Monday, December 14, 2009
A Theology of Prayer by David Drum
8:51 PM | 
Posted by
ARC Webmaster
Author's update: On September 7, 2008, we celebrated our grand re-opening. While we're still very much in process, the physical, programmatic, and staff changes marked by that date have reflected a more important spiritual shift, as well. Each week brings new evidence to support that new reality. Thanks be to God!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
It's easier to memorize "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding," than it is to even understand it. Maybe God wrote it that way intentionally. Perhaps the verse itself calls more for trust than for understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 makes for great theology. In fact, were it at the heart of theology, I suspect that scores of theological "masterpieces" would never have been written. "We desire to live more by revelation than by reason," as many of my dearest friends would say, is a close cousin to Proverbs 3:5-6. But how do you switch the slogan into a standard of living?
If the Proverbs plaque is to come down off my wall and actually direct my steps, one of the first manifestations will be my prayer life.
On November 2, 2007 Proverbs pounced and bit me. I came to the ARC gathering praying for answers. I heard God answer my question the same way several times, but you know, I wanted to be sure , to make certain I fully understood what God was saying. So, I tried my own little fleece and went forward for prayer at the last possible hour of the gathering, intentionally choosing two guys I'd never met before. "If God has the same accent when He speaks through them , then I'll know for sure." Hmm. Was that the "reason" part of me trying to corner the "revelation" part again?
The ARC gathering resembled the labor pain chapter of my story. New life had begun 15 months earlier - a long gestation period. God said through one of His anonymous mouthpieces, "You came wondering if this is a season for rest. (I had in fact come hoping to last until the sabbatical I was planning.) Well, it isn't. This is a season for pressing on." I thought about getting out of that line and seeing if God was giving better answers on the other side of the room. But two weeks after the ARC gathering, the labor was over and new life visible. And as a result, the entire direction of my 17 year ministry at the same church has taken a radical new direction. We're replanting our church, trying to help 200 people see themselves not as a 20 year old congregation, but as the core group of a new church. True or false: "It's easier to start something new than redirect something in existence"? True. But not the path God picked for us.
In the immortal words of C.S. Lewis in describing the Lion of Judah, Aslan, "He isn't safe, but He is good." The path we're on isn't very safe, but we do have a trustworthy trailguide. And much to my delight, when I attended a week-long church planter's boot camp in January, I discovered that God had been leading us through a wonderfully thorough and practical Church Planter's Manual that I'd never seen before. Turns out we're in chapter three of a book that I didn't know existed.
Prayer is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Christian life. Prayer lives at the intersection of faith and works, an intersection we're exploring like kids on an Easter egg hunt right now. On the one hand, we know that we can do nothing to assist God in saving either us or the people He's calling us to reach; we're saved purely, wholly, and only by grace (see, for example, Ephesians 2:8-9). On the other hand, faith that doesn't do anything is no faith at all; the way we live shows where we place our faith (see, for example, James 2:14-26.) We're trusting in a future yet largely unveiled, while working with greater focus and intentionality than ever before. We're seeing God bring new people into our midst in ways that only God could accomplish, yet rejoicing in those "divine coincidences" because they directly answer prayers we chose to pray and steps we obediently took.
Our life of prayer pulls back the curtains on our core beliefs. If we truly "trust in the Lord with all our heart," and truly believe that "apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5)," then our prayer lives will reflect that belief. They will demonstrate that we're leaning more on Hisunderstanding than ours, and wanting to live more by revelation than reason. Prayer won't be the appetizer of the meeting we get through in order to get on with the meat, the planning and the riveting discussions. We'll truly offer up to God our plans and ideas as a living sacrifice, and expect that sometimes , God will actually have the gall to change them. Sometimes God will thank us for our suggestions, and then move us on to His agenda.
And if we truly believe that "He will make our paths straight," we'll understand that paths are for the purpose of moving. God answers our prayer by showing us what He'd have us do, either through His recorded Word which already answers many of our questions, or through His current Word which helps us discern the best from merely the good. In our current church-planting mindset, verses like "One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth," are front and center for us. What happens to the farmer who prays, "Please, God, plant that seed"? What happens if he prays that prayer fervently, persistently, with an unwavering faith despite any opposition? I'll tell you what happens - a farmer who prays for God to plant the seed will starve. God answers the prayer, but His answer is, "No thanks, that's your job."
It's easy to pray for the lost. It's harder to remember that Matthew 9:38 is followed immediately by Matthew 10:1. When we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers, if our prayer is true and not just a religious duty, the Lord of the harvest will find a field to send us into. I wonder if we don't at times specifically pray for the lost who are far removed from us, either by geography or by flavor of sin, in order to avoid the ripe fields in the adjoining bedroom or visible from the front porch. We can easily take the Great Commission and mark it "Return to Sender."
