Awake
in the Spirit:
Prayer in the Life of the
Believer
Mark
Mullins
Use
the following outline to go directly to key topic areas in this
study:
Introduction
Awake
in Communion with God
Awake
in Praise and Adoration
Awake
With Repentance and Confession
Awake
With Thanksgiving and Gratitude
Awake
With Petition and Intercession
Awake
With Spiritual Contemplation
Introduction
Prayer
is one of the most important aspects of our life with God.
Without it, our relationship with God is like that of
long-estranged relatives: we have an old letter from Him (scripture),
but we have not spoken with Him in years.
In
many ways, I feel inadequate to undertake this study; but, at
the same time, I think it will be helpful to me in my pilgrimage.
Many approaches could be taken with a short study of
prayer, and no approach can begin to approach the topic completely.
I have chosen to focus on prayer as it contributes to
our personal relationship with God.
My content will be more contemplative than theological,
and more spiritual than intellectual.
I
have chosen the title “Awake in the Spirit” for a
reason. I believe
that prayer is indeed the point at which our spiritual senses
are most awakened. While
we often think of prayer as a bedtime activity, it is indeed
something that should, and can, rouse our spirits and bring
us into greater spiritual consciousness.
After all, it is the incredible privilege of communication
with the almighty.
Of
the many books available on prayer, I am recommending two for
the general reader: Eugene Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms
as Tools for Prayer (Harper, 1989); and William A. Barry,
Seek My Face: Prayer as Personal Relationship in Scripture
(Paulist, 1989).
Awake
in Communion with God
“Prayers
are tools, but with this clarification: prayers are not tools
for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
In our largely externalized culture, we are urgently
presented with tools that enable us to do things (a machine,
for instance, to clean the carpet), and to get things
(a computer, for instance, to get information). We are not so readily offered tools that enable our being and
becoming human. We
are accustomed to think of our age as conspicuously technological. But the largest area of the human continent is impoverished
technologically. . . .
“At
the center of the whole enterprise of being human, prayers are
the primary technology.
Prayers are tools that God uses to work his will in our
bodies and souls. Prayers
are tools that we use to collaborate in his work with us”
(Eugene Peterson, Answering God, p. 2).
Our
lives today run at breakneck speed.
We hardly have time to catch our breath, let alone spend
time at a spiritual level. So often, prayer becomes a part of the daily routine, along
with brushing the teeth and walking the dog.
This is good, as long as it makes prayer a positive habit
rather than a bland ritual.
Too often, however, it becomes something we do without
thinking much about it.
But
in the midst of the chaos, God calls us to communion with Him—to
close, intimate sharing as one would find between close friends
or husbands and wives.
This sharing is, in a very real way, a two-way conversation.
This is perhaps the most overlooked characteristic of
prayer: that in a large number of biblical narratives involving
prayer, God is an active conversation partner or has an immediate,
verbal answer. One
thing that many do not do in prayer is to expect and listen
for an answer. This
answer may or may not come in audible words, but at the spiritual
level, prayer brings one’s relationship with God to a more
intimate level.
At
times, our souls yearn for even more extensive communion with
God. This often happens at a time of sorrow or despair,
or at a time when an important decision must be made.
People have dealt with this yearning in different ways
over the years. In
an episode that sounds oddly monastic to the evangelical reader,
Paul tells of the
time he spent in Arabia immediately after his conversion (Gal.
3:17). Desert spirituality
had been present in Judaism for centuries, and a center of Jewish
learning, second only to Jerusalem, was located in Petra.
Although Paul mentions this time only in passing while
speaking on a different topic, it seems likely that Paul spent
a time in spiritual retreat, in prayer to God, re-thinking his
faith and his life in light of the Damascus road incident.
Whether
we embark on a spiritual retreat as Paul did, or pray in the
car on the way to work, prayer involves intimate sharing with
the Almighty. It’s
a gift of God that allows us to do this, and it is only His
steadfast love, mercy, and grace that allows us to continue
to live after encountering Him.
And, as Peterson reminds us, prayer is not a vehicle
that helps us do something or be something; rather,
it helps us to be something—fully human at the foot of
the divine throne.
Awake
in Praise and Adoration
We
don’t often think of praise and adoration as being a part
of our prayers. We
express thanksgiving, of course, for specific blessings that
God has given us. But
do we often praise God in prayer simply because He is worthy
of praise—just because of who He is?
We
usually think of these things as appropriate for times of public
worship. Yet we
often fail to see the acute connection between our public liturgy
and the rhythm of our private spiritual lives.
Those who learn to praise and adore Christ in either
the public or the private setting can, and should, do so in
both.
The
terms ‘praise’ and ‘adoration’ are virtually
synonymous. The
main shade of difference is that adoration is perhaps more personal,
involving concepts such as love for the divine; while praise
is more distant, emphasizing a sense of awe at the magnificence
of God.
Psalm
18 reflects these concepts fairly clearly.
The Psalmist is speaking to two different parties—God
and some other listener.
