Get Out of Your Prayer Box

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"The Lord's Prayer, Day 1"

"Prayer Is Action"

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Dannah Gresh: Have you ever eavesdropped on a child’s prayer? Let’s go ahead and do that right now.

Children:

Dear God, I want a rainbow.

In church they told us what You do. Who does it when You are on vacation?

Is it hard to love everybody in the world?

Thank you for my baby brother, but I asked for a puppy.

I only have five people in my family, and it’s hard to love them all!

Amen!

Dannah: Be honest with me, some of your prayers have sounded that way, right? Naïve. Uneducated. Well, our prayers reveal a lot about what we think. They reveal a lot about where our hearts are.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh. 

Today we’re going to talk about prayer. I’m gonna share a concept I call “getting out of the prayer box.” I’ll explain what I mean by that. First up? Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She’s teaching on the Lord’s Prayer. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Prayer, I find, is difficult for most people I know.

How many of you would say you struggle with the whole area of prayer? There’s some aspect of prayer that you just find really difficult. Okay, a lot of hands in here. Most of us at least, at times, feel guilty when we think about prayer because we know we should be praying more than we do. I think most of us feel inadequate. Even the apostle Paul said, “We don’t know how to pray. We don’t know what we should pray for. We don’t know how to pray about so many different situations” (Rom. 8:26 paraphrase).

I think at times we feel confused about prayer, maybe even disturbed or perturbed at God. We wouldn’t maybe say that, but sometimes with prayer there’s this extraordinary, apparent lack of relationship between cause and effect. The things you pray for don’t happen and some of the things you don’t pray for do happen. You say, “Go figure. Does prayer work? Does it not?”

Some of these things we wouldn’t probably say out loud, but we do feel that frustration. A lot of times we have unanswered questions about prayer—things like, “Why pray about something, if God already knows it all and He’s sovereign? He’s going to do what He’s going to do. Why should we even pray?”

Sometimes we don’t verbalize those questions and those thoughts, but I have to confess to you that prayer is a very, very difficult area of my spiritual life. But in the past year or so I’ve been asking the Lord to teach me how to pray.

As part of that search over the last several months, I’ve been studying and meditating on the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus gave that prayer to teach His disciples how to pray. I’ve been saying, “Lord teach me to pray,” and that quest has led me to the Lord’s Prayer. It has been such a rich, rich study.

Dannah: Let’s go ahead read the Lord’s Prayer together. Open your Bible or your Bible reading app to Matthew 6, beginning with verse 9. It reads:

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

Nancy: There would be many stories that could be told, but one that particularly was a blessing to me was when I read about a pastor named Helmut Thielicke who was, actually, a well-known Lutheran theologian in Germany during World War II. He was also a pastor during that period. He was a young pastor, and during the final days of the war, his congregation in Stuttgart, Germany, was in upheaval, as you might imagine.

These were horribly trying times for this little flock of believers. The bombs were falling day and night. The Third Reich was crumbling. The Allied Forces were coming in and overcoming the German resistance. The country was in chaos. This Pastor Thielicke looked into the eyes of his people week after week, and he saw fear, terror, doubt, despair. These people desperately needed hope.

Was their country going to be wiped out? Were they going to be wiped out? What was going to happen? If you're the pastor, what do you say at a time like that? How do you try and encourage these people? How do you prepare your people for what may lie ahead for them?

Thielicke decided to preach a series of sermons on the Lord's Prayer, and that series became well known. It was ultimately translated into English. It was published in the United States. In the introduction to that book, Thielicke said, “The Lord's Prayer was able to contain it all.”

The Lord's Prayer was able to contain it all. We're living in troubled times today. We don't have bombs falling around us—yet. We don't know if that will ever happen. We don't know that it won't happen at some point, but these are troubled times. You don't have to be very current on current events, you don't have to be a big news buff to know that we live in dire times.

The world is self-destructing under the weight of sin and rebellion against God, and as I've been following developments in various parts of the world, I've been thinking about the instability of the world situation and the increasing likelihood of catastrophic events, not only in other parts of the world, but in our country. It's going to happen.

