“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” (Acts 1:14)

Notice the disciples didn’t just take a moment of prayer. They were in “one accord” which means they were all in unity, in agreement, with one focus. What did they do with all that focus? They were “devoting themselves to prayer”.

And for them, this prayer wasn’t just for a couple of hours on a Sunday. There were 10 days of waiting. 10 days of unified, focused prayer. Devoting themselves – not to debate or complaining or strategizing or speculating or hiding out – but devoting themselves to prayer.

This tells me two things:

1. They knew they needed help.
2. They knew their help came from God.

A person who devotes themselves to a life a prayer is one who knows they need help – not just in a crisis, but help every moment of everyday. And they know their help comes from God.

Does that describe our prayer life? Some of us pray out of habit. And that’s fine, for a while. A good habit of prayer is better than a bad habit of neglect. But prayer should be more than a habit.

Some pray out of a motive of legalism – that is, they believe something we do saves us. But salvation is a gift – not earned. I’m not saved based on what I do, but what Jesus has already done.

And some pray to avoid guilt. They feel condemned if they don’t, so they pray to feel better about themselves.

We shouldn’t pray out of fear, but out of faith. When I go to God, I want my motivation to be this: I want to be with Jesus. I want to spend time in His word. I want my motive for prayer to be the gospel – to reflect on who Jesus is and what He has done; to be reminded that I am not self-sufficient, but I need Him and He loves me.

I want to approach God like Hebrews 4:16 teaches…

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

If you know you need mercy, if you know you’re in need of grace, run to the throne of God. Come boldly. That doesn’t mean we pray with arrogance, but with confidence. We pray with faith, knowing that God is for us, that Jesus has purchased us and is interceding for us daily.

Like the chorus of that old hymn be our plea.

“I need thee, O I need thee.
Every hour I need thee.
Oh bless me now, my Savior
I come to thee.”

And unknowingly this family was in the midst of suffering. Matt had been fighting an ongoing battle with a brain tumor. We witnessed him go into surgery, recover, and their family walk through many dark nights. Yet, we witnessed the sustaining grace of God in the midst of suffering, pain, and uncertainty. We observed a hope that flowed through reliance upon God’s power and His Word.

I want to share their story with you. One of Helen’s recent blog posts points directly to Joseph (where we are in our current sermon messages) and it being a reminder of God’s nearness in our trials. I encourage you to read it. He still faces ongoing dangerous seizures, and is heading into another brain surgery. Their story has greatly impacted our lives – and pray it would do the same for you, to build your faith in a good God, who’s immeasurable love can be trusted even in our dark days.

God wants me to pray, and I want to pray to God.  And I’m praying.

But I’m not “good at it,” whatever being “good” at prayer means.  Even thinking of being “good” at prayer reveals an insidious performance mentality and pride.  Why not be rough and unpolished but genuine with God?  Why not depend upon Christ’s offering of himself as my High Priest and righteousness rather than seeking to be “good” at prayer?

My mind still wanders.  I talk too much in prayer.  My petitions dominate rather than praise, though a bit less so of late.  My requests seem hopelessly earthbound and physical rather than heaven-soaked and spiritual.  I battle fatigue, which seems to pounce on me the moment my mind turns to prayer.  And when I think of what God has done in my life through Christ His Son, I must admit that my prayers are weak and uninspired.  He does far more than I have ever asked or thought.

So, I’m learning to pray… again.  And I’m enjoying the learning.

Read the whole post here.

With our Bible reading plan for 2011 just around the corner, we are taking time to peer into the life of George Muller and his practice of prayerful meditation on scripture.

I think this would be of interest and thought provoking. It has served my soul well – and hope it is a source of encouragement and challenge too. (Because of its length, this post is in two parts. Read Part One).

“…The difference between my former practice and my present one is this. Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer. . . . But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it!) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

It often now astonished me that I did not sooner see this. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God: and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. . . .

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one!”

(Expert can be found in John Piper’s book Desiring God, 155–57)

With our Bible reading plan just around the corner, I think this would be of interest and thought provoking. It has served my soul well – and hope it is a source of encouragement and challenge too. (Because of its length, I will post this in two parts. Part One Muller will share about his practice and discovery in prayerful meditation on scripture, and Part Two will highlight what his times with the Lord looked like previous).

“While I was staying at Nailsworth, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now . . . more than forty years have since passed away.

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental, communion with the Lord. I began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake or preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.

When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me, that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, very soon after, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.  (155–57)

Now, this might seem daunting! But, here is a little data. The average person reads about 250 words a minute. Lets say you are a slower reader (like me) and let’s say your just read 200 words a minute. At that pace, if you were going to read the entire Bible in 12 months – it would take only 10.5 minutes a day! (You can figure it out here on this reading calculator – comparatively – the average person will spend over 110 minutes a day on the internet!)

