SEP/OCT 201 1
Let us Pray
‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ Philippians 4:6
Selwyn Hughes Revised and updated by Mick Brooks Further Study: Ian Sewter © CWR 2011. Dated text previously published as Every Day with Jesus: A Fresh Vision for Prayer (September/October 2002) by CWR. This edition revised and updated for 2011 by Mick Brooks. CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, UK Tel: 01252 784700 Email: mail@cwr.org.uk Registered Charity No. 294387. Registered Limited Company No. 1990308. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of CWR. Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. © International Bible Society. Quotation on 20 Sep: *Adm. by worshiptogether.com songs excl. UK & Europe, adm. by kingswaysongs.com tym@kingsway.co.uk Cover image: Getty/photodisc/Dougal Waters Quiet Time image: sxc.hu/gorex Printed in England by Linney Print
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A word of introduction …
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rayer is an amazing possibility and also an awesome reality. I’ve been in prayer meetings where I’ve lost the will to live, but at times my prayer life energises all I am and do. If you examine the biographies of Christians whose lives had a great impact, you’ll find that they were people of prayer. On many levels, prayer remains a mystery. When I consider the greatness of God and His transcendent majesty, it often causes me to stop in silent awe; this same God listens to me when I pray, calls me by name and tells me He is my Friend. Yet all around the world, many of us as followers of Jesus ask the same two big questions: ‘How can I know God’s will?’ and ‘How can I grow in my prayer life?’ Prayer is as fundamental to life as oxygen, but often we flounder. Even the disciples, who lived and walked with Jesus, said to Him, ‘Teach us to pray’. When Selwyn first penned this Every Day with Jesus, it was his prayer that it would equip your understanding of prayer and strengthen and encourage your determination to go deeper with God through prayer. As I’ve been reviewing this issue, it has rekindled in me the desire to address my personal prayer life. Over the next two months, as Selwyn takes us on a journey through prayer, not just looking at its forms and structures but at the very ‘heart of the matter’, let’s be open to God speaking in that ‘still small voice’, and let’s not be surprised when He rushes in like a mighty wind. Take Selwyn’s advice – don’t be intimidated by the task, but be open to being overwhelmed by God. Sincerely yours, in His name Mick Brooks Consulting Editor
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Pray – or become a prey
Thurs 1 Sep
For reading & meditation – Luke 18:1–8
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‘Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.’ (v.1)
n the Christian life there is no way we can grow if we ignore or hold back on the practice of prayer. To gain a deeper knowledge of God we need to talk to Him – to talk to Him daily and for more than just a few minutes. Over the years I have spoken to countless believers about their prayer life, and one of the things that has staggered me is the discovery that many who have been travelling on the Christian way for years are still in the kindergarten when it comes to the matter of prayer. Some have told me that their prayer life consists of repeating a sequence of words which they Further have memorised and which they use at the beginning Study and end of the day, and that this does not vary from Jonah 2:1–10; year to year. Others have confessed that they pray only Matt. 26:36–41 when they need something. Still others have said that 1. How did they pray simply when they feel like it. How sad that Jonah change one of the most important aspects of the Christian life from being a is left to the vagary of feeling. Despite the brevity of prey to pray? these types of prayer they are better than no prayer at 2. Why might all. How much better, though, when one’s prayer life is we fall into built on a pattern that is not restrictive and is observed temptation? with honest constancy. The Authorised Version of the Bible translates part of today’s text in this way: ‘Men ought always to pray, and not to faint …’ Jesus was teaching, of course, that we ought to be committed to prayer, but it is also true that when we fail to pray then faintheartedness soon follows. We either pray or become a prey to spiritual weakness. Even though this may be challenging for some who find prayer difficult, nevertheless it has to be said: nobody who has neglected prayer has grown spiritually.
