Developing A Culture of Prayer
“Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.” (1 Kings 8:22)
Communication is the key to most relationships. I recently discovered the wonderful world of Google Calendar. I found that I could still use Microsoft Outlook and sync my iPod Touch with Outlook which syncs with Google Calendar. The beauty is, that I can get to my calendar on my computer at the office or at home or on my iPod. The best part is I can share my Google Calendar with whomever I want! When I first told my wife I had shared it with her, I jokingly said, “Pretty soon, we won’t have to talk to each other anymore!” Needless to say she wasn’t all that thrilled. We could use the same kind of logic with God. God knows what’s going on in our lives. He sees our “calendar,” so what’s the big deal in talking to Him. It’s not like He’s not going to know before something happens. That’s a one sided approach to prayer. This approach assumes that prayer is all about us talking to God and God listening to us. What about God talking to us. The most important side of any conversation is listening. Have you listened to God lately?
Last year in our visioning sessions we talked about developing a culture of prayer at Skyland. In the verse above, Solomon prepared to pray to dedicate the Temple in Jerusalem by lifting his face and hands toward heaven. In the next verse he began a rather lengthy prayer. Time was not an issue for Solomon even though the streets were crowded with people and 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep waited to be sacrificed. This was a worship service that took several days! Solomon had one agenda – to see the presence of God fill the Temple. This year we only have one agenda – to see the presence of God fill His church! This year we need to take the time to pray. Often we are too eager to get to the business of whatever meeting we are holding. We are too eager to pray with earnestness, sincerity, and faith. I challenge you take prayer more seriously this year. Pray more earnestly and more sincerely. Pray earnestly for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pray sincerely for the will of God. Pray with faith that God will guide our meetings and our worship services. Committee and Work Area chairpersons, you should pray diligently asking God to set the agenda for your meetings. In your meetings, don’t stop praying until He addresses each item on the agenda, and if He doesn’t address them, then do not do anything but pray during your meeting. We must take prayer seriously! These are not the times to stop praying.
We are too polite to pray out loud while someone else is praying. We believe that we should politely listen to what other people pray then try to pray something different. Generally, we pray “round-robin.” One person starts, then the prayer goes around the circle until everyone has prayed in order. Each person listens to the others to avoid repetition. The problem is, with so much pressure to perform and conform, no one is listening to God. I believe that in Acts 4 when the Apostles gathered after some of them were released from prison they prayed loud, long and furious! I doubt they were worried about being polite to each other – they wanted to talk to God and understood that God was not so limited that He could only listen to one prayer at a time. “That sounds like chaos,” you say? Every party I have ever attended that was any fun was somewhat chaotic. Lot’s of people talking and laughing at the same time makes for a lively party. Why should a prayer meeting be any different? Why can’t we get together with God and have a party?! In your prayer gatherings, trust God to control the ebb and the flow. Trust Him to bring quiet and order into the gathering when it is time for one person or another to pray for the edification of all. Skyland – Keep Praying and listening to God!!
Your servant, Pastor John