Living in the (PRAYER) Closet

Dear Person Who Is Ministering:

You who may be a woman or a man. You who may be working as a professional in ministry work or you who earn a living in some other form and simple strive to show Jesus to those around you in your everyday life:

Are you praying? No, seriously. (Don’t you scoff at me) I know…we are Jesus-followers; Christians. It feels like a given. But, are you prayerfully praying? Are you praying only for your dinner, saying cute things like “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub”? Simply typing “Praying” after a social media status update, and possible forgetting later to actually pray for them? Spending a few minutes with your kids before bed praying? Praying that the people with the “Need Gas” sign on the side of the road would find help…from someone else?

I am.

Are you tired? If you’re anything like me, “I’m tired” is among the top responses I hear when I ask others how they are doing. We’re busy people. If you find yourself employed into a place of ministry, like I do, church can become work. Things to do. Lessons or sermons to plan. Crafts to create or worship services to coordinate.  Books to study and sermons to write. Curriculum to organize and volunteers to locate. Trying hard to meet expectations for events, sermons, or programs. And even if you aren’t a professional person of ministry, in our daily lives, as we try to live like Jesus, we could get caught up in the details, the mundane that has to be done. Possibly even losing our fire and forgetting to fix our eyes on Jesus. Are you tired?

Because I am.

I can tell you, despite being four chapters into a book that challenges me in how to pray and warns about the lack of prayer, I’m not prayerfully praying and I am tired. “Even sermon-making, incessant and taxing as an art, as a duty, as a work, or as a pleasure, will engross and harden, will estrange the heart, by neglect of prayer, from God.” EM Bounds warns that we can get so caught up in the work of everything, whether it be a sermon, another church program, or our day-to-day happenings, that without prayer, we can become isolated and hardened without prayer.

I LOVE the following paragraph: “Prayer freshens the heart of the preacher, keeps it in tune with God and in sympathy with the people, lifts his ministry out of the chilly air of profession, fructifies routine and moves every wheel with the facility and power of a divine unction.” *DEEP BREATH AND SIGH*!!!

Prayer refreshes. Prayer ignites. Prayer moves. Prayer helps us stay connected to God to bear His fruit AND (let’s be real here) helps us deal with people like Jesus would have us to!

I used to teach a classroom of kids on Sunday mornings. They were adorable (usually) and so fun (usually). The lesson was provided for me, the supplies were all there each Sunday, and I pretty much had to show up, love on kids, put to use some teaching skills I’d learned along the way in my teacher’s education program, and have fun. And I did. I LOVED working with the kids and seeing them come closer to Jesus. I loved praying with them and for them. I loved playing games to help them memorize verses and apply the lessons key points. However, after a while, I felt empty. I felt tired. I felt “engrossed and hardened,” “estranged,” like I was fulfilling a duty or working. I felt this way because I was not connected to God. I was neglecting myself from Him by only showing up to teach. I wasn’t even staying for a service so I could hear from Him in a sermon. Much less was I abiding with Him through prayer; the prayer that could refresh and ignite me.

Let’s consider this: “The praying which makes a prayerful ministry is not a little praying put in as we put flavor to give it a pleasant smack, but the praying must be in the body, and form the blood and bones.” (EM Bounds p 15) Bounds puts it clearly in this chapter that prayer must come first. Work, duty and activity come second. Prayer is the “blood and bones,” the foundation; nothing good can come of our ministry if we don’t pray first. He says “prayer is not petty duty; put into a corner; no piecemeal performance made out of fragments of time which have been snatched from business and other engagements of life; but it means that the best of our time, the heart of our time and strength must be given.” I hear God calling me and saying that He doesn’t just want my few minutes of “Please help this person” or “Thank you for this food.” Sure, these prayers have their place. But if that is the ONLY pieces of my life that I am giving Him, I am missing out. Seeking Jesus in prayer mainly, deeply and firstly is a must.

May you be spurred on by this, as I was: “Prayer is not a little habit pinned on to us while we were tied to our mother’s apron strings; neither is it a little decent quarter of a minute’s grace said over an hour’s dinner, but it is a most serious work of our most serious years. It engages more of time and appetite than our longest dinings or richest feasts…” “The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching.” The way we live this out to others, in a sermon or at work, in a kids’ lesson or at the grocery store, is highly correlated to the time we spend in prayer.

Dear, person who is ministering, may we be refreshed and ignited because we did the work from a place of prayerful living. May we not be caught up in the work and duty of it all. May we not be tired any more. May we spend our LIVES in prayer; connected fully to the God who loves us and wants to be with us. May we, then and only then, minister to those around us out of that prayerful life.

