First Think Then Pray Part Six

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.

First Think, Then Pray

Develop the discipline of learning to think before you pray. Take time to contemplate who you are:

• You are the child of God;

• And whose you are:

• You belong to God the Father Almighty.

To first think and then pray is to keep focused on God’s purpose to transform our lives to become like Jesus as we encounter our environment. We don’t pray to change God; we pray to change ourselves. We don’t pray for God to change our circumstances; we pray to become more like Jesus.

Remember That God Is At Work Within You: Consider the possibilities of the circumstance for which you are about to pray.

• What could God want to teach you through this circumstance?

• Is there a possibility that God can use you to further His purposes through this circumstance?

Before you offer your petitions to God, think about what you have been taught through your church doctrine. Why? Because, often we will find the answer to our prayer is right in front of us. We will know what to do. I remember counseling a young woman about forgiveness. (She has given me permission to share her story.) In her youth, while in college she had done something (committed a sin) she later regretted. When she was in her late twenties circumstances came up that caused her to remember her past sin. It tormented her and she kept asking God for forgiveness. She asked close friends to pray for her, but she did not get the response she was hoping for. As she said to me, “I just don’t feel as though God as forgiven me.”

In response to her I ask her to read in her Bible 1 John 1: 9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” I then told her that as Christians we are taught that if we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive us. How we feel isn’t the issue. The faithfulness of God to honor His Word is the only issue. You have to choose what you are going to believe: your feelings or God’s Word. She choose God’s Word and her prayer changed from asking God to do what He had already done, to thanksgiving for His unfailing love.

Sometimes the issue may be more complicated than that. Still, we need to think through our issues before we take them to God in prayer. . In our Wesleyan heritage we have been taught to formulate our response to the various issues of life by searching scripture; applying our God given reason; considering the traditions of the church: how have Christians responded to issues like this in the past?; and through our own personal experience of God’s leading in our life.

Develop the discipline of keeping track of how you pray. The vast majority of our prayers should be Kingdom related as opposed to increasing our comfort or changing circumstances.

(Remember, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6: 31-33)

Whether praying for yourself or interceding for another person, always pray for an awareness of how God can use the issue or circumstance for good to further yours or their transformation to become like Christ.

Pray for the church and specifically for you as a part of the Body of Christ, to be faithful to God’s calling to make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world.

Summary:

Prayer is built on the premise that God has a will for our lives. Prayer is our invitation for God’s will to prevail in our lives. Prayer prepares us to receive that will and live according to it. Prayer empowers us to be the people God wants us to be. Our main part in prayer is to examine ourselves to see if our will, our priorities in life are the same as God’s will for us.
What are the top three priorities or goals for your life? Some people have a hard time articulating their priorities. There is a simple exercise that can help you accurately identify the priorities of your life. Take a moment to examine how you spend your money; how you spend your time; and the things you think about or day-dream about. Take a few minutes and ponder those three questions. Make a list of where most of your money goes; what you do with your time and what’s the subject of your day dreams. That list will give you a pretty good idea of your priorities.

The point of this exercise is that in over thirty years of pastoral ministry seldom have I found people listing Kingdom goals or priorities among their top three. There in lies the greatest difficult with our prayer life. We don’t have our hearts set on the same things as God’s heart.
God’s greatest desire for His children is that we will want what He wants for our lives. (Philippians 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”)

Prayer is God’s gift of grace to His followers. In prayer we have an opportunity to share our hearts deepest desires with God. (Psalm 37:4) Prayer is also our opportunity to hear from God and be changed by Him. As we listen for God’s still small voice we will receive wisdom and direction to help us fulfill God’s purpose for our life.

The problem is that many of our prayers are not seeking God to develop authentic Christian character in our lives. Instead, our prayers are asking God to fix what we think is broken. However, the great promise of God is that when we redirect our prayers from our self interest to the interest of God we experience God’s presence in our lives.

Remember, there is no circumstance in your life so far removed that your Heavenly Father cannot find you in prayer. There is no place so dark or tear-stained that your Heavenly Father cannot comfort you in prayer. There is no burden so crushing that your Heavenly Father cannot lift you up in prayer. There is no future so impossible that your Heavenly Father cannot lead you there according to his will.

Mother Teresa said God has created us to love and to be loved. The beginning of prayer is to know that God loves us and that we have been created for greater things. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of himself.

My prayer for you is that you experience
God enlarging your heart for His home.