What is unceasing prayer? I know it can be confusing to think about. The thought that immediately comes to mind is that to be in unceasing prayer means to be talking to God constantly, never stopping, even when we talk to other people, when we think about other things, and even while sleeping. But of course, that's impossible. We can't be shaping our thoughts into words of prayer while our mind is on something else. But that's not what unceasing prayer is.
We talked about unceasing prayer in my prayer small group at Freshley this week. The main thing that stuck out to me was an excerpt from a book that said that tennis is much easier to play when the player has had practice. Thank you, Captain Obvious. But the author takes this statement and applies it to prayer. When we pray frequently, prayer becomes a natural response to everything in life, and prayer begins to flow out from us more easily. We begin to pray as if by habit, but with none of the lifelessness of mere habit.
As a trumpet player and a music major, music analogies work really well for me. Ceaseless prayer is like being a musician: If you practice your instrument (since I play trumpet, I'm going to use the trumpet for this analogy) regularly and frequently, playing becomes easier and the basic technique becomes second nature. And as you continue to practice and get better, you begin to identify yourself as a trumpet player. You don't have to be playing trumpet every single moment of every day to still be a trumpet player. If I played my trumpet continuously and never stopped, I would eventually get burnt out. It's impossible for me to constantly be playing my trumpet. How would I eat? How would I sleep? But even though I am not playing my trumpet while I'm typing this, I can still say that I am a trumpet player because I practice regularly and it is a part of who I am. Prayer is the same way: It is impossible for us to form our thoughts into prayers at every moment of every day, but if we regularly and frequently devote ourselves to prayer, we begin to identify ourselves as pray-ers. And even though I don't walk around buzzing constantly (although I do buzz while walking occasionally—buzzing the lips is what makes sound come out of the trumpet), everything I do is shaping me to be able to play my trumpet the next time I pick it up: I may be resting after having finished practicing; I may be sleeping so I can get up to practice the next day; I may be eating to nourish my body, including my mouth/lips. And in the same way, even though we don't pray constantly, if we pray frequently, everything we do becomes a prayer in itself: We sleep and thank God for giving us peace and rest, we eat and thank God for filling us, we talk with friends and thank God for giving us a community with the body of Christ and opportunities to share the gospel with our friends who don't know Him, we do homework or work at our jobs and thank God for giving us a way to serve Him and further His kingdom. And everything we do also prepares us for the next time we put our prayers into words, because it gives us something to pray about.
So what is ceaseless prayer? It's being so frequently in earnest prayer that prayer becomes a natural response to everything in our lives. It's being so frequently in prayer that everything we do turns into a wordless prayer, expressing our thanks, our needs, and our desires. To pray without ceasing is to dwell in God's presence and to allow our lives to become our prayers.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Isaac, Abraham's "only" son
Somehow, every time I read Genesis 22, I always manage to skip over where God says that Isaac is Abraham’s only son. What happened to Ishmael? Well, when Sarah made Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away, he basically had to disown them because he was kicking them out of the household. So even though God had promised Abraham that he would bless Ishmael along with Isaac, Ishmael was denied his rights as Abraham’s son and could not receive an inheritance from his father; his only inheritance would be what God gave him.
This puts the sacrifice of Isaac into a new perspective. Usually I think, “Wow, for Abraham to sacrifice his only son must take a lot of faith,” but I don’t even think about Ishmael. Now the sacrifice seems even greater because not only was Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, but he had also just disowned his only other heir. If he killed Isaac, he no longer had a back-up plan for his inheritance. But he went to sacrifice Isaac anyway, knowing that God must have something planned. This is a huge shift in Abraham’s way of thinking: back in chapter 16, Abraham doubted God’s promise to give him a son through Sarah, so he took matters into his own hands and had Ishmael with Hagar. After all, God had said that Abraham’s heir would be “a son coming form your own body,” not “from Sarai’s body (Genesis 15:4). But now in chapter 22, Abraham only has Isaac left, but he agrees to follow through with the sacrifice anyway. Of course, he could have gone against Sarah and went in search of Ishmael to bring him home and make him his son again, but he didn’t.
A lot of times we like to have back-up plans when God tests us. We say we believe God will pull through for us, but we always have something stored up just in case. “Who knows? Maybe His plan is for us to use what we already have instead of waiting for Him to give us something new.” I know I’m guilty of this. But what would we do if God took away our Plan B? Would we disobey God so we can have the security of knowing that God’s promise is still possible? Did Abraham think, “Well, Isaac is my only son now. And God, You told me he would be my heir, so I don’t think sacrificing him would be the right thing to do”? Maybe, but he didn’t act on it. When Abraham’s Plan B fell through, his only options were complete obedience or complete disobedience. Sometimes God has to take away our Plan B in order for us to see that. He has to remove Satan’s lies and deception in order for us to see that Plan B isn’t just another way to succeed if Plan A fails, it’s outright distrust. Resorting to Plan B shows that we don’t really think God can make Plan A work. I pray that we would be like Abraham in his later life, that when God gives us a task to do, we would recognize it as a necessary step in fulfilling His ultimate purpose, and then do it.
