Tony Giles is taking over the Pastoral Notes this week to introduce our new prayer initiative.
Learning to Pray Again
The door is open and the table is set.
The Father grants us access to the throne of grace where we find help in time of need. (Heb.10:16). The Son in heaven always lives to make intercession for us. (Heb. 7:24-25). The Spirit within us brings his holy nature with him creating in us holy hungers, holy loves and intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26-27) The Trinity continues to be at work at this matter of prayer.
So how can something so important to the Father, the Son and the Spirit – so available and vital to our spiritual lives – be so elusive and difficult for so many? Our prayer lives seem to always to be “under construction.” When it comes to prayer, we are most needy.
· Can we learn to come to our Father messy, weary and as a child?
· Can we learn to pray prayers that are close to the heart of God?
· How are we to ‘take hold of God’ in prayer?
· What do we learn about prayer from Jesus’ teaching and example? from the Psalms? from saints who have gone before us?
To that end, we are taking the first weekly prayer meeting each month to learn how to pray again. Would you join us for a recurring Prayer Summit to learn to “strive together in prayers to God” (Rom. 15:6) and to step into this means of grace at the Father’s beckoning call and gracious invitation?
We plan to meet for that singular purpose the first Tuesday of each month from 6:00-7:15 p.m. starting January 7. Each monthly gathering will include a different brief teaching on prayer followed by a “Prayer Lab” of sorts practicing the lessons learned.
Come every month or as often as you can. The door will be open and chairs arranged. Let us take hold in prayer of the One who has taken hold of us. Because the gospel is true, we have a Father in heaven who genuinely delights in the prayers of his people.
And as we learn to pray again – we rehearse the lavish love for the Father for us.
As Paul Miller writes, ‘Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers.
May our hearts be changed as we cry out to him from our poverty of spirit to His listening ears and tender mercies.