Jesus said there will be times in the end days when men will actually—their hearts will fail because of fear. They'll be having heart attacks; they're so scared. What do you say to people in times like these? How do we prepare our listeners? How do we prepare our own hearts for the disastrous times that we may be facing?

As we think about what lies ahead for our country, for our world, or maybe what you're facing right now in your marriage, in your family, in your health, in your finances—you can say, “Yes, the world's going crazy, but my life is really going crazy!” Or you think about what lies ahead. There are things that you're dreading, things that you're fearing, things that you're facing.

We don't know how to deal with these times. We don't know how to deal with distress, and God's given us His Spirit to intercede for us, but God has also given us this prayer, the Lord's Prayer we call it, to direct our praying.

That pastor in Germany said that the Lord's Prayer was able to contain it all. This prayer does contain it all, and it's a prayer that Jesus gave to us that will help prepare us to face uncertain times.

It's going to help us know how to think, how to live, how to pray, how to walk, how to respond, how to not give in to fear, how to be prepared for today and for whatever lies ahead. Jesus said, “When you pray, pray this way,” and I think these are times when we need to be learning how to pray this way.

Children: . . . hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven . . .

Dannah: Amen! How precious! And, some good words from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, reminding us that the Lord’s Prayer is such a powerful piece to guide our praying—especially when we’re not sure what to be praying.

If you’d like to go deeper and study The Lord’s Prayer with Nancy, you can! That’s just a taste of an entire series available at ReviveOurHearts.com/podcast/weekend. Find today’s program, and we have a link for you to Nancy’s series on the Lord’s Prayer.

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One point Nancy makes is that the Lord’s Prayer is meant to be a pattern, a guide, rather than a special combination of words that will somehow make God listen to us more.

If you’ve grown up in a tradition where you recite the Lord’s Prayer on a regular basis, it might feel stale and old. In fact, I think it’s not too much of a stretch to say this: if all you ever do is recite memorized prayers, there might be some wonderful, new prayer experiences awaiting you.

Many years ago my prayer life was in a rut. No energy. No interest. I was zoning out during my devos. The one steady part of my routine was that my prayer journal got filled each day. I sort of felt that if I didn't fill the page, I hadn't prayed. If the page was full, I was good to go.

Then my friend Melinda confronted me: "Maybe you should put your journal down. It seems like you're putting your prayer life in that box, and it's stuck in there."

Can I encourage you to “get out of your prayer box”?

I think we have a lot of prayer routines, tools, and helps that can be like this box we get stuck in: journals, Wednesday night prayer meetings, Bible homework, morning devos, and writing long lists of requests can be "boxes" where we get stuck. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Disciplines are a good thing. Sometimes we need to do things even though we don’t really feel like it. Forming healthy habits can help us over those “humps.” But we also need to avoid slipping into the mindset that by simply checking off the boxes we’re somehow making God more pleased with us. We can forget the point of it all—relationship! 

You see, prayer is an ongoing conversation with God. He goes with you everywhere. You wouldn't spend the day with a friend and say, "I'll speak with you at lunch, but for the rest of the day, let's not talk!" Why do we relegate our prayer lives to one portion or portions of our day?

Listen to Acts chapter 3, verses 1–10. 

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

In these verses, Peter and John were headed to the box of "the hour of prayer." But these guys weren't stuck there. Peter and John were in constant communion with the Holy Spirit, and they knew what He could do before He even did it. That's why, when they walked by this beggar, they said, "Look at us!"

Peter and John knew they were filled with God, and they looked like Him and sounded like Him because they were full of Him! They spoke “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” They understood they represented Jesus and were living out His will. They were in constant communion. They had a prayer life.

Remember, John 14:13–14 says, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Again, it’s not that Peter and John had just the right magic words to say. Funny thing, they weren’t having a quiet time at that moment. They were headed to the temple, but this happened outside the temple. They didn't have their eyes closed when they said these words. Nothing they did was inside the standard prayer box approach. No, they were operating outside the prayer box.

You see, you don't have to close your eyes or kneel or be at church, or even start with "Dear God" and end with "Amen," for it to be prayer. Ultimately, prayer is communication, and a life of prayer is one in constant communion with God.

