Prayer

How is Your Garden of Prayer?

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Pulling Weeds in the Garden of Prayer

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26 ESV

In my time as a landscaper, I think I learned more spiritual lessons on my knees in the garden, than on my knees in church. Maybe the most important was that weeds grow far better than flowers, both in a perennial bed as well as in our prayer life. This came to me after spending two days weeding and edging the flower beds at a weekend place in the country of one of my customers. Then on Saturday they ca3lled and asked me to stop by. That morning as we walked around surveying the vast flower beds, Mary Ann turned to me and said, “I can’t believe it Peter. You’ve done such a marvelous job. Those flowers are growing so strong that they are choking out the weeds!”

For a moment I was struck speechless but deciding that explaining the details of the 16 hours of work it took to make it that way, I simply smiled and nodded. Our prayer life in many ways is not unlike those gardens. When everything is in order and we are seeking God, amazingly things will blossom around us, as God goes to work in every corner of His garden. But when we neglect our time in the prayer closet, it won’t take long for weeds to grow, and those flowers (answers to prayer) will not choke out the weeds. We need to get back down on our knees, and with God’s strength and direction, begin to pull them out one by one. The kinds of weeds that grow are almost endless, but here are three of the most common –

The Weed of Prayerlessness – Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way. 1 Samuel 12:23 KJV

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2) The Weed of Selfishness – You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:3 ESV  

 

3) The Weed of Sleepiness – And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:45-46 ESV

We need the Holy Spirit to motivate us – to direct our hearts, wake us up so that the light of Christ can shine in our hearts again!

Partnership

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A Gospel Partnership

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5 ESV

When I think of people who have helped to shape history of the Christian church, the Apostle Paul comes right to the top of my list. But in first century Macedonia, no one had ever heard of Paul or for that matter of Christianity. On his first visit there, Paul went in response to a dream the Holy Spirit sent him while he and Silas were in Asia Minor. Though Paul did not question the dream’s origin, he had a difficult time letting go of the successful ministry they were having there in the region which now is modern day Turkey. Yet, in obedience to God’s call, Paul and Silas boarded a ship to make the crossing and once ashore headed directly for Phillipi. Maybe at first, Paul wondered why God had called him there. They found just a tiny group meeting for prayer at the riverbank in place of the meeting places overflowing with crowds that they had seen in Ephesus. Yet, from those humble beginnings, Paul discovered something new: that was partnership. He found in these humble friends, people who did not just come to see miracles, or to gain some spiritual gift. Instead, this small group was moved by Paul’s Gospel message and stayed to become his lifelong friends. Later as Paul went on his missionary journeys and later to prison in Rome, they sent people to help him and out of their meager resources sent offerings to him from that day until the end of his life.

Like those friends of Paul, you and I might not be gifted speakers or influential leaders in our church, but we can partner with others in the work which God has called them to do. We can pray for the situations they are facing, go out to serve side by side, or give financially. Though what we can do or how much we can give may not be a lot, what we can do matters to Jesus. Remember that five loaves of bread in His hands can supply more in the work of the gospel than a year’s wages in the hands of the world!

Indispensable!

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On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. 1 Corinthians 12:22-24 ESV

Indispensable! How I love the sound of that word! Society and sadly even some of our families, certainly do not think of us, who live in retirement or those in nursing homes as indispensable. We who once were the primary caregivers for our children are not really needed for much. Some in long-term care cannot even shower, cook or do the dishes without help. Dispensing with our help is something they have learned to do a long time ago. But the good news is that God delights in calling us indispensable. “In what way can I be indispensable?” you may ask. Here are three.

Prayer: Young people use the phrase, “over the hill” to describe getting older, but in some ways our years put us at a hilltop, from where we can see what our children and grandchildren cannot down in the valleys of life. So, instead of using that perspective to cluck about “That younger generation” God wants us to take time to pray. Because we know first-hand about consequences, and the bumps, bruises and scars of our own missteps and sins, God has taught us to pray, and He will hear and answer the prayers when we cry out to Him.

Connections: Grandad or Nana may not be the first call our kids make when the water heater leaks, the car breaks down or when their kids get in trouble at school, but sometimes we are asked for help. Then we can share the connections we have developed over the years. We know somebody, who knows somebody, or we have “been there and done that,” in that exact situation. Uncle “Google” pretends to know all the answers, but in the midst of a divorce, a disabling accident or a friend’s betrayal, real people with even average intelligence, beat the artificial kind every time!

Counsel: This is tricky, because if we are always offering counsel, we will be ignored (especially if we are right!). We must be patient, so that when they do call to ask our opinion he or she will want to listen. Let’s be sure when that time comes, that we are honest about our own struggles, and then point them to how we have found help in our faith and in God’s promises. We who have lived longer must tell them how we have failed, but with God’s help have gotten back up and gone on. Because we have been weak, He has become our greatest strength. Now our job is to pass it on to them!