4 Rewards for developing the habit of prayer

4 Rewards for developing the habit of prayer

Posted on by Matthew Laker

4 Rewards for developing the habit of prayer

“Of all the Spiritual disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with God the father”

(Richard Foster).

steps 2 640 x 427When we journey through the Spiritual discipline of prayer, it is important to remember the rewards of developing this habit. Remembering the “why” or reason, in this case for prayer, helps us to continue and maintain any habit.

 

Prayer at its core is about communing with Jesus.  It is about walking to the everlasting fountain of living water and taking a drink.

 

Here are four rewards for developing and continuing in the habit of prayer.

  1. Christ-likeness

This is about becoming who God created you to be.  Through the power and work of the Holy Spirit, we are becoming like Jesus.  As we spend time with him in prayer we are positioning ourselves to fully enter, engage, and experience the life Jesus’ death opened up for us.

 

  1. Experiences of God’s grace in your life.

In Hebrews 4:16 the author reminds us that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we can approach the throne of Jesus and receive grace and mercy for the journey we are in.  Prayer becomes one of the roads we walk to experience God in our life.

 

  1. Our souls become nourished.

In John 4 we read 13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” If we are to stay spiritually hydrated we are going to need to sit at the feet of Jesus and drink.

 

  1. Release blessing to other people.

Many times in scripture we see Jesus praying for others, we see the church praying for others.  Jesus calls us to pray that God the Father would send more workers because the harvest is ready.  Praying for others is part of our journey with God.  We join together with him in his work in the world.  He invites us into this work and at one level, as we pray, it opens up the opportunity of blessing for others.

 

To enter, engage and experience the life you were created for continue in the habit of prayer.

Six tips for Praying for Others

Six tips for Praying for Others

Posted on by Matthew Laker

Six tips for Praying for Others

people 3-640x427Are you scared to pray for others? Many carry a fear in praying for others.  At the same time, many churches have never shown people how to pray.  This is why at some prayer vigils I have been part of we provide resources to teach and show people how to pray.

 

Praying for each other in our local body of Christ should be one of the regular rhythms of our life.  It is not something just for higher leadership, but for all who are part of the community.  One of the churches we were part of sectioned off a part of the meeting area as a prayer corner.  It was open at the end of the service for anyone who needed prayer.  Some weeks we had people there to pray with people and some weeks we did not.  The weeks we did not we encouraged people to grab someone and ask if they would pray for them.  The prayer corner was available if they wanted.

 

Praying for others is about joining with them and walking to Jesus.

 

In no particular order here are

Six Tips for Praying for others: 

1. Listen and ask questions.

So many times we think we know the answer or all the information.  Be sure to ask clarifying questions so you understand what is going on and what to pray about.

 

2. Be specific in your prayer

I have been part of some groups who are praying for people and no one really prays directly for the request.  This is why, like above, asking questions is important.  You may want to ask, “if you could put it in one or two sentences what is it that you want us to pray for.”

 

3. Recognize the struggle.

In conversation take a moment to recognize the struggle or emotion they are feeling at that moment.  I have often found this helps direct your prayers as well.  It also brings value to the person.

 

4. You are not Jesus

Sometimes people will start sharing with us the request and we think “I know what you should do.”  You may know what they should do and there may be some practical help you can give,

BUT:

Do not start there.  Take the moment and walk with them to Jesus and stand before Jesus together.  In some ways, you are like the friends who lowered the men through a roof to Jesus. – Check out Mark 2.

 

After you pray you could ask if you can offer some advice or help, but do so with no strings attached.  They do not have to take you up.

 

Praying for others is about taking them to Jesus.

 

5. Remember the gospel

How does who God is and what Jesus has done speak into the situation you are in?  The key is not to tell the person what to do in your prayer.  The key is to remember the gospel and ask for help to embrace Jesus

 

6. Keep it simple.

You are not trying to impress anyone and you are not being marked on the kind of words you use.  If you do not know what to pray for, be honest with Jesus about that and invite him into the situation (Acts 4:29-30).

 

These are just a few basic things I have picked up.  Honestly, you get better with practice.

 

Praying for others is about walking with them to Jesus.

 

What tips would you add?  Do you have any good resources for training people in praying for others?

Is Lent Biblical

Posted on by Matthew Laker

book 3 640x427Is Lent Biblical?