At times, God is referred to in the third person (“He”);
at others, He is directly addressed in the second person (“You”).
In general, this Psalm reflects adoration in the ‘You’
sections and praise in the ‘He’ sections—though
that is not always the case.
More
to the point, Psalm 18 illustrates how praise and adoration
can fit into public and private prayer.
Verse 1 is addressed directly to God, and thus the whole
Psalm is framed as something of a prayer.
The Psalmist praises God for His deliverance (vv. 2-6,
16-19, 42-44), His power (vv. 7-15), His blessings (vv. 20-24),
and His support in battle (vv. 32-41, 47-48, 50).
He also praises Him just for who He is (vv. 31, 46).
This entire Psalm is a prayer of praise and adoration.
The
book of Psalms is filled with such prayers, but they are rarer
in other parts of the Bible.
Perhaps this is because humans tend to
wait to pray until our ‘docket’ is completely
filled with petitions and thanksgivings and intercessions.
But I think that we must take into account the purposes
of the biblical writers as well.
Paul’s letters, for example, are written in response
to specific problems in the churches he addresses.
Therefore, though most of his letters have something
of a prayer of praise at the beginning, most mention of prayer
in the letters is more intercessory.
Yet
passages such as Ephesians 1:3-14 show us that there is room
for the prayer of praise in Christian devotion as well.
There Paul lavishes praise on his Creator for His majesty
and for the spiritual blessings He has bestowed on us.
In
our prayers, praise and adoration serves to acknowledge to God,
and to remind us of, the relative stature of the person praying
and the God being addressed.
Although God allows us to commune with Him intimately,
as with a spouse or a close friend, we do not approach His throne
as an equal. Lest
we forget this, we should fortify every prayer with a heavy
dose of praise and adoration.
In the end, this will allow us to be more ‘awake
in the spirit’.
When
Jesus encounters Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10, Zacchaeus is inspired
to repent of the sins he committed as a tax collector—apparently
without any prompting from Jesus except for His presence.
In prayer, as we dwell in the presence of God, it will
be only natural for us to confess our sinfulness and commit
to a changed life. To be in the presence of the divine is to be keenly aware of
one’s own inadequacies and frailties up against the majesty
and holiness of God.
How
often are repentance and confession a part of our prayers?
In a culture that sees guilt as inappropriate and a church
that often mistakes rebellion against God for living in His
grace, this aspect of prayer is often lacking. Only when we can say with the Psalmist
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
probe
me and know my thoughts
See if there is any wicked in me,
and
lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps. 139:23-24)
can
we truly be in the presence of God to our fullest ability.
And, to be sure, if we allow God to search us and know
our hearts, His presence will convict us of our sin.
Awake
With Thanksgiving and Gratitude
One
of the main sins of the children of Israel during their wilderness
wanderings was their lack of gratitude for what God had done
for them. Even
though Yahweh had defeated the gods of Egypt with ten mighty
acts, brought the people miraculously across the Red Sea, given
them a law, and sustained them in the wilderness with manna—the
people continued to rebel and complain.
They even complained about God’s gift of manna (Num.
11:4ff).
Today,
many of our public and private prayers begin with thanksgiving,
but in many cases these thanksgivings are perfunctory: “Thank
you for this day.”
“Thank you for life itself.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to come together
today.” While
these can be genuine thanksgivings, all too often they are simply
‘fillers’ to get the prayer moving smoothly (it’s
bad form to begin a prayer with a petition!).
It
is good that we remind ourselves regularly that the term ‘eucharist’
means ‘thanksgiving’.
Our experience of Holy Communion is an act of thanksgiving
for the ultimate blessing that God has bestowed on us through
Jesus Christ. In
the presence of God, I believe thanksgiving comes naturally,
just as repentance does.
The
song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) is a song of thanksgiving.
Mary here is portrayed as a woman who gratefully accepts
the responsibility of giving birth to the Messiah.
Yet her thanksgiving goes beyond that, covering all of
God’s blessings on marginalized people.
In a similar way, our thanksgivings to God can go beyond
our own lives to the cosmic history of God’s mighty acts
for humankind.
Awake
With Petition and Intercession
Petition
and intercession are our means for expressing needs to God.
Petitions are requests on behalf of oneself; intercessions
are on behalf of others.
Generally, most of our time in public prayer (and probably
also in private prayer) is spent in these areas.
When we think of a ‘prayer list’, we normally
think of a list of intercessions and perhaps a few petitions.
We seem not to need much instruction in this area, particularly
compared with praise and repentance in prayer.
Yet, how well do we really do these things?
How much faith do we really have when we pray for a dying
brother or sister? Do
we really know what to pray?
What do we do if the prayer is ‘not answered’
in the way we prayed for?
Two
biblical examples may help to illuminate this a bit: Hannah’s petition in 1 Samuel 1, and the church’s
intercession for Peter in Acts 12.
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah, and was childless—a
terrible disgrace in that culture.
Elkinah’s other wife, Peninnah, had children and
was merciless to Hannah because of this.
