How do I find the time to pray?

How do I find the time to pray?

Posted on by Matthew Laker

Finding the time to pray is one of the greatest challenges I hear from people.

chasm 2For followers of Jesus many times we both yearn for prayer and hide from prayer.  We know that prayer is something we should do.  We want to do it, but at times it seems like a chasm stands between us and actually praying.

Let me give you a few tips on how to start building your bridge to cross that chasm.

a. Our view of Jesus needs to refocus.

Think about the story in Luke 15 about the two sons.  In both cases the father shows grace to each son.  We see the father standing and waiting for the one who has walked away for a time. What does he do when he see us? He celebrates.

Then the other son is mad and standing outside and the father goes to him and engages him.  Jesus will do the same to us.

Jesus also shares that he is the living water.  The fact is we do not always believe that.  If we did we would come to him.  At times we believe TV shows are what we really need and so we turn them on.

b. Reshaping our view of prayer.

David Benner shares, “Spending time together ought to be the essence of prayer.”

This is a hard one because often our prayer life is about us asking God for things.  Now there is a place for that.  However, what does it look like to just be with Jesus? To say, “Jesus here I am”, and sit, or go for a walk with him.  Our relationship with Jesus only develops as we spend time together and our spending time with God is at the core of prayer.  It is not about getting the check list done.  It is about recognizing his presence in the moment of everyday life and that is part of the core of prayer.

Prayer is about spending time with Jesus.

c. Schedule it

In my life I have deemed it necessary for the good of my relationship with my wife to go on dates. Four months out, I picked nights, found a babysitter and booked it in the calendar.  If you are not willing to book it, it is not important.  You will always find time for the things that are important.

We need to start small and be realistic.  What if you try this week to take 10 minutes a day.

You do you have the time.

Are you looking for help to develop in-the-moment short prayers? Check out this post: “How to develop the Habit of prayer in one minute.”

d. Community and prayer

What if you met with one person with the purpose to pray?  You could call it your prayer partner.  Prayer is not just a personal thing.  Community plays a huge role.  Perhaps you connect with this person in the flesh or on-line, but connect to pray.

Prayer is something we learn and it is strange and awkward at times.  Prayer is a journey so do not forget that and begin to walk.

What is one things you will do right now to build the discipline of prayer?

Pray a different way

Posted on by Matthew Laker

ocean 2 bA Group of people were on a boat and a great mountain stood in their way.  Up out of the water this mountain arose, not letting them pass.  They began to pray and pray and pray, but the mountain did not move.  They asked God to remove the mountain and prayed more but still nothing.  Then one of the persons, who was enlightened by the Holy Spirit said, “We should pray that the water would rise up over the mountain.  Then we can float over it.” They begin to pray a different way, and the water rose and the boat was able to float over the mountain.
Rev. Atef shared this story when he spoke at the Downtown site of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in 2013. It was one of the images my small group talked about at greater length. We could ask ourselves how might we pray differently then we currently do. Yes, sometimes we are called to wait, but what if we are praying for something that is just not going to happen.

Sometimes we need to ask the Spirit how we should pray.  How should we pray in light of this mountain in front of us?  How should we live in light of this mountain standing in front of us? 
What if you let go of how you think it should be removed and asked God?  What if there is a different way to see the mountain and circumstances change? 

We are so afraid sometimes to see things differently, but maybe that is us trying to control the situation. I do not have all this prayer stuff worked out, but what if you need to pray differently?

What do you think?

Prayer, Why?

Posted on by Matthew Laker

inside church 2webWhy does God insist on our asking?

If God already knows what we need and even what we will be asking, why do we read in the New Testament the call to ask?

We underestimate who God is and the reality of his desire to want a relationship with us.  Prayer at its core is about connecting with God.  For many, they want to say their prayer, get what they want, and never talk with God again.  However, God wants a relationship.  For many that is a struggle to understand. It is not like the relationships we have with each other.  However, in one sense it is. 

I still struggle with the conversation around prayer. The struggle is often between my experience in life and what Jesus says about prayer.

Jesus is both King and Groom.  The language of the scripture is very relational in how God sees us and wants to interact with us.  Yet how do we speak with the King and Groom?

I am, over time, learning that the process of prayer is more about connecting us with God, then it is about praying for others. It is relational. Often our view of who God is, is the challenge to our prayer.  

At times, you and I may feel like the writer in Psalm 55 when he says, 

“God, listen to my prayer; don’t avoid my request.”