And what about the lame man? 

In this case, the beggar who had never been able to walk was healed. He began leaping and praising God. Fairly good prayer results, don't ya think? He's so overcome by this healing that he begins leaping and praising God! He doesn’t have a box or “this-is-the-approved-way-to-pray” rules. It just flows out of him in jumping praise! I mean, if you’ve never walked before and suddenly you can, you’d jump around, too! Am I right? 

When was the last time you did that? 

Why don't you get out of your prayer box and start a prayern life?

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Now. How much time do you spend praying with others? Did you know that this coming Thursday is the National Day of Prayer? This is a wonderful opportunity to join with others all over this nation, praying for God to move and for the advance of His kingdom. I’ll tell you more about the National Day of Prayer in a moment. 

Not too long ago, Nancy and I were able to chat with Karen Ellis about prayer. Karen loves traveling with her husband, Carl, and delights in her children and grandchildren. Another thing she enjoys greatly is watching God work through the prayers of His people. 

Karen Ellis: Every single advance of the kingdom in the New Testament is preceded by prayer! I’m opening up the Scripture now, and I’m seeing prayer, prayer, prayer—kingdom prayer. One of the things I’m working on . . . I’m doing a research project on the Moravians and their hundred years of prayer and how the Lord unfolded an enormous movement out of that, that spread the gospel around the Caribbean through the first African-led congregation in the Americas. They were a product of that. 

I guess it’s just causing me to have a sort of different take and to see things through a different lens, that it’s hard for me to go back to that argument that prayer is not action. 

I would challenge anybody who would say that prayer is not action or prayer is passive, or prayer is the wimp’s way out. I would challenge them to go through Scripture and look at all the places where people called out to God and find one place where He didn’t move!

Nancy: Wow. So, what does it look like for you to be praying with some of these friends, these people with whom God has connected your heart? What do you see God doing? I know you’ve had kind of a front row seat to some of what God is doing in stirring up His people to cry out to Him. Give us a glimpse of some of what you’ve seen in that.

Karen: It sounds kind of redundant, but we’ve been praying for prayer. We’ve been praying for prayer and praying for God to help us find the people of prayer and peace. And in the middle of all of that, we’ve found ourselves in some really interesting situations. 

We stumbled on an ongoing prayer gathering that’s been happening in Fairfield, Alabama, that I wrote about in United We Pray, at their website. In the middle of all of the global confusion, all of the domestic confusion, a friend of ours who is the pastor of a church that has declared bankruptcy and has all sorts of problems that you would associate with a city in bankruptcy, on top of that, they’ve got civil unrest now. 

He called a prayer meeting and just sent out a basic email. I don’t know how many people he sent it out to, but about three hundred people showed up. It was such an incredible experience, because the building was an old Dollar store. They didn’t wait for the big renovation to have the big church.

It felt so much like the condition of my heart at the time. The store was stripped, just rubble, pretty much. Spread to the side so they could put up some chairs. There was no electricity in the building so they had some generators outside providing a sound system. It just felt very bare-bones, very much gutted.

I think a lot of us showed up with our hearts feeling gutted at the time. It wasn’t dramatic. The prayer that went on there; it was just three-hundred people. We heard a message where the pastor called out to God and reminded us that we are one, and then we just set about praying. 

It wasn’t something you would associate with, “Oh! Something significant happened!” or “We came out with a game plan of how we’re going to move and fix all of these things that are wrong with the city!” It wasn’t that, but I think everybody who was there just knew something significant happened, even if it was just the miracle of three-hundred people. 

Some of us had driven two-and-a-half hours to get there. Three-hundred people just coming together to pray in a hundred degree heat in a gutted building together as one. We see things like this popping up all over the place! They’re happening virtually: people starting these little prayer pods (I don’t know what else to call them) of people studying prayer, turning to prayer.

Actually, a big part of it seems to be laying down our idols, laying down the things that we have allowed to replace the Lord within our heart. There is probably much, much more going on that I have no idea, but it just seems that something is happening, something is stirring the Church to pray. 

