Intimacy with Christ

Written by Stephen Buckley

We Americans like to boast in our busyness. We humble-brag to our friends and family about the long hours we work, our crammed weekend, all our plans (both on the job and at play) in the coming weeks. And it’s all usually punctuated by a faux-dramatic sigh.

(We are, of course, not too busy for Tik Tok and Facebook and Instagram, but that’s another post.)

Let me say this: busyness is not bad. Being overwhelmed and distracted and constantly anxious—that’s bad. And that’s where many of us find ourselves.

Jesus offers an antidote: intimacy with Him. In a world aswirl with activity, He calls us to calm. To hang out with Him. To sit and stay a while.

In John’s gospel, there’s a recurring picture: the disciple reclining against Jesus. No other disciple depicts himself this way, which suggests that no other disciple rested against Jesus’ chest. This is the same John who captured Jesus’ command to, “Abide with me.”

I suspect this isn’t a coincidence. At some point, this Son of Thunder learned that transformation comes by being in Christ’s presence. That making Jesus our home, as The Message puts it, changes us in ways that are deeper and sweeter than we know.

John also called himself the Beloved. That’s probably not a coincidence either. One result of hanging out with Jesus is that he reminds us relentlessly of how much He loves us. He does that in many ways—by bringing to mind scripture, sermons, spiritual songs, and memories of His goodness in years and days past.

Time with Him often reminds us of the power of salvation. In my own life, I find that Christ is always bringing me back to the Cross. Having a lousy week (or month or year)? Anguished by disappointment and hurt? Doubting God’s goodness? His answer is always the same: Look to the cross.

It is hard to find time for Jesus. That’s especially true for those of us with young children. Suzanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley – both of whom became legendary preachers and hymn writers – had nine kids. When she needed to spend time with God, she perched herself on a chair in the corner of her kitchen and hid her head in a dishtowel. We may have to get creative too.

Ultimately, time with Jesus speeds up, and deepens, our surrender. It is hard to trust people we haven’t spent much time with. When we make time for Jesus, our trust in Him takes root, which makes it easier for us to give ourselves wholly to him.

All of this takes patience, especially with ourselves. There will be seasons when days and weeks whoosh by without our sitting with the One who loves us beyond measure and beyond reason. That’s okay. He will always be waiting, with open arms. He will always welcome us home. And he’ll always make our time with Him worth it.

A Beautiful Mystery

Written by Lacey Ryan

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” -James 5:13-15

We are commanded to pray. Prayer is the way we speak with God. We pour out our hearts with desires and sorrows, pain and joy. We plead for a miracle. We offer words of thanksgiving and praise. We cry when we can't form words. We sing when our joy is overwhelming. We speak words into the air, and they hang there, suspended above us, floating toward heaven. I know He hears and listens to every word I speak, every word I think. Although my mind can barely concentrate on one conversation at a time, He is not limited to such capacities. But how exactly are my prayers answered? By praying, am I changing my circumstances or my attitude and perspective? If I pray for patience, will I wake up the next morning full of grace and understanding? Or will I be given the circumstances to practice tempering my short fuse of annoyance? If I pray to know God in a deeper relationship will I suddenly have vast Biblical knowledge or will God pursue me in daily communion to teach me one truth at a time? Does the Lord really work in mysterious ways or is He more straightforward, more obvious? Years ago, the leader of a women's Bible study I was a member of decided it was her time to step down. She opened the leadership position to our whole group, asking each of us to prayerfully consider taking over her role. I immediately nixed the idea. I preferred the role of group participant, and I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about dismissing the idea. God understood. He's the one who made me more of a behind the scenes person to start. I imagined him nodding in approval over my choice. Soon after her announcement, something very strange happened. I found myself quietly mulling over her proposal. I talked about it with a few close girlfriends. I started, here we go, praying about it. What was happening? In a matter of a couple of weeks, the idea turned from something I had no interest in doing (and, in fact, was resistant towards) to something I was strongly considering. I knew this change of heart had nothing to do with me and everything to do with God softening my attitude. He was nudging me out of my comfort zone and into new territory where I would have to trust Him for everything this leadership role would require. I led the group for a year and grew immensely in the way I trusted God for wisdom. I prayed for the courage to lead them confidently and for humbleness in the way I spoke and taught. (But let me be honest-I was still scared every single week before leading that group!) In this season, the Lord changed my heart, my attitude, and my stubbornness. He brought me to a place where I realized it wasn't about my agenda but His. He turned my attention from self-absorbed insecurities to focusing on a beautiful group of women who needed me to lead, needed each other for friendship, and needed Christ for hope and security. Still at other times He has changed my circumstances obviously and immediately. After losing my full-time job, I prayed for employment and aced my next interview. I prayed for the healing of friends and family members and test results came back negative. I prayed for friends to combat my own loneliness, and He flooded my life with beautiful people who became close companions. The way that I have come to understand the great and beautiful mystery of prayer is this: our Father wants to hear our voices calling out to Him. He wants us to release our control and give it to Him. He wants to hear our consistent confessions, praises, songs, requests, and musings. I'm not sure why certain prayers are answered the way they are. I couldn't even begin to figure out the reasons why God chooses to work in the ways that He does. But I am thankful that He does hear us and listens tenderly.

Tips to Enrich Our Prayer Lives

Written by Tonia Bartlett

I remember sitting in a prayer gathering in Egypt during my first year overseas, listening to one of the Egyptian women pray, and thinking to myself, “Dang. I want to talk to God the way she does.” There was something deeply personal and intimate about her prayers that clued me in, maybe for the first time, on how impersonal my own conversations with the Lord were.