So what if prayer is about something else and not our request?

Many people carry an image of God that is more like Santa Claus than what scripture reveals.    A tension arises because scripture on one hand says ask and you receive, but then on the other, our experience knows often there is no answer or we must wait.  Then we wonder, why should we ask if there is no answer or why do we not receive? 

What if prayer is not about getting, but about knowing?

Jesus talked about perseverance in prayer ( Matthew 7:7-8).  The language used there carries with it a continued present tense.  This means we should keep asking, keep seeking.  Then as we do that, as we come to Jesus, we will find all that we need. There is a sense in which knowing Jesus begins to fill greater wholes in our life. This does not mean he will not provide the physical answers. Just that prayer has more to do with getting to know Jesus.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Hebrews 4:16 speaks about how we come to the throne of God and there we find peace and mercy.  It is in the coming to the throne of God and the perseverance of asking that we receive mercy and grace to endure the moment we are in.  

God may very well know what we are about to ask and for sure knows our needs.  However, asking is about opening our life up to God’s presence and allowing God room in our life.  Only then will answers and transformation come.    

There is still tension around this conversation of prayer for me. However, our asking is about becoming aware of God’s presence and giving room in our life for his power to work.

How to be filled with the Spirit – Part 3

Posted on by Matthew Laker

How to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

This is Part Three of a series on How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

What is our motivation for wanting to be filled with the Spirit?  When we seek this, we do not always understand what we are asking for.  Being filled with the Holy Spirit,  means that Jesus is taking charge in our life, we will not be the master.  There is no magical formula, dance or puppet string we attach to our body. It simply is, but what is not so simple is offering your life on the altar of God to him.

Acts 5:32 (ESV)

32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, [by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This is where it starts and continues, offering our life to Jesus that he be Lord of our life.

Let’s test it in our life.

In prayer and song we sing about how we are sinners and need God, thinking that we have submitted to Jesus. Then, someone at work or a close family member or class mate or teacher says to us, “You are so selfish.”  How do we react?  Do we say you are right, show me how I was selfish?  Many of us will put up walls and get out our guns.  We will try to defend our self in hopes that they feel our pain of their judgment.

We could ask, “What lies are you believing in this moment?”  Paul says in Galatians 5, we are led by the Spirit, not the sin nature which is contrary to the Spirit.  However, in the midst of the text is an  understanding of the struggle between the two in ones’ life.  Perhaps there is some need for confession in your life.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is about Jesus being Lord of your life.

What do you find hard about living in Romans 12:1-2?  Where do you need to empty yourself so the Spirit can come in?  Seek the things of God and not self and the Spirit will rest with you.

Galatians 6:25-26 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

Repentance is the road to being led by the Spirit.

One Tip For Creating Space To Hear From God

Posted on by Matthew Laker

One tip for creating space to hear from God.

IMG_2792The week after writing about the post,“If we do not build an altar to meet with God, he cannot honour us with his fire,” I was struck by the reality that so many of us struggle with, the rhythm of creating space. If Jesus is the source of water in my life, then why do I not drink from that pool?

I cannot remember where I read this comment:The disciplines we have during the good moments will help us during the valleys of life. Forget for a moment what that would look like. What if you just pulled out your schedule, and for the next six weeks, one time a week, you scheduled 30 minutes to build the altar?

In my journey challenges have come from a number of areas. For example, responsibility from work, from family, the need for sleep, bad habits and or bad rhythms already established in my life. And, then there are the excuses we come up with.

In my life when I have not scheduled the time, I have failed to be restored. It has hurt my journey in life. When I do schedule the time, not only do I become grounded in Jesus, I am better husband, father, friend, pastor and person. It is as if God has designed our life in such a way to leak, and this forces us to come to him to be filled. In turn this reminds us of our need for God.

What if over the next six weeks you heard from God? What if you gained a greater or deeper understanding of who God is and what he has done? This is why we schedule our time, to draw from an eternal well and hear from Jesus.

I am just not a calendar person you may say. Maybe, but you seem to find a way to eat food every day.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” (John 4:13-15).

Pull out the calendar and plan time to meet with Jesus. Try it just for six weeks and let me know what happens?

Any suggestion on how to use that time? If you are looking for help send me an email: matthew@matthewlaker.com

Go ahead over the next six weeks, plan 30 min. each week to build space to hear from God.