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Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.
I heard a story this week about a pastor who decided to skip services one Sunday so that he could head out to the hills to do some bear hunting. But at one point as he was walking down the trail, he rounded a corner and he and a bear collided. He lost his balance and went tumbling down the mountainside until he landed on a rock and broke both of his legs.
Well, if that wasn’t bad enough, he noticed that the bear had followed him down and was starting to charge at him. At that point, he reached for his gun but realized that he had lost it as he was tumbling down the mountain. So all he could think of was to start praying, and he prayed, “Oh Lord, I am so sorry for skipping services today to come out here and hunt. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish…please make a Christian out of that bear that’s coming at me. Please, Lord I’m begging you!”
Well right after he finished his prayer, this bear came a screeching halt, fell to his knees, clasped his paws together and began to pray right at the pastor’s feet, “Dear Lord, bless this food I am about to receive…in Jesus’ name…Amen.”
Today, as we continue our message series on Rhythms of Grace, we are going to be talking about the rhythm of prayer…
And for many of us, the only real time that we do pray is before a meal, or right before we go to bed. It’s a set time every day.
And a lot of times it’s the same words. We have a certain set of words or phrases that we’ve said in our mealtime or bedtime prayers and those are the only ways that we ever pray.
Now, others of us may not use the same words when we pray, but our prayers are mostly transactional prayers.
It feels and sounds like we are doing business with God…making a transaction. “God, I’ll do this if you will do that for me.” “God, I’ll go to church every Sunday if you get me this job or an A on this test or if you score me this date.”
Or maybe we don’t even promise to do things for God, but when we look at our prayers it’s just asking for stuff we are missing in our lives or feel like we need. It’s always just a list of all the things we need God to do for us in order for our lives to be better…get where we need to be to be happy.
Here’s something else that some of people do. I’ve noticed that when some people pray, that their entire personalities change and they begin using language that sounds absolutely nothing like the way they would normally talk…
Oh Thine Majesty and Dearest Almighty, Jehovah Jireh, King of Kings & Lord of Lords, Father God on thy Heavenly Throne, we beseech thee for a hedge of protection amongst thy servants. Pursueth us w/thy everlasting presence and may we loveth and attendeth to thy will as thy most humble servants…
It’s like, “Who was that praying?” Because I’ve never heard him talk like that in real life.
But for a lot of us, that is the way we think that we have to pray. There’s a certain language that God expects us to use when we pray. He’s God. He’s holy. We have to respect Him with the words we say and the way we say them.
And so a lot of us use lofty language when we pray because we feel like we can’t really approach someone like Him when we are such humble people, especially because we know who we are and what we’ve done.
So let’s talk about that…approaching God in that manner. I mean there was a time in Scripture where we see the holiness of God stand out…and when we see the fear and respect that was demanded because of who He is and who we were.
In the O.T., the dwelling place of God in the temple was what was called the Holy of Holies.
It was the innermost and most sacred area of the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Jerusalem.
The Holy of Holies (also referred to as the Most Holy Place) was separated from the Holy Place and the outer court by a veil. The veil was woven from fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. It was decorated with intricate embroidery featuring an image of gold cherubim.
And this veil was needed because this was God’s dwelling place, and God was too pure and too holy to be in the presence of sinful man. As a matter of fact, God even told Moses this in Lev. 16:2
2 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die.
I mean that is scary. You better be careful about how you approach God! And they were.
Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. This high priest could only enter once per year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Before the high priest would enter, he would wash himself, put on special clothing, gather incense, and secure the blood from a sacrificed animal. When he was inside the Holy of Holies, he would burn the incense (to let the smoke cover his eyes from a direct view of God) and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat of the ark to atone for his own sins and the sins of the people.
And so as you can see, there was so much involved just for one guy to walk into the presence of a holy God. And it was scary because one wrong move and he would die.
It’s a fearful thing to be in the presence of a holy God with sin in your life.
And so when it comes to prayer, this is the way many of us approach God. With a fearful mentality, or if it’s not true fear…we just feel like it needs to be with respect. There better be a proper measure of reverence and our words better be measured because this is the God who dwells in the Holy of Holies, and there is a curtain/veil there for a reason!
The only problem is that the curtain is no longer there! Look at Matthew 27:50-51…
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Why? Because Jesus had completed the once for all sacrifice to do away with our sins. And our sin was the reason that a barrier was needed…why a curtain was necessary to keep us separated from the holiness of God so that we would not die!
But now that this once for all sacrifice was made, the curtain could come down! And as a result, we now can approach God with a different mentality… Look at Hebrews 10:19-22
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.
I think that last statement says a lot to us about prayer. We don’t have to approach talking to God as if the veil is still there…
We don’t have to walk in fear of Him judging our prayers. We don’t have to use certain words when we pray. We don’t have to try to impress Him with our language or put on a show when we pray.
Pastor and author, Adam Weber, talks about this in his book, “Talking with God.” Look at what he says…
You don't need to be uptight and serious when you pray. Yes, it's good to have a healthy reverence of and respect for God. But you don't have to be emotionless or somber. There's no need to practice our prayers before speaking them. God is abundantly loving and gracious. It isn't a sin to smile or laugh when we're speaking with God.