O God, I come to You at the beginning of this series of meditations and ask You to help me take a fresh look at prayer. May my prayer life be what You want it to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Fri 2 Sep
Prayer – no verbal marathon For reading & meditation – Luke 11:1–4
‘When he finished [praying], one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray …”’ (v.1)
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s we work our way through these meditations it is certainly not my intention to lay on you a guilt trip in relation to this matter of prayer. Unfortunately in the first few months of my Christian life I carried a ton of guilt about prayer because fellow Christians wearied me with their pious clichés, their highsounding phrases, and their meaningless God-talk. People would come up to me and ask such things as ‘How many mountains have you moved today in prayer?’ or ‘Have you been “within the veil” today?’ I tried to avoid these people as much as I could because I felt guilty that I was not coming up to their Further Study expectations. For a while I felt defeated as far as prayer was Matt. 6:7–8; concerned because I was unable to spend hours on my Acts 4:23–31 knees, weave Bible verses into my prayers, or use the 1. Why can jargon with which other people seemed familiar. Later Christians be different to I was told that what I considered ‘jargon’ was really pagans? ‘the language of Zion’ – special words and phrases that 2. Which could be understood and used only by the redeemed. elements of From this I gained the impression that God must always the Lord’s be addressed in words that are Scriptural. Prayer did the Then one day I opened my Bible to the passage we apostles copy? have read today and found that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. The prayer He modelled for them is so simple, so direct. It does not contain high-sounding language but clear, concise, down-to-earth terms. What a relief it was to realise that prayer is not a verbal marathon involving the use of secret codes but is simple and straight-to-the-point communication with our loving heavenly Father. Our Lord taught His disciples to pray. He is able to teach us still! Lord Jesus Christ, I come with the same prayer as Your disciples: ‘Teach me to pray.’ How desperately I need to develop my prayer life. I long to hear Your voice speak to me; I am ready to listen. Amen.
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Why so guilty?
Sat 3 Sep
For reading & meditation – 1 Thessalonians 5:12–28
‘… pray continually …’ (v.17)
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hat is it about the subject of prayer that makes so many people feel guilty? Even great and good men and women – people we would consider godly – have lamented the fact that they felt guilty about their prayer lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was executed by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War II, once admitted that his prayer life was something of which he was ashamed. Martin Luther, too, confessed to being deeply dissatisfied with his ability to pray even though he spent many hours in prayer. In my library I have countless books written by Further people known for their godly impact on the world and Study on the Church. Yet though these devout individuals 2 Cor. 10:12–13; laboured in prayer and taught and preached about it, a Rev. 12:7–10 large number were aware of their shortcomings. Some 1. Why is it confessed to feeling guilty because they did not pray wrong to enough or because their prayers were not sufficiently compare powerful. So many of the biographies of notable ourselves Christians contain sentiments such as this: ‘I read how with others? so-and-so spent hours on his knees, and I knew if I was 2. Why might to draw close to God I must do the same.’ we feel guilty There has been a tendency throughout the ages for one about our generation to copy another in this matter of the practice prayer life? of prayer. However, at the risk of sounding heretical, let me suggest that as you develop your own prayer life (a devotional necessity) you do not feel obliged to follow a pattern of prayer used by others, but instead find one that is right for you. Though we can learn from others, we must not allow their experiences to overawe us. Paul, in the text before us today, tells us to pray continually. The ‘how’ we must work out for ourselves.