When the family went to the shrine at Shiloh to worship,
Hannah wept and prayed to the Lord
with an intensity that caused Eli to mistake her actions for
drunkenness.
As
William Barry writes, “Hannah pours out her anguish and
distress to the Lord.
She does not just make a petition and a vow and leave
it at that. Rather,
it seems, she tells God all of her troubles.
She probably tells him about Elkanah’s profession
of love, and perhaps how awful she feels that his love is not
enough. . . . It would seem that God is someone to whom she
can pour out her soul in anguish.
When she leaves her prayer, she has only the prayer of
Eli as an answer and thus no guarantee of a child, but she is
no longer sad” (Seek My Face, 32).
A
relationship with God in which all feelings can be shared fully,
and all needs expressed non-objectively, and even selfishly,
allows God to answer our prayers in ways that we cannot even
imagine. At times,
He might change our attitudes and perceptions so that we can
better accept our current situation.
At other times, He will answer our prayer differently
than we have asked. Occasionally,
He gives us exactly what we ask for.
But if we have a relationship with God such as Hannah’s,
any of these responses—or even no apparent response—can
give us peace.
In
Acts 12, the church has gathered apparently to pray for Peter’s
release from prison. An
angel of the Lord indeed releases him, and he goes to the house
where the church is meeting.
When the servant girl Rhoda tells the group that Peter
is waiting outside, they do not believe her.
This makes their petition something of a negative example
in some ways because they are surprised when it is granted.
But
on the positive side, both of these examples highlight the personal
relationship between the petitioner and God.
Only through that close relationship can a sense of peace
come even before the tangible ‘answer’ to the prayer
takes place.
Our
busy culture is saturated with calls for the simplification
of life. Music
labels produce ‘contemplative’ music, designed to
relax and renew the mind through rather nondescript but relaxing
chords and, sometimes, sounds from nature.
What
is a contemplative lifestyle, and what role does prayer play
in such a lifestyle? People
have been grappling with this question from the beginning.
Some have
found it in a structured community, such as the Jewish sect
at Qumran or a medieval Christian monastery.
The Qumran community separated itself from the world
and lived in one of the most desolate areas on earth—the
shores of the Dead Sea.
It separated itself with pagan culture and mainstream
Judaism alike, because both, in their opinion, had lost their
moorings. Christian
monasticism began in the third and fourth centuries for similar
reasons. In medieval
times, monasteries were Europe’s centers of learning.
Others
have found it in individual isolation.
A long tradition of Jewish and Christian hermits lived
in caves in the desert east of the Jordan River.
Here male and female mystics searched for meaning in
life and peace with God with a lifestyle of self-deprivation
and prayer.
People
today have the same frustrations and yearnings that their ancient
predecessors had. After
declining for most of this century, monasteries in this country
are again growing. Evangelicals
are flocking by the thousands to Orthodox and Roman Catholic
monasteries for periods of renewal and contemplation.
In my opinion, this can only be good for one’s prayer
life. Monasticism
has long been criticized in evangelical circles because it is
misunderstood as a life of avoiding the world and its sinners
who need the gospel. But
when monasteries are viewed as places of renewal for ministry,
recharging of prayer life, and spiritual growth— Bible-based
churches can scarcely afford to denigrate them.
Mike
Blackwell, a Church of Christ minister in South Texas, spent
a week in an Eastern Orthodox monastery as a part of his study
of spiritual formation for his Doctor of Ministry degree at
Abilene Christian University.
This is a part of his reflection on that experience:
Where
is the spiritual formation of our spiritual leaders? Where is the growth in prayer, the fasting, the tears shed
for sins, the confession of evil, the holiness?
Our schools typically either produce academics or good
ol’ boys indoctrinated with a two-bit understanding of
Christ and His church.
This is not an indictment of higher learning; it is an
indictment of a higher learning that seeks to substitute and
confuse itself with spiritual maturity and depth. Our elders are too often selected on the basis of business
acumen or because they have three kids, not because they are
people of true spiritual depth and are filled with the Holy
Spirit. Whereas
they should ideally be those who can feed and equip the church,
they are often only watchdogs for the same old dead-end thinking
that is killing the churches.
And what of those of us who minister?
Are we people who pray and fast?
Are we equipped to be spiritual directors for those in
the church who wrestle with the powers of darkness?
Are we physicians of the soul?
I fear that we have grossly bought into the philosophy
of secular success with our spiffy suits and aviator glasses.
We cannot identify with the desert fathers of the past
because we have sold our souls to Gentleman’s Quarterly
and Forbes. We
do not need ministers of culture in today’s churches: we
need people who can hear the voice of God and who can both live
and preach the countercultural Gospel.
God help us to be men who are carried off by the Spirit
instead of men who are running off with other men’s wives.
Lord have mercy.
May
the Lord bring
a renewal of prayer to my life, to this church, to this nation,
to this world. May
we yearn for the closeness to God that prayer brings.
Thank you for being a part of this class.