When we ask that question what we are wanting to know is, is Lent a practise that Jesus said we must do?

The bottom line is no. Nowhere in the bible do we find Jesus instructing us to follow Lent.

So, why then would we take part in the practise?

 

Lent generally is a time for followers of Jesus to reflect, repent, pray, fast and give. These are part of what we may call spiritual disciplines. Commonly Lent is held by those in the Catholic, Anglican, or Lutheran-influenced Christian traditions and many of the different Christian traditions observe it in different ways.

 

Someone who opposes Lent may say “Lent is just a tradition created by man.” That would be a correct statement. However, it is a tradition with the intent to make disciples. The core of it is to point people to Jesus. It is not a salvation issue or maturity meter.

 

Jesus said, “teach them to obey my commands.”

 

Yes, Jesus did not say you should practise Lent. However, I have come to see Lent as a system that could help us accomplish the mission of Jesus. Yes in many circles perhaps we have not used it to its full potential. For some, they have not had good experiences with Lent, but when I look at Lent, I see connections to growing our own faith and other’s.

 

One may ask, “but are not the spiritual disciples we find in Lent part of our regular routine of following Jesus?”

 

The quick answer is yes. However like Jesus taking a 40 day time of fasting, there is value in a focused set time of seeking Jesus.

 

My experience has shown me that Lent can be this great set time of discipleship to help people align their life with Jesus. Like when building muscle you need to stress the muscle then release it and let it rest. Lent can serve as a time to focus and to stress the muscle of faith in order to build it. So Lent can be used to build the foundations of good habits/spiritual disciplines that are to be part of one’s life.

 

Is Lent instructed by Jesus to do? No, it is not.

 

Is Lent useful in discipleship? I believe it can be.

 

Do you have to practise Lent? No, you do not.

 

Can Lent serve as an avenue to build spiritual muscle? Yes.

 

http://lentapathway.teachable.com/p/beginners-guide-to-lent
Help for a distracted Mind in Prayer.

Help for a distracted Mind in Prayer.

Posted on by Matthew Laker

 

My family and I recently watched the movie “Up” and the dog character, Dug, really reminded me of how we can often get distracted in prayer. Dug is found at times in the middle of a focused conversation and then suddenly, without warning, gets distracted when he sees something and shouts out the thing that is distracting him. The most well-known example of this is “squirrel!”.

 

 

How do we focus our prayer time and deal with the squirrel moments?

 

squirrel 640x427Our minds are amazing things and thoughts are triggered by smell, music, images and emotion.  This is not a bad thing, but for many our minds can feel very cluttered when we are  praying.

 

How do we focus in on praying?

 

It is common for many when they have set times of prayer to have their minds go every which direction than what they have set out to do in the moment.

Have you ever been there?  We all will at some point.

 

Here are four things to help you when you get distracted in your prayer time.

a. Incorporate it into your prayer.

I do not know if there is a reason your mind went to that person or situation or all the things you need to do but why do you have fight it?

If it is something that needs to be written down, do so and pray about it. As people or situations come to mind, pray about or for them.

b. Read scripture

This can often help focus the mind and you can use the themes in the passage you are reading to guide your time.  Find a few passages that you can pull up to help you focus and calm yourself.  In my life psalm 23, 46, 90, 119, 145 are just a few I use.

c.  Understand your environment.

We all will connect deeper with God in different environments.  We need to become very aware of our environment and where we are at physically.  Perhaps there is a need to shut certain lights off or turn them on. Many are going to need to shut the phone or parts of the phone off.  In my current season of life, set prayer times need to be when my kids are sleeping or off busy for a time where they will not be coming to me.  Play around with your environment.

d. Deep breathing

There was a moment of great anxiety in our life at one point.  We had invited a number of the leaders over to our house after church and wanted them to pray with us.  We struggled to share what was going on.  Then one of our other pastors told us to take some deep breaths.  He instructed us to count to 10 and as we did take a deep breath, then push it all out.

 

Doing such an exercise can be a great way of calming oneself.  Sometimes I image as I blow out that I am pushing out all the worries and distractions and burdens I carry.  Usually, I will do the breathing in and out a few times.  I have learned there can be a physical impact upon my body by doing this.  In return, it can help me focus.

 

There are many more tricks and ideas I could add, but what about you, do you have any tricks or ideas?