Are you really praying?

If you only pray by sending off little messages to God when you are in the middle of something else then you are missing out. If you really want to pray then you need to be spending some quality time with God. You need to find some time when you can be quiet and spend time just being with God.

I know that for some of us this is very difficult. Those of you with a young family will know that it is incredibly hard to find any time to do anything. Young children are very demanding and you are on the go all the time, babies in particular make finding time along almost impossible.

You know just because something is almost impossible doesn’t mean that it is not worth doing. Most of us, if we are pressed, could find some time if we really wanted to.

If you knew that if you made a 15 minute phone call you would get a million pounds (read dollars or whatever) then you would find the time to even if it was nearly impossible.

So how much is that time with God worth to you? This is where the problems arise.

I often hear people complaining that God doesn’t listen to them or they never hear God speak. This is often down to not listening. You can’t expect, in any relationship, to get a clear message from someone you only ever listen to about once a month. For one thing you have to learn to hear the voice of God which comes in many different forms. You can’t listen just occasionally and expect to understand what God is saying. It’s not that God is trying to hide away its simply that the rest of life gets in the way.

So let me encourage you to find a time (first thing in the morning or last thing at night maybe?). If you go to bed at 11pm then either go at 10:45pm and spend 15 minutes before you go to sleep with God or turn off the TV at 11 and go to bed at 11:15pm. You can work out what to do in the morning for yourself.

If you want to hear God you have to give Him time to speak.

When do you pray?

In an effort to get people praying the church has traditionally encouraged people to pray at certain times. Personally I like to pray in the morning before the work day begins. However it’s also good to pray in the evenings because it gives you a chance to ask for forgiveness and for peace through the night. Even better to do both.

However there are no set rules about when to pray other than that it is a good idea to pray but the rest is left pretty much up to us.

I love the bit in the gospels (see Luke 11) when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus then gives them a formulae they can use (e.g. the Lords Prayer). Of course in other places they learn important things about prayer as well but here is an example of Jesus’ teaching. He doesn’t make it complicated, he doesn’t give them set times to do it, he doesn’t even expand on the Lord’s Prayer with a whole lot of commentary.If you sincerely pray the Lords prayer every day it will transform your prayer life. I did this – only praying the Lord’s prayer – for a month and I was amazed at how much deeper my prayer life became. I thought at the time I was doing pretty well anyway.

So when do you pray and how do you do it? Please leave a comment so others can benefit.

What came out when I prayed today

It’s not like me to rant. I don’t often get carried away with things but as I prayed today I felt compelled to write this. I doubt anyone will read it but I felt it needed to be published.

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I want a revolution!

It’s time for change in the UK Christian Church.

How often have I heard that said but does it ever happen? NO!

We have people who are Bible believing who call for revolution in the teaching.

We have people who are Bible doubting who call for revolution in the teaching.

We have people who like more modern music calling for revolution in worship.

We have people who don’t fit the ‘normal’ church calling for radical church.

We have people calling for house church because that’s what they like and it’s Biblical isn’t it?

Every group calls for something different in the church but what happens?

We get church made in our own image.

We get Christians breaking away to form ‘new’ churches.

But where is the revolution? WHERE O GOD IS THE REVOLUTION!!!!

Where are the generations lost to the church? Why don’t they come?

We’ve tried trendy services and new age thinking. We’ve tried everything but who comes?

People already connected to the church – that’s who comes. Very few ever come in from the outside.

Do they then hate Jesus? Do they think Jesus’ teachings are dead and gone?

No they don’t.

Why is every normal Christian ashamed to admit they go to church? Why are Christian ministers called names in the streets?

Why do people who don’t go to church hate the church?

Why do they believe that the church has highjacked the teachings of Christ and used them for their own ends?

Is it the Devil? Perhaps. Is it us? Yes.

Christian Revolution comes only when people are ready to repent.

Is the church ready?

Would we be prepared to go on national TV and say – sorry we got it wrong.

Are we prepared to admit to the world that we have not always followed Jesus?

Are we prepared to say that there is a problem with power hungry people in God’s own house?

Will we admit that instead of washing feet we have often been driven by greed?

Then when we have repented can we be converted?

Can we convert to foot washing and service?

Can we change our worship so the focus is on Jesus?