My Father and my God, I am so grateful for what I can learn from the saints of the past. But help me to develop a pattern and style of prayer that is mine and not that of someone else. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Sun 4 Sep
Be yourself For reading & meditation – 1 Samuel 17:32–58
‘David fastened on his sword over the tunic … “I cannot go in these … because I am not used to them.”’ (v.39)
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e continue thinking about the need to develop a pattern of prayer that is appropriate to us – one that is ‘tailor made’, so to speak. I have seen so many people become discouraged in their prayer lives because they have tried to copy the style and pattern of other people’s prayers only to find that they did not suit their personality or temperament. Like David in Saul’s armour, they are uncomfortable, uneasy and unprepared to wrestle with God and resist the devil. In the early days of my Christian life other believers told me about the various approaches the saints of old used to Further Study adopt whenever they prayed, the inference being that if I wanted to be a ‘saint’ then I should follow their Acts 19:13–16; Rom. 12:1–12 example. We can learn from those who have gone before but it is best if we find our own style and pattern 1. Why is your of prayer. Some people are extroverts whose style of own prayer life unique? praying will differ greatly from that of introverts. Great damage can be done to our devotional lives 2. Why should we not simply when we try to copy others in this matter of prayer. copy others? Time and time again in the counselling room I have heard people say: ‘I have tried to build my prayer life on that of such-and-such a person (usually naming a remarkable Christian whose biography they have read) but it doesn’t seem to work for me. I feel so guilty because I cannot rise to that level of praying.’ In my experience, the biggest single reason why so many people feel guilty about their prayer life is because of a failure to come up to the expectations of others. So I say again: in this matter of prayer – as indeed in all other things – be yourself and not someone else. Nobody can pray your prayers better than you. Gracious Father, I ask again that You will enable me to find a pattern of prayer that is right for me rather than one that is based on what others say or do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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CWR Ministry Events Please pray for the team Date
Event
Place
Presenter(s)
5–16 Sep Ministry Trip Singapore CWR team 8 Sep Insight into Dementia Waverley Abbey House Rosemary Hurtley 12 Sep Pastoring People through Life’s Crises WAH Andy Peck, Lynn Penson, Peter Jackson 16 Sep Developing Pastoral Care (course starts) WAH Philip Greenslade, Andy Peck, Lynn Penson and guest speaker 20 Sep The Inner World of the Leader WAH Andy Peck 23 Sep Managing Your Time WAH Andy Peck 23–25 Sep Women’s Weekend – Rhythms of Grace WAH Lynn Penson, Lynette Brooks, Ros Derges 26 Sep Certificate/Diploma of Christian London School of Owen Ashley, Richard Pickles Counselling – courses start Theology Lyn Bertie and team 26 Sep MA in Integrative Psychotherapy LST Janet Penny 27 Sep Church Leaders’ Forum WAH Andy Peck and Philip Greenslade 3 Oct BA Counselling Year 3 starts WAH Irene Davies and team 4 Oct Women’s Autumn Day – WAH Lynn Penson The Father Heart of God 8 Oct Taking a Look at the Old Testament (1) WAH Elizabeth Hodkinson 11 Oct How to Disciple Others WAH Andy Peck 14–16 Oct Marriage on Track WAH Andrew & Lynn Penson 18 Oct Insight into Anger WAH Chris Ledger 21–23 Oct Bible Discovery Weekend – WAH Philip Greenslade (Proverbs/Job) 22 Oct Understanding Yourself, WAH Andrew & Lynn Penson Understanding Others 24 Oct BA Counselling – Year 1 starts WAH Irene Davies and team 31 Oct – 1 Nov Women’s Event – You Prepare a Table WAH Lynn Penson & Jeannette Barwick Before Me For full details phone 01252 784719, international +44 (0)1252 784719 or see the CWR website for further information www.cwr.org.uk
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Mon 5 Sep
Divine acceptance For reading & meditation – Romans 15:1–13
‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.’ (v.7)
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e are spending these opening days reflecting on why it is that so many Christians feel discouraged – even guilty – about their prayer lives. One reason, as we have seen, is because people try to pattern their prayer lives on those of others. Today we think about another reason: a faulty view of God. On one occasion a woman said to me: ‘I do not feel that God accepts me or is pleased with me unless I spend an hour in prayer every day, and that every part of that hour is filled with pleading, longing and straining to hear His voice – something I am never able to do.’ This woman, I discovered, had been brought Further Study up by parents who were impossible to please, and she was projecting her childhood experiences on to God – Eph. 2:1–10; Heb. 4:14–16 seeing God in the image of her father and mother. So many Christians do the same thing – they allow their 1. What was past experiences to govern their view of God and thus our condition when God approach Him with fear and trepidation. They believe accepted us? that in order to please Him they must do their very 2. How should best, and when they can’t, or believe they can’t, they we approach experience a sense of failure and guilt. I have often said that if God allowed me ten seconds God? to address every single Christian in the universe with one message this is what it would be: God accepts you as you are. Of course He longs for your growth and development, but that is not a condition He makes for your acceptance. You may not feel, up to this moment, that you have achieved great expertise in prayer, but listen to me: you will never experience it if you become too tense. So relax. God accepts you as you are, even though it is not His intention that you stay as you are. O Father, drive this truth deep into my spirit, for I am so prone to think that Your acceptance of me is based on my performance rather than on who I am in Christ. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.
