doing away the mundane. . .

Last night at Crave we watched a teaching by Francis Chan. Afterwards we had a time of worship, prayer, and just hanging out with GOD. The song that GOD kept leading us to sing is based on Isaiah 6 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. . . In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke. Then I said, "My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!. . . "

It is such a powerful picture and I know we have looked at in the past few weeks. It still amazes me and my heart cries out to live in that place where I am so aware of GOD’s majesty that I know I don’t deserve anything that I so often think I have a right to. When I stand in His presence, my puny offerings are never enough, but by the grace and the sacrifice given at the cross I can be in His presence. To live there. . . in His presence. What does that look like?

It brings me back to 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually. When I was a kid, that just baffled me. It seemed so boring. I thought that had to go around kneeling then stopping and folding my hands, then going about my business, and stopping and kneeling. . . you get the picture. It just seemed more like punishment that an honor. I still don’t get it fully, but there are a few things I know.

Prayer is friendship with GOD. It is a 2 way conversation. We share with Him, and he shares with us. So often we get caught up in making sure we let Him know all the details, and like Francis Chan said in the teaching last night “ too often we look more like the prophets of Baal." The prophets of Baal would repeat the same thing over and over again, and even cut themselves (they would inflict pain on themselves to get the attention of their god). How often do we inflict guilt on ourselves or punish ourselves for not being good enough or in order to get Him to hear us.

Not to say we shouldn’t tell GOD what is heavy on our hearts or what we need, He is interested. I mean if He’s gonna take the time to know how many hairs are on my head, and looking at my hairbrush that number changes with every pass of it through my hair. GOD cares about what is going on in my heart and head and what troubles me.

But to be in a place where I am so fully aware that He knows what I’m gonna say before I say it (Psalm 139), to say, “You know Daddy. . . I just. . . And then. . .thank you!!” (Louie Gigglio did an amazing teaching on prayer a few years back called “Prayer Remix” or something like that. When I heard this teaching, GOD totally blew my mind away with how deep prayer and conversations with Him could be.) I mean if I truly am at the point where I realize that He knows my thoughts, then that knowledge takes away all anxieties. I know I don’t have to fret because He IS in control. I can talk to Him out of love, not solely because I am in need or want something. I don’t have to continually try and tweak my prayer to find the “right formula’.

I’m sure many of you have struggled with this. We pray and GOD doesn’t move like we expect, and we think that "if we just. . ." or "if we didn’t. . ." or "if I get louder, or prayer more often. . ."

Opposed to knowing that He is our Father, and resting in the fact He will lead us how to pray (Romans 8).

So in this journey to better understanding prayer, He has taught me that Prayer is a relationship and communication with Him. Prayer is also deeper than we could ever imagine. Think of Elijah in 1 Kings 18. This is when he goes head to head with the prophets of Baal. Then spend all day trying to get their god’s attention, but nothing. Then Elijah simply says "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself." And fire came down.

That is beyond our understanding. So deep, so powerful. It’s not about me and my ability to say or do the right thing, but more it is about me humbling myself and submitting to His glory and power. James 5 says that we are not different that Elijah. He was a man just like us. If he could grasp this understanding of the power of prayer and prayed sincere prayers, then we can too. In fact, Elijah did all this before JESUS.

So all this to say. . .

What is prayer?

How do you pray?

What does it mean to pray continually?

Do you sometimes not go to prayer because you feel unworthy?

Why do we pray?