I've decided that one of the reasons I find prayer challenging is that prayer has taken up permanent residence in that Proverbs neighborhood. It's inherently an act of trust that defies human understanding. Prayer is like that optical illusion that has two prongs at the base and three at the top. I find it way easy to ask questions of prayer that I can't answer without later qualifying my answer. Does prayer change things? Does prayer change God? Does prayer change us? Is God dependent on our prayer prior to acting in a given way? Does He choose to restrict His activity on the basis of our prayer? Is a greater volume of prayer likely to get more action? greater frequency? greater number of pray-ers? greater persistence? Is prayer "making our requests known to God," or God making His desires known to us? Does God know what we need without our asking? Is prayer supposed to be public? private? individual? corporate? Is it our job to discern God's will, or His job to communicate it to us?
Answer to all of the above? Yes. Prayer puzzles me. But I like seeing what God is doing right now.
Our prayer life reveals a lot about our theology. Like it or not, prayer is where the rubber hits the road. If we instruct and inform God in our prayers, we reveal a belief in a very small god. If most of our prayers are "on the fly" while running around, we reveal our relationship with God to be properly called, "acquaintance." Does "but I never knew you" ring a haunting bell? If prayers are something we check off a list (devotions for today? done,) we reveal a belief in a god who saves by works, not by grace. If we ask God about everything (should I put both shoes on today?), we limit God's ability to speak through common sense, the Bible, the community, etc. If we ask God about only the "big" things, we reveal a CEO god disinterested in his children. But when we come to God with eager anticipation, we show trust in a perfectly good trailblazing God longing to lead us into new adventures - most of which we won't understand completely.
Have you noticed that being a renewal-minded Lutheran makes for strange bedfellows? Nowhere do I find that to be more true than when it comes to the topic of prayer. The Protestant-work-ethic folks rightly appreciate the value of planning and structure. Who says that God can't speak to the pastor during the week when he's planning his sermon, rather than only in the heat of the moment? Spontaneity is no more or less spiritual than ritual. Both are gifts of the same God, and both have been perverted by the same enemy. And the prayer folks rightly appreciate the value of relying on the Spirit. If we never attempt anything that doesn't seem possible, do we even need God's help in running the church?
A renewal-minded Lutheran is as likely to run into people pinging off the Proverbs verse in one unhealthy direction as the other. "But we prayed about John. We all felt good about that choice. Checking references would have been a sign of mistrust." Or, "It makes no sense to dowhat you're proposing. We don't have the money, the training, the energy..."
Let's pray, expecting God to speak. Let's pray, expecting God to direct and re-direct our planning. Let's pray, expecting God to energize all that He guides us to do. Let's pray, accepting the fact that we won't get everything exactly right until we see Him face to face. Let's pray, knowing that there aren't any shortcuts to relationships, and if we want to learn the sound of His voice, conversing (both directions) with Him makes sense.
For reflection:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6It's easier to memorize "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding," than it is to even understand it. Maybe God wrote it that way intentionally. Perhaps the verse itself calls more for trust than for understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 makes for great theology. In fact, were it at the heart of theology, I suspect that scores of theological "masterpieces" would never have been written. "We desire to live more by revelation than by reason," as many of my dearest friends would say, is a close cousin to Proverbs 3:5-6. But how do you switch the slogan into a standard of living?
If the Proverbs plaque is to come down off my wall and actually direct my steps, one of the first manifestations will be my prayer life.
On November 2, 2007 Proverbs pounced and bit me. I came to the ARC gathering praying for answers. I heard God answer my question the same way several times, but you know, I wanted to be sure , to make certain I fully understood what God was saying. So, I tried my own little fleece and went forward for prayer at the last possible hour of the gathering, intentionally choosing two guys I'd never met before. "If God has the same accent when He speaks through them , then I'll know for sure." Hmm. Was that the "reason" part of me trying to corner the "revelation" part again?
The ARC gathering resembled the labor pain chapter of my story. New life had begun 15 months earlier - a long gestation period. God said through one of His anonymous mouthpieces, "You came wondering if this is a season for rest. (I had in fact come hoping to last until the sabbatical I was planning.) Well, it isn't. This is a season for pressing on." I thought about getting out of that line and seeing if God was giving better answers on the other side of the room. But two weeks after the ARC gathering, the labor was over and new life visible. And as a result, the entire direction of my 17 year ministry at the same church has taken a radical new direction. We're replanting our church, trying to help 200 people see themselves not as a 20 year old congregation, but as the core group of a new church. True or false: "It's easier to start something new than redirect something in existence"? True. But not the path God picked for us.
In the immortal words of C.S. Lewis in describing the Lion of Judah, Aslan, "He isn't safe, but He is good." The path we're on isn't very safe, but we do have a trustworthy trailguide. And much to my delight, when I attended a week-long church planter's boot camp in January, I discovered that God had been leading us through a wonderfully thorough and practical Church Planter's Manual that I'd never seen before. Turns out we're in chapter three of a book that I didn't know existed.
Prayer is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Christian life. Prayer lives at the intersection of faith and works, an intersection we're exploring like kids on an Easter egg hunt right now. On the one hand, we know that we can do nothing to assist God in saving either us or the people He's calling us to reach; we're saved purely, wholly, and only by grace (see, for example, Ephesians 2:8-9). On the other hand, faith that doesn't do anything is no faith at all; the way we live shows where we place our faith (see, for example, James 2:14-26.) We're trusting in a future yet largely unveiled, while working with greater focus and intentionality than ever before. We're seeing God bring new people into our midst in ways that only God could accomplish, yet rejoicing in those "divine coincidences" because they directly answer prayers we chose to pray and steps we obediently took.