Sincerely,

A Person Who Is Ministering 

"In the Hands of the Potter" -- How Not to Preach to Kill

Over the last couple of months, the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) keeps showing up in my day to day life. A lesson I was preparing at my job. In an exercise at an Abiding Life workshop. Even a daily verse on the radio while driving. I’ve come to realize that when things keep coming to attention like that, it’s God’s way of saying “Listen up, daughter.” For me, what resonates in this story is the idea that Martha is working and Mary is sitting with Jesus.  Martha is upset. May I say, reasonably so. I mean, who likes getting stuck with all the dishes??? Who likes being the only one who seems to see that the carpet needs to be vacuumed??? Who wants to feel like they are the only one taking notice or care of the things that need to get done. (Can you tell I may have a little bit of the “Martha heart”) I know I’ve had a few weeks, where I just wish I could clone myself so that all the things I’m “in charge of” get taken care of. However, Jesus says “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”  I think Jesus realized the reality that there REALLY WAS work to get done, but first and foremost, Mary chose to sit with Jesus and fix her eyes on Him. It’s about the fixing our eyes on Jesus. It’s about HIM being the core and center of what we do. Not fixing our eyes on the work. Colossians 3:23-24 says something similar. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” The work we do, the lives we lead, the sermons you might preach are not for men or for “works sake”, but for JESUS’ sake. 

So then, God brought this chapter of Power Through Prayer as a reminder yet again. Bounds writes “He [the preacher] has never been in the hands of God like clay in the hands of the potter. He has been busy about the sermon, its thought and finish, its drawing and impressive forces; but the deep things of God have never been sought, studied, fathomed, experienced by him.” How often I have “been busy”! We should be changed, moved, and formed at the feet of Jesus like Mary. Shaped in the Potter's hands.Our eyes have been so focused (whether on ourselves or on another) on “the thought and finish” and the “impressive forces” on how wonderful the sermon was for us, or whether we made a cool enough craft project for the kids. But Bounds says that this type of preaching, whether it be preaching with our lives, preaching with our jobs, or whether that is your job on a Sunday morning, this type of preaching kills. If we are preaching without praying first, we are preaching something that “has no deep insight into, no strong grasp of, the hidden life of God’s Word. It is true to the outside, but the outside is the hull which must be broken and penetrated for the kernel. The letter [the sermon] may be dressed so as to attract and be fashionable, but the attraction is not toward God nor is the fashion for heaven.” The work I do may have flashy lights and sounds, it may have a smooth flow to it, I may be happy the whole day without yelling at my kids once, I may help a homeless person – or maybe it’s like Bounds later describes that the preaching could be “without scholarship, unmarked by any freshness of thought or feeling, clothed in tasteless generalities.” For example, it’s a bad day and words like impatient, exasperated, worn out, unfocused, unmotivated describe my day. In either of these cases, what is at the center matters. No matter how my life, my work, my preaching looks from the outside, if my eyes are set on Jesus, if I’m focused on the “good part” which is Jesus then THAT won’t be taken away. Any of the “busy” work I do will someday pass, but the “one thing that is needed (Luke 10:42)” won’t.

So then what is “the kernel” that I should break through to? How do I not be “busy”? How do I make sure that Jesus is the center of the good or the bad days? Reluctantly and honestly, I almost don’t like how simple the answer is. I feel like there should be a step-by-step program I can follow, or a “10 ways to a more ‘less-busy’ day” Pinterest post that I can read. But the answer IS simple: PRAY. Not fluffy, drawn out, “long, discursive, dry and inane” prayer. But “direct, specific, ardent, simple, unctuous” prayer. “Short praying, live praying, real heart praying, praying by the Holy Spirit”! Full honesty: I’m guilty of praying word-filled prayers, both in private and out loud. Prayers that seem “right” at the time or only praying because I thought I “should”; sometimes what I’d say were eloquent prayers, and sometimes not, but either way, I’ve had many prayers that were only orthodoxy or “letter”-type prayers. They were outside works meant to give a certain persona. I’ve been convicted of this lately though, and the Holy Spirit is working in me to pray meaningful, although often simple and short prayers. What EM Bounds seems to shout out resonates so well with me: “How real we must be!” We are praying to our “great God, the Maker of all worlds, the Judge of all men!” And yet, Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He WANTS us to call on Him in REAL, FULL, LIVE prayers. It is only with this type of living that “prayerful praying, life-creating preaching, bring the mightiest force to bear on heaven and earth and draw on God’s exhaustless and open treasure for the need and beggary of man!” (Bounds – Power Through Prayer – p 12-13)

I’ve heard from a friend, that when she traveled to Cambodia, people in groups often prayed all at the same time. My experience is always praying out loud, one after another. Their outlook is that the prayers are only for God and not for other people. While I think there is definitely a place for praying with and for someone and encouraging them by praying with them for a need, I have to say I’m extremely drawn to the Cambodian way of praying. For me, it removes the expectations that I’ve placed on myself and I can fully pray to God alone.