We don't need to impress God. He's the one who wants to be friends with us. Just be you. The real you, not some weird version of you. Don't try to sound all prim and proper. Don't use strange religious words. Don't worry about saying the wrong thing. Don't make it complicated. Just talk with him. We can't mess it up! Jesus isn't looking for a show. He's not looking to be amazed by your words or impressed by our knowledge or our extravagant prayers. More than anything he just wants to talk with us.
So as we talk about getting into this rhythm of prayer, what we are talking about is this…
RELATIONAL PRAYER
As we’ve said over the last two weeks, spiritual disciplines are not the goal. The goal is experiencing the intimacy and abundant life we have in Christ.
And so if we are going to experience the intimate relationship we were created to have with Jesus, then we’ve got to get into a rhythm of praying relational prayers…
What are relational prayers? Simply talking and listening to Jesus throughout our day.
We are not talking about a set time to pray. We are not talking about praying long, drawn out prayers.
Now, listen, there’s times for each of those things. But what I think most of us are probably missing is this RELATIONAL PRAYER THROUGHOUT OUR DAY.
It ties back to the RHYTHM OF AWARENESS that we’ve talked about for the last 2 weeks…
Getting into this rhythm of being aware of Jesus’ PRESENCE in our lives all of the time and that He is speaking to us through His PERSONALITY.
And as we become more aware of his presence and personality, and as we get into this rhythm of talking and listening to Jesus throughout our day then we are going to begin experiencing that intimate relationship with Him that we are designed to have.
So how do we do that? How do we do relational prayer? What does this rhythm of relational prayer look like?
#1 – KEEP IT SHORT
Again, there are certainly times to pray longer prayers, but if we are going to experience a relationship with Jesus all throughout our day, then a lot of times they are going to have to be short.
A couple of minutes here or there… Or maybe even just sentence or a phrase in between tasks.
I mean sometimes they are tasks you can talk to God while you are doing them, but a lot of times, your focus is on talking to a customer, writing an email, teaching a class, taking a test…something that requires complete focus and words in what you are doing.
But maybe there’s a moment in the middle of the task or in between the tasks where you are able to talk to Jesus through a short phrase or sentence.
I mean, listen, that is how a lot of our conversations go with people throughout the day. Short sentences, comments, remarks.
Get into a rhythm of talking to Jesus through short sentences, comments, or remarks to Him.
#2 – KEEP IT SIMPLE
This goes back to that lofty language that we sometimes feel like we have to use when talking to God for some reason. Guys, the curtain is torn. We approach the throne of God with confidence in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.
So keep your words simple.
“Jesus, show me your love today.”
I mean that is a great short, simple prayer to pray. My favorite prayer in the Bible is the one Paul prays over the people in Ephesus in Ephesians 3…
17 … I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
I mean out of all the things Paul could pray, his prayer was for them to grasp how much Jesus loved them…for them to EXPERIENCE the love of Christ in their lives.
So…pray, “Jesus show me your love today.” And then look for Him throughout your day…
And as He does reveal His love for you in different ways, what if you just said, “Jesus, I love you.”
That’s it. That’s the prayer. Simply, “Jesus, I love you.”
Driving in your car down the road… “Jesus, I love you.”
Walking down the halls at your school… “Jesus, I love you.”
Seeing a picture on your phone of a great memory… “Jesus, I love you.”
Anytime something makes you laugh… “Jesus, I love you.”
The smell of coffee in the morning… “Jesus, I love you.”
Watching your children play… “Jesus, I love you.”
Listening to a worship song or a hymn… “Jesus, I love you.”
I mean if the goal is intimacy. IF we know that Paul prayed that we would know and experience Jesus’ love, and if we are told to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength…
THEN wouldn’t it make sense that we would keep it simple and just say,
“Jesus, I love you.”
“Help me see your love for me today.”
“Help me see your love for other people today.”
“Show me who you want me to love today.”
TRANSITION: So, #1, Keep it short and #2, keep it simple…but 3rd…
#3 – KEEP IT HONEST
I mean, if you are going to experience an intimate relationship with someone, that only happens if you are honest.
If you are hiding and pretending to be someone that you are not, you won’t experience true intimacy. If you lie to someone over and over then you won’t experience intimacy.
So, be honest with Jesus.
“Jesus, I’m struggling.”
“Jesus, I’m so anxious right now.”
“Jesus, I’m depressed…I’m sad, and I don’t know why.”
“Jesus, why do I have cancer?”
“Jesus, I’m upset that you didn’t heal my family member.”
“Jesus, I’m tempted to do something that is not good for me.”
“Jesus, I messed up.”
Guys, the Psalms are filled with David crying out to God with honesty. God can handle what we say, and He wants us to be honest with Him.
When we admit what is going on, it develops intimacy.
We become more aware of His faithful companionship and that we can trust Him.
And that is what it’s all about…
Getting into this rhythm of relational prayer to experience His faithful, intimate, and trustworthy companionship.
So, this week, practice getting into a rhythm of talking to Jesus all throughout your day. Talk to Him as if He is right there with you wherever you are and in the middle of whatever you are doing (b/c He is!). Keep it short. Keep it simple. And keep it honest.
Just get into a rhythm of talking to Jesus all throughout your day. Tell Him about your day, ask Him about things that come up. Just involve Him in all things. And if you don’t know what to say, maybe just say, “Jesus, I love you.” “Show me your love for me.” “Love others through me today.”