Yet, our aim is not simply to get chapters read, but to allow God’s Word to work on our hearts. To prayerfully meditate on scripture, asking God for understanding, faith, conviction, and transformation as we read about who He is, and what He has done do redeem us. (We will post more in the near future on studying and applying God’s word in our personal times.)

So, Oasis – we get the joy of reading, praying, and allowing God to speak to us every day! Join us in this. Rally with your spouse. Rally with a brother or sister in your care group. Be a means of encouragement and accountability as we do this together.

Be sure to pick up a booklet if you did not get one Sunday. We have created one that you can keep with your Bible in order to keep record of your readings. It also includes resources for prayer and study. Let’s throw ourselves into this, and watch God work through His glorious scriptures!

Proverbs 30:8-9 - “… give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

Wow, what a prayer. Have you ever prayed this? I have not. But I’m going to start.

“God, I don’t want either riches or poverty. If I’m rich, I will be tempted to forget you. If I’m poor, I’ll be tempted to steal. Give me food for today, and let me be completely satisfied in you.”

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. -Psalm 90:14

Deuteronomy 8:11, 17-18 – “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statues, which I command you today…Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant with he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God. … Beware lest you say in your heart …”

… that it’s because of your hard work that you have blessings in your life. Imagine sitting down with your family to eat, and praying this prayer: “Lord, I worked hard for this meal. I provided for my family. Now we are going to eat the fruit of my labor.” No one would ever pray that, right? But if we could hear the sinful attitudes that our hearts often have, that’s exactly what our prayers would sound like.

I know for me, it’s so easy to look around at anything good in my life and think that it came to fruition because of my efforts and my diligence. Then, I can look at things that are not so good and think, “God, why haven’t you fixed those things yet?” How sinful and man-centered and blind that is.

But God is gracious to remind me often of HIS grace and mercy – that HE is the one who has caused everything that is good to be good. I am learning (slowly but surely) to see the evidences of grace in my life and in the lives of others and to be constantly reminded that nothing good has come from my hand. It is all God’s work, by God’s power, for God’s glory in Christ Jesus.

I’m not talking about going into a booth where a priests waits on the other side to absolve you. I’m talking about the honest, vulnerable confession of sin from one brother to another. Genuine, biblical fellowship is impossible with out it.

Kevin DeYoung posted a great blog on this very topic. Here’s a sample:

“Some of us become Christians and just go on our merry way, never thinking of sin,
while others fixate on our failings and suffer from despair. One person feels
no conviction of sin; the other person feels no relief from sin. Neither of
these habits should mark the Christian. The Christian should often feel
conviction, confess, and be cleansed.

The cleansing, mind you, is not like the expunging of a guilty record before the
judge. That’s already been accomplished. This cleansing is more like the
scraping of barnacles off the hull of a ship so it can move freely again. We
need confession of sin before God like a child needs to own up to her mistakes
before Mom and Dad, not to earn God’s love, but to rest in it and know it more
fully.”

Read the whole post here.

Did you know there is a short sentence that you can use to open an opportunity for the gospel in just about any conversation? Here’s a great article by Donald Whitney (from “Simplify Your Spiritual Life”) that lays it out…

Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin to weep and their resistance fall. The question is, “How can I pray for you?”

This may not seem like such a powerful question to you. Perhaps that’s because you hear it, or a question like it, quite often. Your Bible study group or your church prayer meeting asks for prayer requests every week. You may even see requests for prayer solicited each Sunday morning in the worship bulletin.

But realize that most people in the world never hear such a question. And while many churchgoers know that a minister is willing to pray for them, in some traditions they’re expected to make a special donation to the church for such services. So when you ask, “How can I pray for you?” and it’s obvious that you’re asking out of love alone, it can touch a person more deeply than you imagine.

This question is similar to one that Jesus Himself sometimes asked: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32). For what we are really asking is, “What do you want me to ask Jesus to do for you?” And by means of this question, we can show the love of Christ to people and open hearts previously closed to the gospel.

I had tried to talk about the things of God many times to a business-hardened, retired executive who lived next door. He was a pro at hiding his feelings and keeping conversations at a superficial level. But the day we stood between our homes and I asked, “How can I pray for you?” his eyes filled with tears as his façade of self-sufficiency melted. For the first time in seven years he let me speak with him about Jesus.

It’s a short, easily remembered question. You can use it with longtime friends or with people you’ve just met. It doesn’t seem too personal or pushy for those who’d rather give you a shallow answer just now, and yet it often leads to a full hearing of the gospel. You can ask it of people nearly every time you speak with them and it doesn’t get old. Just simply and sincerely ask, “How can I pray for you?” You’ll be surprised at the results.

(Seen on Justin Taylor’s blog at thegospelcoalition.org)