notes on prayer

Even here in Kampala, we are still being blessed by our church in Halifax. We often listen to Pastor AJ's podcasts on the Deep Water Church website. This morning we listened to "Circle Maker: Think Long" as part of his series on prayer.

This sermon was all about the fact that we are called to long prayers -- not in terms of minutes, but in terms of how long we regularly pray about the same thing. We are called to pray until something happens.

AJ used Daniel as an example of someone committed to prayer.

When it came to prayer, Daniel had:

•  Consistency 
• Daniel prayed regularly -- even his enemies could count on his time of prayer (Daniel 6) 
• Build prayer into the fabric of your life
• Choosing a specific time of day (or general time of day) will help you build consistency 
• "It's about rhythm, not ritual." It's not about going through the motions and mumbling the same words, it's about falling into a rhythm so that when you fall out of it you notice something missing. 
• Sacred space
• You can pray anywhere but having a place for prayer -- whether it's the shower, taking a walk with your dog, or the car on the way to work -- trains your mind to turn to prayer in that place
• You should have daily places, but many people also have special places that they may not go to everyday but go to when they need a longer time of prayer. (Ex: a cathedral, a place in nature, etc) 
• This place should be free of distractions
• Symbolic posture
• This is something we have lost in today's culture
• There are different prayer postures that may be helpful for you: 
• laying on of hands 
• kneeling
• laying down (especially for private prayer) 
• having your hands raised
• hands closed together in agreement
• Quaker-style: they would begin praying with their palms down, letting go of their own plans or worries, and then as they prayed they would turn their palms up to receive what God wanted to say to them
• Tenacity 
• Keeping prayer lists can be helpful, particularly to remind yourself of things that do not directly affect you (praying for others, etc.) 
• Some people say a list is cold and mechanical, but sometimes the most loving thing you can do is ensure that you don't forget! 
• Fasting
• It's not about proving to God how bad we want something, but there is power in how it changes us and helps us focus 

Pray until something happens. After all, what's the alternative? Where else are you going to go? There are things that money, the government, celebrities, medicine and therapists can't fix. As the disciples said to Simon Peter said to Jesus, "‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”

Quotable quotes from AJ Thomas: 

"Prayer is not just talking to God, but fighting alongside God. Prayer is a struggle. Prayer is work." 

"The single, most effective way we can be part of the struggle going on in the world is to pray."

"We can be patient and stick with the One we know can fix it. Or we can turn to things that we know can't."

And a cool verse from Daniel, when the angel appeared to him about he had been praying for the same thing.

"The moment you began praying, a command was given..." (Daniel 9:23)

Although we can't understand exactly how spiritual warfare works, or see the results right away, praying sets things in motion in the spiritual realm.