What follows are my brief thoughts on prayer, which I shared with a classic “three pointer” talk at a Family Service (I’ve not included the myriad illustrations and visual stuff)
Practice.
Firstly, prayer requires practice – we cannot pray if we do not pray. That might seem obvious, but we need to have a go . . . we will never drive if we do not get in a car, sit in the driving seat, start the ignition and try and move the car . . . getting everything right (mirror / signal / manouver) clutch, put the car in gear etc. takes time – until it becomes a fluid motion and we not only drive but can change gear, change lanes, change places by actually going on a journey.
Prayer is the same, a journey of incredible discover of God, ourselves, of others, but we have to “practice”. Jesus’ disciples had the courage to ask “how” and Jesus showed them. They must have gone away and tried to “copy” what Jesus did until they began to “get it”. Practice will not make us perfect in this life, but practice is the key if we want to develop the healthy spiritual discipline of prayer.
Patience.
Secondly, we need patience (the Widow had to be patient to get her reply . . . . it did not come straight away – and patience does not mean “quiet” or “meekly waiting” patience can be tough, and unyielding, “I will not give in!” is still showing patience . . . “my time will come” is showing patience. We live in an instant culture, everything must happen how – we cannot wait.
You only have to look at the shelves in a book store where the thematically laid out books are “biography” to see “my life story” by people who are barely into young adulthood . . . the world must know “now” . . .
We might be so desperate to have our first cup of coffee in the day that we cannot even wait for the kettle to boil, we shove the mug of “instant” coffee in the microwave to speed up the process! Scripture encourages us to “wait on the Lord”, but we expect the Lord to “wait on us”.
Like good coffee needs to brew, or tea needs to infuse . . . we need to wait on God – in fact, the word infuse comes from the root “en theos”, which is also where we get the word enthusiastic from and it literally means “in God”, when we are caught up “in God” rather than ourselves we cannot help but be patient. Waiting in his presence becomes a pleasure – if we knew how to do that, it might take precendence over what we were waiting for in the first place . .
Persistant.
A finally, we need to be persistant. My daughters knows how to do this . . . “Daddy, just play one game with me”.
Not long winded, not lots of words, not different everytime to try a different “tack”, she knows ME and she knows I will respond (eventually . . . !) How can I not, I love her and she is amazing . . . how much more does God love us? We need to be persistant, not because of the impact this has on God . . . but because of the impact it has on us and our character, and our trust that “He is able” . . . we need to be persistant.
If these things are evident in our prayer lives then we might begin to grasp why it is our life blood as Christians and followers of Jesus . . .
The term “God botherer” has been used as a reference towards how a certain kind of Christian makes other people feel . . . it is negative, and suggests that we are a pain in the neck . . . I want to be known as a God botherer, not because I bother others . . . but because I bother God (because he bothers with me).
Peter Stanley
18/06/2011 5:15 pmYesterday I googled “New Testament Christianity and J B Phillips” and top of the list was your Facebook entry. I subsequently found your blog. I had already decided that I should make contact when I read that last paragraph about God botherers.
I’m 75 and in the 1960’s was treasurer of an active Anglican parish for 8 years. I still have a first edition of The New Testament in Modern English by J B Phillips that I used for many years (more recently I found another copy). I still treat it as my main study Bible. I’m still puzzled as to when I read New Testament Christianity (I don’t have my own copy) but I made a precis of it that I still refer to. I also have “Ring of Truth” – Phillips Translator’s Testimony.
I walked away from the Anglican Church in the early 1970’s because of what I saw as a lack of ‘radical’ Christianity. Several years later I became a member of the Worldwide Church of God (a Sabbath keeping Church that published “The Plain Truth” magazine). In 1995 that church announced that much of its theology was misguided. I was forced to reconsider just about everything I had ever been taught.
After being made redundant in for the third time I hadn’t had a full time job since 1990. I was using the internet by 1997 and by 2003 was very much aware of the emerging / emergent / house church movements and really enjoy listening to Tom Wright.
Early in 2010 I was reading a new book, “The Undefended Life” by Simon Walker – an Anglican priest from Oxford – as he published it on the web one chapter at a time. Around the same time I was attending a couple of Anglican parachurch groups in Brighton when one of the local priests introduced me to the writings of Richard Holloway (who describes himself as a God botherer).
As a former Anglican I can so relate to much of what Richard has written – but whereas Richard emphasises his doubts I find that what he has written only reinforces my own faith.
I would have to describe myself as a bit of a loner (not out of choice). It has something to do with Aspergers Syndrome – not sure how much, but this was an exciting discovery about 3 years ago.
It was only this week that I made the following entry on another blog:
I have often likened my journey to climbing a mountain – reaching a plateau where I’m able to share with others, listen and wait before moving on to the next plateau. Maybe I’ve made my final climb. For now at least I’ve found a comfortable resting place where I can sit, relax, and ask some of those awkward questions and share and encourage others before they move on.
It surely wasn’t a coincidence that only a few days later I find your blog!