Our life of prayer pulls back the curtains on our core beliefs. If we truly "trust in the Lord with all our heart," and truly believe that "apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5)," then our prayer lives will reflect that belief. They will demonstrate that we're leaning more on Hisunderstanding than ours, and wanting to live more by revelation than reason. Prayer won't be the appetizer of the meeting we get through in order to get on with the meat, the planning and the riveting discussions. We'll truly offer up to God our plans and ideas as a living sacrifice, and expect that sometimes , God will actually have the gall to change them. Sometimes God will thank us for our suggestions, and then move us on to His agenda.
And if we truly believe that "He will make our paths straight," we'll understand that paths are for the purpose of moving. God answers our prayer by showing us what He'd have us do, either through His recorded Word which already answers many of our questions, or through His current Word which helps us discern the best from merely the good. In our current church-planting mindset, verses like "One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth," are front and center for us. What happens to the farmer who prays, "Please, God, plant that seed"? What happens if he prays that prayer fervently, persistently, with an unwavering faith despite any opposition? I'll tell you what happens - a farmer who prays for God to plant the seed will starve. God answers the prayer, but His answer is, "No thanks, that's your job."
It's easy to pray for the lost. It's harder to remember that Matthew 9:38 is followed immediately by Matthew 10:1. When we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers, if our prayer is true and not just a religious duty, the Lord of the harvest will find a field to send us into. I wonder if we don't at times specifically pray for the lost who are far removed from us, either by geography or by flavor of sin, in order to avoid the ripe fields in the adjoining bedroom or visible from the front porch. We can easily take the Great Commission and mark it "Return to Sender."
I've decided that one of the reasons I find prayer challenging is that prayer has taken up permanent residence in that Proverbs neighborhood. It's inherently an act of trust that defies human understanding. Prayer is like that optical illusion that has two prongs at the base and three at the top. I find it way easy to ask questions of prayer that I can't answer without later qualifying my answer. Does prayer change things? Does prayer change God? Does prayer change us? Is God dependent on our prayer prior to acting in a given way? Does He choose to restrict His activity on the basis of our prayer? Is a greater volume of prayer likely to get more action? greater frequency? greater number of pray-ers? greater persistence? Is prayer "making our requests known to God," or God making His desires known to us? Does God know what we need without our asking? Is prayer supposed to be public? private? individual? corporate? Is it our job to discern God's will, or His job to communicate it to us?
Answer to all of the above? Yes. Prayer puzzles me. But I like seeing what God is doing right now.
Our prayer life reveals a lot about our theology. Like it or not, prayer is where the rubber hits the road. If we instruct and inform God in our prayers, we reveal a belief in a very small god. If most of our prayers are "on the fly" while running around, we reveal our relationship with God to be properly called, "acquaintance." Does "but I never knew you" ring a haunting bell? If prayers are something we check off a list (devotions for today? done,) we reveal a belief in a god who saves by works, not by grace. If we ask God about everything (should I put both shoes on today?), we limit God's ability to speak through common sense, the Bible, the community, etc. If we ask God about only the "big" things, we reveal a CEO god disinterested in his children. But when we come to God with eager anticipation, we show trust in a perfectly good trailblazing God longing to lead us into new adventures - most of which we won't understand completely.
Have you noticed that being a renewal-minded Lutheran makes for strange bedfellows? Nowhere do I find that to be more true than when it comes to the topic of prayer. The Protestant-work-ethic folks rightly appreciate the value of planning and structure. Who says that God can't speak to the pastor during the week when he's planning his sermon, rather than only in the heat of the moment? Spontaneity is no more or less spiritual than ritual. Both are gifts of the same God, and both have been perverted by the same enemy. And the prayer folks rightly appreciate the value of relying on the Spirit. If we never attempt anything that doesn't seem possible, do we even need God's help in running the church?
A renewal-minded Lutheran is as likely to run into people pinging off the Proverbs verse in one unhealthy direction as the other. "But we prayed about John. We all felt good about that choice. Checking references would have been a sign of mistrust." Or, "It makes no sense to dowhat you're proposing. We don't have the money, the training, the energy..."
Let's pray, expecting God to speak. Let's pray, expecting God to direct and re-direct our planning. Let's pray, expecting God to energize all that He guides us to do. Let's pray, accepting the fact that we won't get everything exactly right until we see Him face to face. Let's pray, knowing that there aren't any shortcuts to relationships, and if we want to learn the sound of His voice, conversing (both directions) with Him makes sense.
For reflection:
- Are you more likely to limit God to acting only in spontaneous, fresh, "exciting" ways, or to acting only in well-proven, understandable, expectant ways?
- What does your prayer life reveal about your view of God?
- What parts of your ministry right now are daunting enough that only God can pull them off?
- What parts of your ministry reflect "best practice" understandings?