A lot of times we like to have back-up plans when God tests us. We say we believe God will pull through for us, but we always have something stored up just in case. “Who knows? Maybe His plan is for us to use what we already have instead of waiting for Him to give us something new.” I know I’m guilty of this. But what would we do if God took away our Plan B? Would we disobey God so we can have the security of knowing that God’s promise is still possible? Did Abraham think, “Well, Isaac is my only son now. And God, You told me he would be my heir, so I don’t think sacrificing him would be the right thing to do”? Maybe, but he didn’t act on it. When Abraham’s Plan B fell through, his only options were complete obedience or complete disobedience. Sometimes God has to take away our Plan B in order for us to see that. He has to remove Satan’s lies and deception in order for us to see that Plan B isn’t just another way to succeed if Plan A fails, it’s outright distrust. Resorting to Plan B shows that we don’t really think God can make Plan A work. I pray that we would be like Abraham in his later life, that when God gives us a task to do, we would recognize it as a necessary step in fulfilling His ultimate purpose, and then do it.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
Matthew 5:6
It's been a while since the last time I wrote anything. I think part of it is that I've been writing my thoughts and revelations in a journal where I keep all my sermon notes, so my writing has been more on a personal level rather than being intended for teaching and sharing. But God had another reason for delaying my writing on the Beatitudes. I attended a Bible study a couple nights ago on what it means to be a man of God, and I was given a whole new perspective on this verse.
A lot of times we look at other Christians around us and feel like we're so far behind in our faith. There are always those people who are so entirely devoted to God that their mere presence makes us want to be better Christians. But too often, we let Satan use this view of our faith to condemn us. He says, "Look at how full of the Holy Spirit they are! Why aren't you like that? You still have so much more to learn about God, and He has so many blessings He wants to give you, but you refuse to receive them. That person over there is a good Christian. But you? You're still drinking spiritual milk. When will you grow up?" Of course, it is true that we have a lot to learn about God. In fact, we will never be able to learn everything about His infinite glory, but that shouldn't discourage us and make us feel deficient in our faith. It should encourage us to press in to know Him more because there is no limit to what He can reveal to us.
The devil tells us that we are lacking because we still need to learn more about God. But Jesus calls us blessed because we desire to know Him more. He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"—why?—"for they will be filled." The fact that we are hungry is evidence that there is something that can fill us, and God will not leave us empty. The revealing of our hunger is God's promise to us that He will fill us.
So when you feel like you're missing something, like there's more that God wants to give you that you haven't received yet, don't be discouraged. It's true, God does have more that He wants to give us. But the fact that we desire to receive it is God's way of saying, "Soon. My blessings will come to you soon." Blessed are those who long to draw closer to the Lord and receive everything He has for them, who know that they have not yet been filled to capacity, because they are in agreement with God's will, and their desire is for Him to have His way. And His will is that we would be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).
It's been a while since the last time I wrote anything. I think part of it is that I've been writing my thoughts and revelations in a journal where I keep all my sermon notes, so my writing has been more on a personal level rather than being intended for teaching and sharing. But God had another reason for delaying my writing on the Beatitudes. I attended a Bible study a couple nights ago on what it means to be a man of God, and I was given a whole new perspective on this verse.
A lot of times we look at other Christians around us and feel like we're so far behind in our faith. There are always those people who are so entirely devoted to God that their mere presence makes us want to be better Christians. But too often, we let Satan use this view of our faith to condemn us. He says, "Look at how full of the Holy Spirit they are! Why aren't you like that? You still have so much more to learn about God, and He has so many blessings He wants to give you, but you refuse to receive them. That person over there is a good Christian. But you? You're still drinking spiritual milk. When will you grow up?" Of course, it is true that we have a lot to learn about God. In fact, we will never be able to learn everything about His infinite glory, but that shouldn't discourage us and make us feel deficient in our faith. It should encourage us to press in to know Him more because there is no limit to what He can reveal to us.
The devil tells us that we are lacking because we still need to learn more about God. But Jesus calls us blessed because we desire to know Him more. He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"—why?—"for they will be filled." The fact that we are hungry is evidence that there is something that can fill us, and God will not leave us empty. The revealing of our hunger is God's promise to us that He will fill us.
"For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things." ~ Psalm 107:9
"They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights." ~ Psalm 36:8
So when you feel like you're missing something, like there's more that God wants to give you that you haven't received yet, don't be discouraged. It's true, God does have more that He wants to give us. But the fact that we desire to receive it is God's way of saying, "Soon. My blessings will come to you soon." Blessed are those who long to draw closer to the Lord and receive everything He has for them, who know that they have not yet been filled to capacity, because they are in agreement with God's will, and their desire is for Him to have His way. And His will is that we would be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).
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