Prayer for New and Used Believers by Heather Holdsworth

(This article was written for a book called, ‘How Prayer Impacts Lives’ Christian Focus Publications 2013)

How do you know when someone is a true disciple, a wholehearted follower?  With what do you gauge commitment?  In our evangelical hamlets, measurements are constantly taken.  And most often, the unit by which we log devotion is activity.

 With each morning, demands roll in.  Flurries of tasks squeeze the stopwatch and the ticking begins.  Sixteen hours of useable minutes and so much to do.  The countdown arrives unbidden, before one page of Scripture sees daylight. 

Focus. 

Open eyes.

Open Bible. 

 Each minute puts pressure on the text for results, to find some bright phrase to align our day.  With the reading over, comes the puzzle of prayer.  It seems a call to inaction. 

‘Be still’. 

‘Wait’. 

‘Abide’. 

The instructed pause on our lives of purpose; can we seriously afford the time? 

 And prayer becomes a briefing; where we roll out events to highlight areas of responsibility.  We notify the Christ to pour smoothness on this day – emotional cheer, financial calm and easy parking – the evidences of God’s sanction on our activities. 

 We move out and the action starts.  Is our soul still?  Did we ‘abide’?  If there was time for an honest moment, we sit closer to guilt than satisfaction.  But hey, many Christians don’t even have devotions – read any survey.

 And what about when the sun doesn’t shine for the kids’ Bible Club and the bank balance shade is more red than black?  When the doctor pauses too long before giving those results and your mum’s forgetfulness triggers family emails?  When God didn’t follow the script you covered in the morning memo – what then?

 You cordon it off.  You use the yellow tape.  ‘SOVEREIGNTY – DO NOT CROSS’.  Christ’s action or inaction lies under a distant tarpaulin, policed by you.  And you stand at the perimeter, guarding God.  And maybe while you stand you sing heartily so that the words from your lips are louder than the questions of your heart. 

 You patrol the tape and defend a God who is recognised but not known, charted but not dear.  And you silence your soul.  For the One you nodded to on the way into your life of purpose hasn’t come through.

 You left him at the planning meeting with clear objectives – to bless the lists; to make guest appearances at special meetings.  But that isn’t relationship.  Not in anyone’s book.

 So what do we do?  How do we find relational contentment with an unseen God?  Jesus’ frequent method of engaging people was parables; obscured stories relying wholly on two things for meaning – a teacher and his insight.  As the disciples pursued Jesus away from the crowds on the beach to homes and along pathways, something happened.  Doubt and unwashed faith trumped any urge to be seen, any need to sound right.  Frank dialogues with the Saviour in unplanned places were what changed perceptions, rocketed growth, and made them come alive!

 I am done with confining God to small spaces, with segregating him to a convenient zone while I hold sway over the activities of life.  I am finished with treating him as capable only to deal with the tasks assigned.  I’m done with the divide between ‘devotions’ and devotion.  It’s as smart as trying to split body from breath.  If this relationship works, it has to work in every situation and every space. 

 A friend asked some years back whether I struggled with prayer.  “Yes, I do”.  My husband looked over at me, puzzled, “Heather, you talk to God all the time.” 

“Well yes, I talk to him all the time, but I struggle with prayer”; that earnest staging of correct theology.  There was quiet and then the question, “And what is it you teach kids that prayer is?” 

My automatic response, “Well, prayer is ... ah.  Yes!”

But how is this workable?  Lengthening our devotional practices?  There are so many pressures, we honestly don’t have the time.  No, I am not speaking of more obligations – here is the gold. 

Reactions

 Throughout each day we experience life and react.  Each news headline provokes a response.  What if God was actively invited into the way we process life?  What if information was handled with him?  What if the photo from a bomb blast began a different sentence, “Lord, you see that lady, this child.  You hear their agony.  I’m listening – how do you want me to pray?”

And when a car passes with a fish on its window, pray strength for his faith and hope for his family. 

And at night time when those news stories of terror have fuelled imaginations of attack?  Process the thought with the one who has power.  Engage.  “Lord, this fear is not my reality right now.  But somewhere it is true of one of your disciples.  Send angels; bring help; confound her attackers ...”  For a long time I prayed daily for the persecuted church.  And the enemy of souls realised that his plan of paralysing me through fear was backfiring badly.  And he moved on to another scheme. 

Triggers

Each day you do things the same as the last.  Your teeth need brushing, shoes need to be put on and your desk lamp needs to shine.  I use daily things to prompt me to pray for people.  For Julie and Erin when I brush my teeth, for Viktor as I switch on his old desk lamp and each night as I switch off the bedside light a little luminous star shines from the shade!  That tiny glow triggers a chain.  I begin by praying for a friend 4000 miles away and later when her star shines, she prays for me.  And then I swim out, deep and far into the oceanic current of God’s mercy and WORSHIP my Saviour who has gone beyond being recognised and charted to being my utter delight!

Inviting God into your living means you track together all day.  And he leads and he speaks and your sight is shaped by his heart.  It’s a life-giving conversation. 

Eyes open

Ears wide.

An active participant in life with the Master of it.