Let us be REAL. Let us allow ourselves to be known by the Creator, the King, our Friend.  Let us seek Jesus and fix our eyes on Him and Him alone as the center of all we do.

Let. Us. Pray.

Who Sits On Your Throne?

Sometimes when I’m singing worship in church, my mind starts to drift a little. I may get caught up in the meaning of the words, or get analytical, or maybe my mind wanders to the tasks I have still to finish that day. Maybe I even worry a little about those around me…(I’ll just be real.) But when my mind starts to wander, I often bring myself back into worshiping God by picturing my life and my heart as a throne-songs with word-pictures of the King of Kings and the Holy One especially bring this imagery to mind. The throne is big, over sized, and comfy looking. It’s in a huge open room. And it’s navy blue (but that’s beside the point though). What’s more important is that when I picture the throne of my heart, the “holy of holiest” (as EM Bounds says it), I often see myself sitting there. Or money. Or my pride. Or other people. Very rarely, at first, is God sitting there.

So, here’s what I do.

I PUSH them off.

Money, stop ruling my priorities. Self, stop acting like you can call all the shots. Pride, you are not as important and essential and “all that and a bag of chips” as you think you are. And people, I know I’m the one who put you there, but you really aren’t the one who should be ruling and occupying the throne.

These things should NOT be on the throne of my heart. When these things occupy the seat that should be filled by Someone else, my ministry, my authenticity, and the way I “preach” with my life suffers.

As I’m reading through Power Through Prayer by EM Bounds, this all comes to mind because he puts this into perspective. “Somehow self and not God rules in the holy of holiest. Somewhere, all unconscious to himself [the preacher], some spiritual nonconductor has touched his inner being, and the divine current has been arrested.” When something else is placed on the throne, God is no longer able to sit there. The ability for God’s power to flow through has been interrupted.

My life isn’t technically interrupted if other things replace the King of Kings. I can still “be” a Children’s Director, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend. I can still go through the actions of my life, but really, through this chapter, I’m being convicted that that’s all I’m doing; Going through the motions. Bounds says earlier in this chapter that “The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom by the power of God’s Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river.” While Bounds is referring mostly to Preachers who have an actual title as their job, I feel like it applies to us all. As people who preach Jesus with our lives, we have to subscribe to these thoughts too. Not just preachers from the pulpit, but we also must fix our eyes on Him and allow Him to sit on the throne. We have to thirst, focus and center on Jesus. Jesus must be the one sitting on the throne, ruling. He must be the one who breathes life into us. However, if the river is dammed up with other priorities or other focuses, the life-giving flood cannot flow through.

I love the picture painted for me as he also writes “The preaching that kills is the letter; shapely and orderly it may be, but it is the letter still, the dry, husky letter, the empty, bald shell. The letter may have the germ of life in it, but it has no breath of spring to evoke it; winter seeds they are, as hard as the winter’s soil, as icy as the winter’s air, no thawing nor germinating by them.” I can go through my life, the shell of it – actions, to-do lists, words, but never really have a breath of spring that really, truly brings what I do to life. I can even say that I’m doing something in the name of Jesus, but when the Spirit isn’t backing it, and the Lord isn’t the one sitting on the throne, then it won’t mean anything. If I’m still placing other things as the ruler in my life, I act as though I have the power to change things through my words and actions, and that is “the preaching that kills.”

I cringe a little when people say that you only have to do “good things” to have a good life or to “get to Heaven.” To me, those are the letters that Bounds describes as “dry, husky…empty, bald shell(s).” If I want it to truly have impact for God’s Kingdom, if I really want the Spirit to breathe through me into the lives of those around me, then I have to be so deeply rooted in prayer, so focused on Jesus, that I am dead to myself. I have to give up “my” spot on the throne, and clear it out for the one, true Ruler so that He is the One fulfilling my life and breathing life into every little thing I do.

How do you make sure that Jesus is the only one enthroned in your "holy of holiest" places?