Can we listen to those who have a different view and then sensitively give ours – as equals.

We seek the broken and miss the lost.

We seek out the worst but have no time for the best.

It is right to help the drunk and the homeless – God expects nothing less than this.

But we pat ourselves on the back while every week we drive past houses full of lost souls who don’t suit us because they are not bad enough yet.

One street full of people in a Town would fill a church with hundreds. People of all ages squeezing through the doors.

Are not most church buildings in a street? Yet they are fit only for carpet warehouses and New Age Healers.

O God when will we change? When will you bring the revolution?

O God how long must we wait? How long must I wait to see this?

My heart is broken waiting for your deliverance.

My heart loves your idea of the church but it is broken as the man made systems fall.

O God bring your new church soon.

Please Lord release me from feeling this way. Let me rest and not feel the pain. I love your church so much yet my heart is broken over it.

Your will be done. Your will be done! YouR WILL BE DONE!!!!

Never neglect your prayers

For some strange reason prayer for me is always a struggle. Not the doing it but the getting motivated to do it. It’s strange because I actually like praying and I’ve experienced God more in times of prayer than at any other time. Yet every morning I have to make myself sit down and pray. Perhaps there is some negative force at work or perhaps I’m just plain lazy.

Anyway I urge every Christian to make prayer a number one priority in life. Whatever else you get done today make sure you pray.

I sometimes get challenged by people who say things like:

I have five children how do you expect me to find time to pray? or

I’m really busy – I have to get up early in the morning to set off for work and I don’t get back till late. I don’t even have time for lunch how can I ever find time for prayer?

My response is usually in two parts:

1. Prayer times don’t have to take very long.
It seems there are a great number of people who seem to be under the impression that unless you can get half an hour for a quiet time there is just no point in bothering. Jesus pointed out that it is not the fancy prayers that get answered but the ones that are honest and come from the heart. He also told us not to keep saying the same thing over and over. I think it’s also significant that when the disciples asked to be taught how to pray Jesus gave them a prayer that can be said in well under a minute, even if you take your time over it. Of course there is benefit to having a longer quiet time but never use a lack of time as an excuse for not praying – time is not an issue with God.

2. We find time for things we really want to do and are committed to.
When people complain about a lack of time for prayer they invariably talk on other occasions about the TV programme they watched or the golf they played etc. I don’t want to be mean but it is true that we will usually find the time for those things that are important to us. For instance as a business person I used to get up very early one day a week to go to a business breakfast meeting. It was important to me to be able to promote my business so I would get up early to do it. Many other business people do the same. Yet often they say they find it hard to find the time to pray.

I’m sorry if this feels like a telling off – that wasn’t my intention when I began – but I want to encourage you not to neglect your prayers. If you are struggling to find time then think about your whole life and be honest about if you find time for things you want to do (e.g. watch your favourite soap). If this is true then think about how you can find time for prayer. Even those of us who make it a priority often find it tough to get started. If you are really struggling then remember that even short prayers can make a big difference. Who honestly can’t find two minutes in a day to say some short prayers?

Holiness is top of the list

For any Christian – but especially those who have chosen to not attend a regular church – personal holiness is the key to thriving as a Christian.

When I talk about personal holiness I’m thinking about those things that you do each day that are directly related to your walk with Christ. This will include: prayer, bible reading, contemplation about God, deliberately using your gifts, searching your heart for sin and removing it. I guess you could say its anything to do with being a righteous person. In a nutshell it’s following Christ.

Now one of the mistakes a great number of people make is to confuse holiness with doing certain things. God does not hold back His support waiting for us to do certain things. Christianity has nothing to do with earning our place in God’s heart. God loves us as we are. We can no more earn a place in heaven than we could create a universe from nothing. When we undertake personal holiness we should do not because we love God and not out of any concept of earning rewards.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no-one dared ask him any more questions.
Matt 12:33ff

Also we don’t become holy because we do more stuff we become holier because we have contact with the one holy thing that exists e.g. God. The more we have contact with God the more His radience fills our lives and the more radience fills our lives the more holy we are.

If you find yourself without Christian fellowship make sure you get more time for your own personal devotions. Living as a Christian without fellowship is very tough the only way I know of making sure you don’t suffer as a result is to give priority to personal holiness (although perhaps we should all be doing this anyway).