Think, Then Pray

NOTE: Several months ago I began a series on the Prayers of St. Paul. That work led me to write a short book about learning to pray as the first century church prayed. Beginning with this post I will be posting excerpts from the book. You may EMAIL office@christumc.us if you are interested in receiving a copy of the book.

Introduction
I believe prayer is the most misunderstood aspect of the Christian life. It is also the one thing Christians talk about the most. Christians are either asking for prayer or are promising to pray for others. The Bible teaches us the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16) Yet, if we are honest, I believe we have to admit that we see little evidence of great power or wonderful results in the prayer life of the church. Why?
Before I answer that, let me first say that I believe in prayer. I believe God answers prayer. I believe prayer is the pathway to intimacy with God. In the book of Revelation the angels offer the prayers of God’s people to God as incense. Revelation 8:4 says,

“The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out”

However, it is my perception that many of the prayers in our churches are not taken by the angels and offered up to God. That’s my concern in writing this booklet.
My purpose is to address some of the common misunderstandings of prayer and provide a basis for our church to be united in our prayers. If you want to go deeper into a study of prayer, there are literally thousands of books on prayer in print. I believe the best discussion of prayer is Richard Foster’s book, Prayer.
Now, back to the question: Why do we see little evidence of answered prayers in the church?

Seek the Kingdom

God encourages us to come boldly before His throne of grace. The Bible teaches us that when we pray we can have confidence that God hears our prayers if we pray according to His will. And, if God hears our prayers we can trust that He will answer them. (1 John 5: 13-15) The key is whether we are praying according to God’s will.
What is God’s will? The simple answer is from the words of Jesus:

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33)

Put these two passages together and we can conclude that praying according to God’s will is to pray Kingdom prayers. What are Kingdom Prayers? Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Kingdom prayers are prayers for God’s Kingdom to come on earth and for God’s will to be fulfilled on earth.
Let’s look a little deeper into this idea.
In the Book of James the Bible says that we ask but we don’t receive because our motives are wrong. (James 4:3) Too often our prayer requests are for God to make our life, or the lives of the people for whom we are praying, better. Or, at least what we think is better, which is generally pain avoidance.
James’ point is what St. Augustine called “Incurvatus in se,” which basically translates as curved in on ourselves. Augustine was trying to explain exactly what produces sin. He came up with incurvatus in se as a way of saying that we are essentially ego centric or self-centered. We live for ourselves. Our lives are curved inward as opposed to the life God intended for us, which is life lived with an outward focus.

First Think, Then Pray

First Think, Then Pray

NOTE: Several months ago I began a series on the Prayers of St. Paul. That work led me to write a short book about learning to pray as the first century church prayed. Beginning with this post I will be posting excerpts from the book. You may EMAIL office@christumc.us if you are interested in receiving a copy of the book.

Preface

I believe the greatest challenge facing the church in the twenty first century is the authenticity of our Christian witness. Some churches have developed prosperity and blessing theologies to draw people to the church so that their vision of the American Dream can be fulfilled. However, a theology centered on self fulfillment is like a house built on sand – it is destined to fall. Other churches offer grand musical programs, modern dramas, remove all the crosses from the church, and do their best to entertain and keep their members satisfied. They are not too interested in Jesus calling his disciples to take up their cross and follow him.

At Christ Church our mission is to Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World. We believe that as we Seek the Life in Christ as Our Way of Life, we will offer an authentic Christian witness to our community. Prayer is the glue that holds us and our mission together as we seek to be faithful to God as a congregation,

The Apostle Paul calls the church to “live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15: 5-6) Our life in harmony, our one voice praising God, comes through being unified in our understanding of and practice of prayer. I have prepared this booklet as a means to help us reach out for this common understanding and practice of prayer in the life of our congregation. Later this year we will offer a study on prayer using this booklet as our guide.

Pastor Alex Knight

August 2010