Protecting Prayer (Part 2)

Be careful to guard and protect your time of prayer with God. The time should be, quite literally, a holy time. Often, we think of things that are holy in moral terms and as a special attribute of God. All of that is true. Yet, in addition, the concept of holiness is also one of "set apartness." The quote found on the right-hand panel of this blog from the Gospel of Mark (1:35) shows us Jesus as going to a solitary place to pray. Consider that if He did not do these things, the pressing demands of His ministry would have burnt Him out. He needed to guard that time as holy (set apart).

Consider also the description of a temple complex as given in the 40th to 48th chapters of the book of Ezekiel (the layout is in the above left graphic of today's entry). Compared to the site of the first temple on Mount Zion and its re-building on the same site a few decades later, the plan for Ezekiel's temple site would be enormous. Unlike the two temples built on Mount Zion, Ezekiel's temple calls for a sacred district surrounding it. Its area would be around 55 square miles (my hometown of Troy, Michigan is 33.6 square miles). The purpose of all this additional space is found in Ezekiel 42:20. It was "to separate the holy from the common." We see how the protecting and keeping of holy things as separate is so very important to God.

Prayer is a privilege but it is not a luxury. The world would have us think that taking time out to pray before or in the course of a busy day is a waste of time. If we're going to get something done, the world would say, get off your knees and get busy. Yet, the Bible and Christian experience point to the idea that our work really begins with prayer. Thus, we need to guard our sacred time in prayer with the same attitude which sacred space has been guarded by the people of God in both Old and New Testament times. My prayer for my readers and myself is that God will implant in us the same sense of importance, urgency and holiness in prayer which God has toward prayer.

Protecting Prayer

One way of understanding the title of this entry is that of a prayer which asks the Lord's protection in a difficult or dangerous situation. Such prayer has biblical precedent. We find an example of such a prayer offered by a group of exiles as they prepared for the long and dangerous journey from Babylon to Israel (see Ezra 8:21-23)

However appropriate and true it is, that is not the intended meaning for this blog entry. My meaning here is the protecting of the time and circumstances in which prayer occurs. The three enemies which war against the Christian, namely the world, the flesh and the devil, have a way of trying to entice or convince us that time in prayer with God in Christ is not a top priority. In our entertainment-crazed culture, we find too often, as Shakespeare put it, that "the world is still deceived with ornament" (The Merchant of Venice Act 3, Scene 3). My wife refers to this as "being distracted by shiny objects." Our culture exists in a time in which these "shiny objects" are available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These are the things which grab our attention and often take away (as in steal) our time with the Lord. This may take many forms depending on our lifestyles. Perhaps it is that "just one more" television show or video game that you think will take only a few minutes and mutates into an entire evening. Perhaps it's that "I'll hit the snooze button one more time" which ends up becoming several snoozes and results in little or no time in prayer in the morning.

There can be other aspects to the world's call to neglected or deflected prayer. Many of us live through times in which a number of real demands are made upon us. Perhaps it's an increased number of hours at work. (Ironically, I received a call at home for tech support from work while I was writing this entry). Perhaps you've just brought your newborn baby home and the child is keeping you up at night. There can be a number of demands, legitimate in themselves, that demand our attention. It must be noted that an increased workload was an strategy of an evil Egyptian pharaoh. You can find it in Exodus 5:1-9

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.' " Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go." Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword." But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!" Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working." That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."

For Pharaoh, the most important thing in life was not God. It was himself and his own glory in the building projects of his reign. Therefore, according to Pharaoh, it was critical to get the attention of the Israel off God and onto him. Reflect on how this attitude still prevails in so many ways in our own time and place.

More on this in the next entry...

Some good advice from an expert on prayer

I belong to a small group at our church which is dedicated to growing in our knowledge and practice of prayer and intercession. We have been reading Andrew Murray's book "The Ministry of Intercession." I found one of these quotes quite the challenge and want to place it here on the blog as a challenge to you as well.

Murray wrote: To break through old habits, to resist the clamor of pressing duties that have always had their way, to make every other call subordinate to this one, whether others approve or not, will not be easy at first. But the men or women who are faithful will not only be rewarded themselves but will become benefactors to their fellow Christians: Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in" (Isaiah 58:12)

Murray wrote these words about a century ago. Yet, his advice is just as timely and on point in 2007 as it was in 1907. Murray has encouraged me to know that great warriors of prayer are not confined to the past. They live now and will into the future. We have the privilege of really putting aside old habits and becoming one.