Sometimes I think that in American church culture, when we try to address the topic of prayer we get overly focused on teaching about why we ought to pray. In doing so, we fail to acknowledge that most of us don’t pray as often or deeply as we “should” because we’re uncertain on how to pray.

I feel strongly that prayer is a skill that’s practiced and honed, and it’s something we get better at and more comfortable with as we develop the skill. I’m not saying that prayer is not possible without teaching and practice. Like all habits of discipleship, any believer can do it, whether they’ve practiced or not. What I am saying is that with practice and instruction on different ways to approach prayer, it becomes more natural, more enjoyable, and more effective.

I wanted to share a few tips I’ve picked up over time that have made my prayer life richer. While prayer still gets difficult in seasons, these are ways the Lord has routinely called me back when things get hard.

Pray with other people.

It was in that room with my sister in Christ that I realized the riches of prayer for the very first time! I have found that my personal theology and understanding of God are most on display when I’m praying aloud, and I am refined by hearing others on display.

Additionally, as a middle school teacher, I think that the best methods for learning start with modeling. Praying with others, particularly those gifted in prayer, is a great chance for us to be exposed to and trained up in new aspects of prayer. It’s worth mentioning that pre-service prayer on Sunday mornings at 9:45 is a joyful space to pursue prayer with others!

Set a timer to build stamina. Start small!

If I could make a recommendation to every single member of our church for how to grow in prayer, this would be it. Settling into prayer is hard. The beauty of the timer is that it tells my brain, “Hey, you can rush through this, but we’re going to be here for the next 5 minutes whether you do or not.” I find myself so much more likely to slow down, and really rest in prayer with that timer than I am without it.

Word to the wise: start small. If your prayers right now are usually only 30-seconds long, don’t start the timer at 15 minutes. You’re likely going to be frustrated and bored if you do that. Build stamina by starting with a 3-minute timer. Over the course of a month, work your way up to longer intervals of prayer. There is no “destination” to arrive at with prayer. Start with where you’re at, and be met with the Lord’s delight in your pursuit of Him.

Pray through scripture.

Pray God’s very own words back to Him. What’s so cool about this is that we can do it with any scripture! Something you could do is find a Psalm or passage that resonates with you and put it into your own words as you pray. Here’s an example of what that prayer might sound like, using Psalm 23:1-3.

God, you’re my shepherd. You guide me through the fields I’m walking in every single day. In you, I have everything I need - I don’t want anything apart from you. Would you make that true for my heart? I don’t want to want anything apart from you. Father, your will for my life is to make me rest. To bring me to the lush and beautiful places. You take me next to quiet streams, and you nourish my soul so that I’m refreshed. Father, will you guide me this week to walk in righteous paths? I want to bring glory to your name.

Follow a liturgy, prayer book, or methodology.

I’ve found liturgies helpful at different times in my life. Right now, I’m using a Puritan prayer book called Valley of Vision in my quiet times, and it’s been really meaningful. Sometimes these resources feel dry and dead to me, but in other seasons they’re rich and nourishing. Allow your intuition to guide you on this one.

There are many different prayer methods to use too, that can be helpful. A few I’ve benefited from are:

1. ACTS - move through prayer in four phases: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.

2. The Lord’s Prayer - let the different phases of the Lord’s prayer guide you.

   1. “Hallowed be thy name…” - use this section to praise God and give him glory.

   2. “Your Kingdom come…” - His is a Kingdom without disease, fear, grief or pain. Where would you invite the Lord’s Kingdom into your life this week?

   3. “Give us today our daily bread…” - this is a moment where you would ask for the Lord’s specific provision. What “daily bread” do you or your family need right now?

3. Concentric circles - this is a prayer that starts with the smallest level of community, and scales up. Start by praying for self, then for family, then for community, then for city, state, country, world, etc.

4. Open hands - this is a prayer that involves body posture. At the beginning, you pray with your palms down, and just list the things you want to give over to the Lord and be freed from today - sins, burdens, worries. Then, you flip your hands over, and listen for or recount the things that you can receive from the Lord today. It’s beautiful to see what the Holy Spirit will speak through this prayer.

Create a prayer calendar

I like to take a monthly calendar and write in specific topics that I’ll pray for each day. I usually have things that repeat, so for example, each day of the week I’ll pray for a family member, on a 6-day cycle. But then I’m also a teacher, so I might put each of my students into a day of the month, so that over the course of the month, I pray for each of them. Or I’ll specifically designate a day of the week to pray for my finances, one for my colleagues, another for my physical health.

Word to the wise: There are days or stretches where I don’t pray for what’s on the list, and find it really tempting to feel guilty, or feel a need to “catch up” on the things I missed. This prayer calendar really requires an attitude of grace if it’s something you want to try, but this tool brings a lot of clarity to my prayer life, and keeps my prayers fresh.

Open up to God like He’s in the room.

This isn’t so much an action step as it is a posture shift, but it makes a beautiful difference in engaging with the Father. I often find myself tempted to pray in cliches or pray vaguely for situations I don’t really want to open up to God about. Imagine sitting across from a friend at coffee and talking to them that way. How silly would that be? There’s something raw and vulnerable about telling the Lord how frustrated, angry, and grieved I am. Doing this with God is a big posture shift, but it makes prayer rich and compelling.

I hope you will find some of these tips helpful in your prayer life!