Upward Prayer

"God doesn't hear us because we are obedient, He hears us because of the Atonement."

- Oswald Chambers   

How many times does our prayer seem like a "Honey do" list that we present to God? We dump all of our cares down before God and say "You do it!" Then we immediately have 17 different reasons why God won't answer. "I haven't been that obedient lately, why should he care?" or "If I'd do this or act like that, then God will..." It doesn't take much effort to see that this kind of thinking puts the responsibility for answered prayer in our hands - how foolish is that? If we could have handled those things on our own, would we have brought it to God in the first place? This kind of prayer is what gets us put off with God because it isn't about Him - its about us. The problem with this is that, while God wants us to bring our intercession to Him, prayer should be more about deepening our intimacy with Him, to receive more of His revelation for us.

When we pray in intimacy with God, our prayer direction is changed - it goes upward instead of inward. When Chambers talks about intimacy, he speaks to “Your will be done.” We must not say this in depressed resignation that nothing we can say will change things in any way, that we are beholden to a capricious master who will do what He wants no matter what. Instead, it is about submission, not in defeat, but in a true understanding of His right grasp of all that we speak about and our limited understanding. God raises each of us up for His purpose, and through intimate prayer we learn what His purposes are more clearly.  “The difficulty with the majority of us is that we will not seek to apprehend the vision; we get glimpses of it and then we leave it alone.” Rather, we need to pursue God in His vision so that we may truly grasp what it is He has for us to be and to do. 

As a leader, without fully understanding His vision, how can I bring others to that vision? I can’t, so I need to pray, to pay attention. When I first sensed that God wanted me to begin leading our church into prophetic worship, I understood that much, then I left it alone. Maybe I was too busy doing the week to week work of worship that I neglected the vision. Chambers says “Interest is natural, attention must be by effort.” I need to take the time to truly pay attention and so gain more fully the mind of Christ here.

A Cunning Avoidance

To preface this blog, I realize it has been nearly a year since I last posted a blog. Frequently I have gone long periods between writing and then apologized for my lack of postings. I was in Chicago this January for a class and during that time we did an activity that, to make a long story short, made me aware that I am urged to write when I have been more fully and intimately engaged with God. The last year or so has been hectic and I have been remiss in creating intentional time to take sabbath time but have had my life filled with stress and busy-ness. I realized that while I don't journal my thoughts as such, I am inspired to write in blog form when I feel God is speaking to and through me. I have been guilty of being so engaged in activity, both in the church and in my teaching that it may have become "...a cunning avoidance of spiritual concentration in intercession." (Chambers) Of course it is not intentional, but the impact has been the same. And so I return with the following blog.