The Lonely Pilgrim

The journey that a Christian makes in this life can often be a lonely journey. The account of Christian's journey to the Celestial City, in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is a wonderful allegory of the Christian life which demonstrates a distinct "aloneness" quality. Even when surrounded by those we love and who love us, in our hearts and minds, the words of Proverbs ring true to us: "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." (Proverbs 14:10 NIV).

A 20th century preacher and writer encapsulated this in his book "Man - The Dwelling Place of God." A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) has often been referred to as a 20th century prophet. Two of his books "The Pursuit of God" and "Knowledge of the Holy" are already considered classics of Christian devotional writing. Although he has been with the Lord now for over 40 years, his writings and his sermons (many of which are available in free downloadable mp3 format here) sound as if he were speaking with today's world and today's church in mind. I've linked to Tozer's chapter "The Saint Must Walk Alone." I hope you find this as insightful as I did.

A Happy New Year (Off to a prayerful start)

Our church concluded its time of 24 hour prayer this afternoon at 2pm. By the grace of God, we had full coverage of all hours during the 24 hour period. It was an absolutely blessed time. It was also the first time that I was able to participate in something like this where a part of my time was spent in prayer, reading and reflection between the hours of 2am to 5am.

While I know that God hears prayer at whatever hour of the day it is offered, I think that there may be a special blessing for those who are crying out to the Lord in prayer when the rest of the world around us is dark and our community is asleep.

I think that those who participated had a sense of what the peace of heaven must be like. We hope to do this again (perhaps annually). In a few hours that I had at home earlier today (I've been rather busy with the 24 hour event itself in not only praying but helping to work through some of the logistics), I came across the text of a Watch Night service conducted by Charles Spurgeon in London on December 31, 1855 (Text here). It is a solemn reminder that our fund of time on this Earth is limited and to learn to pray and cry out to God to "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."(Psalm 90: 12 NIV). I suggest reading it today on New Year's Day (even though any day of the year would be a good time to read it and take its' message to heart).

Happy New Year from the School of the Solitary Place!!!

A Wonderful Time of Prayer

Our congregation is currently having a time of 24 hour prayer at our church. We believe that God opened a door for us to do this a little over a month ago when two members of our prayer group, independent of each other's knowledge, presented a case for 24 hour prayer at our church and did so within a few hours of each other.

As I write this, we are in the tenth hour of prayer and the last hour of the year 2006. This has been and continues to be a blessed time as we reflect on the past year and pray for a spirit of repentance on the individual, family, congregational and national church level. Our pastor today preached in conjunction with our vigil of prayer. He preached on Ephesians 3:14-21 and presented Paul's (and Christ's) grand vision of what the church can and should be. It is my last prayer of the year 2006.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Thank you Lord Jesus for 2006. Be with us in the year 2007, the year of grace.

Merry Christmas

In your prayers today, ponder the wonder of God fully manifest in Jesus Christ. True God. True Man. Enough to keep theologians busy for millennia. Profound enough to move us and inspire our prayers for eternity.

To all the readers of this blog, a blessed and Merry Christmas from the School of the Solitary Place!!!

Oh, by the way, the answer to the puzzle. The lockers which are perfect squares remain open (1,4,9,16,...961)

And now for something completely different...

This blog usually contains reflections on personal prayer. However, during this Christmas season, I want to do something completely different for this entry. I'm posting a puzzle.

For the last few years, we have included a Christmas puzzle with our family's Christmas newsletter. In this year's newsletter, I included the URL for this blog and asked our newsletter recipients to see the new blog. So, in this entry, I'm including a bonus Christmas puzzle (to try to make up for last year's newsletter, which, due to time commitments, never got sent out in time.

So, for family, friends and readers of this blog, the bonus puzzle follows:

Santa's 1000 elves each have their own individual locker. These lockers are found one next to each other in a very long corridor of Santa's workshop. All the lockers start out being closed. Elf #1 opens every locker. Elf#2 closes every second locker(i.e. Lockers 2,4,6,8,10,etc). Elf #3 changes the state of every third locker (i.e. if opened, he closes it; If it is closed, he opens it). Elf #4 changes the state of every fourth locker. Elf #5 changes the state of every fifth locker. Each following elf does the same (i.e. Elf "n" changes the state of every "n"th locker).