We have been praying in a global online prayer group, like I’m sure some of you are affiliated with and participating in. We’ve been praying in one for God to stir His people to kingdom prayer. So pray for prayer! Praying for prayer is probably the most important thing we could do right now.

Dannah: You know, my heart is about to burst, because what I’m sensing . . . it’s almost like a eureka moment for me. I think that you’ve described this: how can you walk with the Lord for twenty-five years and suddenly be awakened to prayer?

I feel like, at this moment, I’m hearing, “The point of it is the prayer!” Hello-o-o?! The point of it is the prayer; the point of it is not, “What are we going to get out of the prayer?” So many times we come to God . . . My question I want to ask you right now (and I’m not going to), but the one I want to ask you is, “Well, what happened after you gathered in that dilapidated building? How did God move? What came next?” 

But I’m sensing this satisfaction that you just came and you were with God, and that was the point! And maybe that’s why the Lord is letting things fall apart, do you think?

Karen: Sure! I think the most significant change was in us . . . or at least in me; I can speak for myself. That was where the most significant change was. You know, the children of Israel cried out, “Lord, we don’t want to go if You don’t go with us!” 

I think the folks that we’re meeting, from whom we’re learning, are sensing that there’s always a cultural moment coming after the moment that you’re in. Cultural moments are like Pez candy dispensers: there’s always another one. You flip the head back, there’s another one, there’s another one. And we don’t know what that next cultural moment is going to be.

But if we become a people of kingdom prayer—not prayer centered on politics or culture, but on kingdom—if we become a kingdom of prayer, we may be a little bit better prepared for whatever is coming, even as our hearts are being stirred to the most basic confessing our idols and laying them down.

So, I’m content to sit in that space. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t go and respond to my community’s needs and continue doing the work of the kingdom and the mercy ministry and all of those things. That doesn’t mean that I stop all of that and just commit everything to prayer. We’re not talking about a kind of monastic existence here.

I think what we’re talking about is making that central, asking God, “Where are we going as a people? What are we doing as a people? How are we responding as a people in a way that comports with the kingdom that You’re building . . . not the kingdoms we want to see?”

Dannah: I remember that interview with Karen. It stuck with me. I saw prayer differently . . . almost more, simply! The point of prayer is prayer. Like gathering with my good girlfriend, Lynn. I don’t meet her for coffee to ask her to do things for me, though sometimes I do. I don’t intend to ask for advice, but it almost always leads to that. I don’t show up just to praise her, but her hair is almost always on point. The purpose of meeting her is being with her. I adore her. She’s my friend. 

I’m learning to approach prayer more like that, too! Now if you could read my prayer journal (and guess what, I’m going to let you in a sec), you’d see a lot of petitions to God as I watch for answers. You’d see places where I pine for advice. You’d see pages of praise and thanksgiving. But the more I grow in my walk with Jesus, there are entries like the one I wrote on March 13:

Sitting on a sunny deck wrapped in a sherpa blanket with a gentle wind blowing through leaves left over from fall. Sensing You. Certain of You. It’s good to be with You, Lord.

Earlier I mentioned the National Day of Prayer. It’s this Thursday, May 2. I hope you’ll make plans to spend some time lifting up our nation to the Lord. The theme this year is “Lift Up the Word, Light Up the World.” Don’t you love that? The more we lift up the Word of God, the more we soak ourselves in letting the Scriptures inform and transform our lives, the more brightly we’ll shine, lighting up the World so that—we pray—the fires of revival can burn brightly. 

There’s a lot of information about how you can get together with others near you, to pray for America and the world. I know you know that, apart from Jesus, these are days of confusion, fear, and darkness. But as His light spreads, our prayer is that the confusion would be cleared up, the fear would give way to hope, and the darkness would be pushed back.

Do you want to pray for that? I do. And I will, this Thursday. You’ll find more information about the National Day of Prayer when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and click on today’s program. It’s called “Get Out of Your Prayer Box.” 

Next weekend we’re going to take a look at the unique calling that is motherhood. That’s right. If you’re a mom, if you have a mom, if you want to be a mom, be sure to listen in!

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh, inviting you back for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

 

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