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Wow!
Tues 6 Sep
For reading & meditation – Luke 11:5–13
‘… how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ (v.13)
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or another day we reflect on the fact that the way in which we view God greatly influences the way we approach Him in prayer. Hold fast to this truth: you are loved by God not because of your ability to pray or, for that matter, because of any other ability you possess; you are loved because He is love. One of the members of a church in the north of England which I pastored for some years was a dear lady whose love for the Lord was unquestionable. One day when she talked to me about a problem in her life I asked her if we could pray about it together. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I think the Lord is too busy Further to be bothered with my little problems. He has much Study more important things to deal with that require His Psa. 86:1–17; attention.’ This lady’s concept of God determined her 1 John 4:7–19 approach to God – a matter that I felt was too important 1. What was to go unexplored. the psalmist’s Permit a personal question: How do you see God? view of God? Over the years I’ve put that question to many believers 2. What is God’s and the answers have been surprising. ‘I see God as view of you? distant, uncommunicative, and judgmental,’ said one. You don’t need three guesses to know what kind of prayer life that person experienced. Look again at the text for today; it tells us that contrary to what many of us think, God is a Father who delights to answer prayer. God is not mean or stingy and gives us everything we need. Is there any parent reading these lines who does not delight to give their child something they know is good for them? Now multiply that feeling a million times and you get a faint picture of how God feels when we ask Him for the power to live the life He has called us to live. How much more. Wow! Father, I think I am beginning to accept that my concept of You determines my approach to You. Help me see You as You really are – as a God who delights to give me what I need. Amen.
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Wed 7 Sep
Conversing with God For reading & meditation – Exodus 33:1–23
‘The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.’ (v.11)
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o far we have thought about the two main reasons for people feeling disappointed with their prayer lives. The first is that they try to imitate another person’s approach to prayer rather than developing an approach better suited to their personality. The second reason is that they misunderstand the nature of God and fail to see Him as He really is – large-hearted and magnanimous. Now we move on to ask the question: What is prayer? Prayer first and foremost is conversation with God. My dictionary defines conversation as an ‘informal exchange of ideas by spoken words’. Please keep in mind that I am not Further Study talking about the type of prayer we offer corporately but the kind of praying we do when we are alone with 2 Sam. 5:18–25; 1 Kings 19:3–18 God. If prayer is conversation then it involves (as does all conversation) both talking and listening, and we 1. Why was may mark our progress by our increasing desire to conversing with God hear God speak rather than to speak ourselves. We will essential for explore further this aspect of prayer later. The chapter before us today gives us a wonderful David’s success? picture of a divine–human conversation in which we 2. Describe are told that God spoke to Moses ‘as a man speaks with Elijah’s his friend’. What a beautiful model this is of prayer as prayer life. conversation. Read it carefully and don’t miss a line. When we talk to God we need to express ourselves in the same kind of language we use when talking to our closest friends. If we shift our mental gears and attempt to use a different pattern of thought, this will hinder the natural expression of our minds. We are never to forget that when we talk to God we are talking to our heavenly Father. And God, like all good fathers, delights in the natural and uninhibited approach of His children. Heavenly Father, may I never forget that when I approach You in prayer I am to come as a child to his Father. Teach me how to be as much at ease with You as You are with me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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