PRAYER:
The Heart Of God, The Heart Of The Church 6/6
Rumc
10/30/11
Richard Foster Writes, “One day a friend of mine was walking through a
shopping mall with his two-year-old son.
The child was in a particularly cantankerous mood, fussing and
fuming. The frustrated father tried
everything to quiet his son, but nothing seemed to help. The child simply would not obey. Then, under some special inspiration, the
father scooped up his son, and holding him close to his chest, began singing an
impromptu love song. None of the words
rhymed. He sang off key. And yet, as best he could, this father began
sharing his heart. “I love you,” he sang. “I’m so glad you’re my
boy. You make me happy; I like the way
you laugh.” On they went from one store
to the next. Quietly the father
continued singing off key and making up words that did not rhyme. The child relaxed and became still, listening
to this strange and wonderful song.
Finally, they finished shopping and went to the car. As the father opened the door and prepared to
buckle his son into the car seat, the child lifted his head and said, simply, –
“Sing it to me again, daddy! Sing it to me again!” (Richard
Foster)
That is the
way prayer is. In the midst our
rebellion and disobedience; in the midst of our busyness and blindness; in the middle of the biggest
tantrum the world has ever seen God picks us up and sings us a love song… from
God’s heart to ours.
Today is
the last sermon in this series on prayer.
We have talked about prayer being part of our nature, prayer as
relationship to God, the simplicity of prayer, and the power of prayer. We have talked about and, hopefully, you have
practiced some tried and true techniques to help you pray. There are hundreds of things we haven’t
covered but those will wait for another time.
Today we end this series with the conviction that PRAYER IS OUR HEART
TOUCHING GOD’S HEART.
Prayer is
our direct connection to the heart of God.
We talk about prayer as a discipline and it is. But, it is so much more. Prayer is more like being swept up in our
loving father’s arms and hearing the sweet “I love you’s” whispered into our
ear over and over.
For too
long we have been running from God: hiding behind noise and hurry and crowds; living a life of climbing and pushing and shoving; living in a
world of frustration and fear and intimidation.
In prayer
God welcomes us home: home to serenity and peace and joy, home to friendship
and fellowship and openness, home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation.
·
God invites us into the living room of His heart,
where we can put on old slippers and share freely.
·
Where we can gather around the fireplace to warm our
hearts frozen by the difficulties of this life and the cynicism of this
age.
·
Where we can just BE in God’s presence and
power.
·
Where we can
just SHARE all that is on our hearts.
·
Where we can GAIN STRENGTH for the day and food for
the journey.
·
Where we can LEARN AND GROW AND STRETCH AND ASK all
the questions we want.
Perhaps you have never
prayed before except in anguish or terror.
It may be that the only time the divine name has been on your lips has
been in angry expletives. Never
mind. I am here to tell you that the
Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.
Perhaps you do not believe
in prayer. You may have tried to pray
and were profoundly disappointed and disillusioned. It does not matter. The Father’s heart is open wide – you are
welcome to come in.
Perhaps you are bruised and
broken by the pressures of life. Others
have wronged you, and you feel scarred for life. You have old, painful memories that have
never been healed. You avoid prayer
because you feel too distant, too unworthy, too defiled. Do not despair. The Father’s heart is open wide – you are
welcome to come in.
Perhaps you have prayed for
many years, but the words have grown brittle and cold. Little ever happens anymore. God seems remote and inaccessible. Listen to me.
The Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.
Perhaps prayer is the
delight of your life. You have lived in
the divine realm for a long time and can attest to its goodness. But you long for more: more power, more love,
more of God in your life. Believe
me. The Father’s heart is open wide –
you too are welcome to come higher up, and deeper in.(Richard
Foster)
PRAYER THEN, IS THE HEART OF FAITH ENTERING THE HEART OF GOD.
The other side of the equation is that as the body of Christ, here on
earth, prayer is at the very heart of who we are. We read the famous passage in Matthew, “Where 2 or three are gathered. .
. (in what)… IN MY NAME, there I am in
the midst of them. Where two or three, or 50 or 75 or 175 or 1.75 million are
gathered in his name there is Jesus in the midst of us. Jesus, the connection from the heart of the
church to the heart of God.
As the church of Jesus Christ, the body of Christ, the heart of our body - our congregation- is prayer.
Prayer is the heart that keeps the blood of Christ flowing through our
veins. The church that doesn’t have prayer at its heart, is cold.
The heart is the organ by which we measure life and death by its beating
or lack thereof. The church that doesn’t
have prayer at its heart is dead.
The heart is customarily considered the home of all emotion including
love. The church that doesn’t have
prayer at its heart can’t love.
The church in which prayer is not the most obvious and observable activity
is not really a church. It might be many
things, but it is not part of the body of Christ.
Brothers and sisters. Prayer- THE
HEART OF FAITH TOUCHING THE HEART OF God-- IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY OF
THIS CHURCH.
·
I am not talking about the obligatory, “God bless
the potato salad” before a pot luck.
Although it is always good to give thanks.
·
I am not talking about all the prayers being said
right now, “God let this be the conclusion of the sermon.” Although we are
getting close
·
I am not talking about the simplest of prayers “God
bless mom and dad” although the habit developed by having regular prayer times
is essential.
No, I am talking about real honest
to God, heart bearing, soul searching, spirit stretching connection through
Jesus Christ to the very heart of God.
I am convinced that there is nothing--- nothing more important that we
can do as God’s people in this place than to become a praying congregation.
Your final homework then, is pretty simple.
1.
PRAY--Each and every one of us should be praying
every single day. Make prayer a
lifestyle. There are some of us who can
check that off their list already and move on to number 2. If we are to become a praying congregation,
every single one of us needs to spend some time in prayer every day.
2.
PRAY MORE- If you are already praying every day,
pray more. I thought about saying 10%,
25% I
couldn’t decide--- I think that is up to you. But if you are praying every day for 5
minutes, try 6 or 7. If you pray for a
half hour, try 40 minutes. If you pray
once a day try twice. I don’t care how
much, just increase the time you spend in prayer. The more time you spend with someone the
better you know them. God is no
exception. And god wants more than anything to hear from you more and know you
better.
3.
Finally PRAY DEEPER.
I asked you to PRAY DAILY because in order to be a praying congregation
we need to have a lifestyle of prayer.
I ask you to PRAY MORE, so that we grow closer to God. It might be that when you pray more, you will
naturally go deeper. But when I say PRAY
DEEPER I mean to let God in to the very deepest parts of your heart, and in
turn seek to experience the deepest wonders of the divine heart.
I know that I might be talking Greek to some of you. Let me help
you.
The Women’s Bible study, the Wednesday night Library Class and Barb Wildman and I have spent 6 weeks
working our way deeper into prayer. We
have been using the “WORKBOOOK OF LIVING PRAYER” You can too. I have left some workbooks lying
on the back table. There is also a
signup sheet if those books are gone, I will buy as many books as you will use.
You can use the book alone, you can use
it with a friend or three. So I call
upon you to PRAY DAILY, PRAY MORE, and PRAY DEEPER.
In this way, I hope to lead us into
being a more praying congregation… a people of God who live and breathe prayer…
the body of Christ with prayer pumping through our veins. Children of God held close in God’s arms listening
to God’s love song. And singing back “Sing it to me again, daddy! Sing it to me
again!”
From God’s
heart to ours. . . From our heat to
God’s. PRAYER.
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