Unleashed

 Luke 11:1 reads, "Once, when Jesus had been out praying, one of His disciples came to Him as He finished and said, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' " Jesus taught them what has come to be known as The Lord's Prayer. That's not what I'm writing about today. In fact, I'm not really writing about what prayer is so much as what it's not.

I've considered myself to be a man of prayer, but am I really? How much of my life has really been one of prayer? We each need to ask ourselves that question. I think we've too often seen prayer as a "chip" we can use to get the Father to do what we want. Scripture says that "the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much." I think we get the fervent part, but I'm not so sure we understand the real nature of righteousness. Real righteousness has no agenda, yet I know in my heart that too many of my prayers have had one. More than one.

A number of years ago, a group of pastors in the area where I was serving Him began to come together to pray. There was great enthusiasm for it....in the beginning. After a time, attendance began to dwindle. The many became few, and then the few became none. Why? I think if we would be fully honest about our motives, we felt, at least in part, that our coming together would impress Him and cause Him to move on our behalf. Our churches would grow, the fruit in our ministries would increase. Much of what we'd been doing didn't seem to be working, surely prayer would. This may not have been all the reason for our gathering, but I know it was a strong part of it. It certainly was for me. Yet, when results were not quickly forthcoming, our fervor waned. Fervent prayer became much less fervent. In time, we ceased coming together. As I look back I know this; such prayer was not at all what Jesus taught and teaches still.

Philip Yancey says, "We worry if we sense the presence of God. We should worry if He senses the presence of us?" Jesus got alone with His Father at every opportunity He had. He was anxious to be with Him. He didn't come with an agenda, just Himself, which was all the Father wanted. It's still all that the Father wants.
C.S. Lewis said, "We need to lay before God what is in us, and not what we think ought to be in us." We need to come to Him as we are, laying at His feet who we are, what is going on in us, no matter how bleak or black it may be. As Yancey says, "We can't make Him visible to us, but we can make ourselves visible to Him." When we come to Him in such a way, our manipulations, power plays, and agendas fall away, and all that is left is us...and our God...and the sweet fellowship and intimacy that is the result. When that's our desire in prayer, He does become visible to us, alive to us. Prayer really does become fervent, and God in His wonder and glory is unleashed. To us and through us. 

What's the root motive of your prayer life? Is it a desire for blessing, relief, increase, success, or....just Him? Only Him. Where we're secure in the knowledge that He really is our deepest need and answer. We may have been saying that this is so, but is it really so for you today? Can we release all our mixed motives and agendas, and just pursue Him? Such prayer will not only unleash Him into our reality, it will unleash us into His.

Blessings,
Pastor O