After Elf 1000 changes the state of Locker 1000, which lockers are open?

Please feel free to post your answers via the Comments. I will have the answer on the Christmas Day entry to this blog. Have fun with the puzzle. Merry Christmas!!!

Some Thoughts on 24 Hour Prayer

Recently, my thoughts have been on 24/7 prayer. Our home church will be having a time of 24 continuous hours of prayer from New Year's Eve into New Year's Day. We are seeking this to be a time to look to God with a heart and mind toward repentance and seeking Him in love and in holiness, on the individual, family, congregational and national level.

In helping to prepare for this time, I have found an excellent brief summary of the history of 24 hour prayer which can be found here. It is a practice which takes our earthly practices and matches them to the heavenly. In the vision of heavenly worship which John saw as recorded in the Book of Revelation, we find:

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Revelation 4:2-11) Emphasis bolded.

The worship of God in heaven is happening non-stop. Those who have started 24/7 prayer in the past have tried to match this pattern.

One last point about this is that 24/7 prayer requires a community of believers. Even if each hour of a prayer watch is being prayed through with only one person per hour, it requires a community of believers to make this happen. It can present an opportunity for both solitary and corporate prayer.

Our Intercessor in Heaven

There are two seasons of the year when Christians will think through the historical events of the life of Christ on Earth. During the weekend of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, our attention is drawn back to the core events of the Christian faith

This Sunday marks the start of the season of Advent as we think through the events surrounding the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago.

During these seasons, we might imagine what it would have been like to be with the shepherds near Bethlehem as they beheld the unearthly (in the best sense) and heavenly sight of angels rejoicing the birth of Him who forever would link Deity to humanity as the God-Man. We might wonder what that child looked like. In our imagination, we might "fast-forward" over thirty years and ponder what it would have been like to watch Jesus teach, or to sit with Him at the Last Supper, or to watch His agonized prayer in the Garden of Gethsamene, His arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion. We can only imagine what Mary Magdelene beheld that following Sunday morning as her eyes were opened and she saw the resurrected Christ.

Perhaps we can imagine what it will be like when Christ one day returns to Earth. Pondering this has generated enormous thought and speculation in our own time (the "Left Behind" series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are just one sign of this).

However, have you ever thought about what Jesus Christ is doing at this present moment? The thought really came home to me when I was praying in a chapel on the evening of Maundy Thursday back in 1999. In that chapel was a seven-candle candlestick. As I was looking at it, a passage from the book of Revelation was brought to mind which spoke of Christ as one: "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. (Revelation 1:13-15 NIV) and one who walked among the seven golden lampstands (Revelation 2;1) John was seeing a present-day view of Christ in majestic heavenly glory as He was then at the time of the Book of Revelation, over six decades after Jesus walked the Earth with His first disciples.

On this first day of December in the year 2006, what is Christ doing, right now?

We know that His sacrifice for salvation is completed and though He is our great High Priest, the significance of His priesthood now is that His sacrifice is perfect, complete and finished, never to be repeated. (See Hebrews 10:10-14)

So, what is Christ doing right now? Among the things which the Bible tells us about Christ's activities in Heaven, we have one text which indicates that Christ continues a facet of His ministry which He learned on Earth. Once more, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews gives us a view of what Christ is doing at this moment: Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. ( Hebrews 7:23-25 NIV)

In Heaven, the Lord Jesus continues His role as an intercessor in prayer for His people. We have One who stands for us in our behalf before the Father. Some branches of Christianity have overlooked this fact. They will many times succumb to a human tendency to see Jesus as the Judge to be placated. One can easily make the case that this is true for one who is not fully entrusting her/his life to Christ. Equally, one can show that this is not the case for a true believer in Jesus. Rather than shying away from Him in prayer, He welcomes us and prays in our behalf.

Rather than going to a dead saint or a live one to intercede for us before God, the true believer in Christ knows that they may "then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:16 NIV). Who better to have praying for us, getting 24/7 access to the Father, than the Lord Jesus, who desires that we model Him in our devotion to prayer.

John recorded in his gospel, the last recorded prayer of Christ before His arrest. In all of His praying, Jesus did not forget us:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21 NIV)