PRAYER as PART of MAKING DISCIPLES
We may debate whether it’s best to call
ourselves Christians, disciples, Christ-followers, or “sinners saved by
grace”. Let’s agree on this: a defining mark of who we are is calling on
His Name. That is, learning how to pray.
The impulse to pray is in itself the result of grace, when sinners are saved by grace. Our hearts cry out asking God to do what only God can do: to forgive us, and keep us close to Him. As we test our wings of new formed faith, we discover what it is to pray. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
It’s not uncommon right in that instant to begin learning that followers of Jesus are people learning how to pray.
Loving God lock, stock and barrel…
Loving neighbor …
One thing to learn you can go to God “for yourself”. Another thing to learn as followers of Christ the power and authority we’re given to go to God in behalf of others. The people of God individually and collectively are CALLED to prayer. There is a sense that all world religions have a “call to prayer”, but we hear that call within our souls. “When You, LORD, said seek my face, I said Your face I will seek.” But called to pray for others: God says to Moses, “Be thou for they people to God-ward.” And the church is to pray for people in positions of authority, and we are to pray for all strata of society, since there is One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.
Loving neighbor as oneself… is certainly to pray in behalf of our neighbors. This can and should be a defining quality of every church plant, since our aim is to produce authentic followers of Christ—who revealed Himself as God’s Son in so many ways, but certainly in how He prays.
So how are you teaching others about prayer? What are you teaching others about prayer?
And when are you teaching them? Do so at every opportunity.
(Paste my daily prayer for neighbors… and my plan for praying daily for them. I hope we’ll all improve on that example. I want prayer that will lead those around me to a profound sense of God’s Presence and His Love. I want them to see and entrust themselves completely to His Presence and Love.)
Today I prayed “God, this may be the place where I can prop my feet up and say I’m home. But help me remember that You are here, and this is holy ground.”
The impulse to pray is in itself the result of grace, when sinners are saved by grace. Our hearts cry out asking God to do what only God can do: to forgive us, and keep us close to Him. As we test our wings of new formed faith, we discover what it is to pray. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
It’s not uncommon right in that instant to begin learning that followers of Jesus are people learning how to pray.
Loving God lock, stock and barrel…
Loving neighbor …
One thing to learn you can go to God “for yourself”. Another thing to learn as followers of Christ the power and authority we’re given to go to God in behalf of others. The people of God individually and collectively are CALLED to prayer. There is a sense that all world religions have a “call to prayer”, but we hear that call within our souls. “When You, LORD, said seek my face, I said Your face I will seek.” But called to pray for others: God says to Moses, “Be thou for they people to God-ward.” And the church is to pray for people in positions of authority, and we are to pray for all strata of society, since there is One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.
Loving neighbor as oneself… is certainly to pray in behalf of our neighbors. This can and should be a defining quality of every church plant, since our aim is to produce authentic followers of Christ—who revealed Himself as God’s Son in so many ways, but certainly in how He prays.
So how are you teaching others about prayer? What are you teaching others about prayer?
And when are you teaching them? Do so at every opportunity.
(Paste my daily prayer for neighbors… and my plan for praying daily for them. I hope we’ll all improve on that example. I want prayer that will lead those around me to a profound sense of God’s Presence and His Love. I want them to see and entrust themselves completely to His Presence and Love.)
Today I prayed “God, this may be the place where I can prop my feet up and say I’m home. But help me remember that You are here, and this is holy ground.”
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