Rhythm of Prayer

Sunday morning retuning:  We examined Luke 17:11-19 on Sunday.  Pastor Myron challenged us to examine our hearts to determine if we are grateful like the 1 leper, or ungrateful like the 9.  If you are ready to develop a heart of gratitude, check here for resources to help.

Prayer changes things because prayer changes us.  Have you been a part of one of these huddles lately?  Even better, have you ever been at the center of one, being prayed for?  It is a sacred moment.  Hundreds of people gathered around you to ask God’s blessing on what lies ahead of you.  It is inspiring.  And yes, as an introvert I will confess it can be a little unnerving, but I do believe it is worth doing.

This was the most recent one, this past Sunday for an International Worker family

We regularly gather like this to pray as a way of modeling that we are with those leaving, and as a reminder for us to prayer for them while they are gone.  I think it is a good thing, but especially as it gives us a chance to heighten our awareness of God’s presence in our going.  It is that idea of regularly cultivating such an awareness that I want to call the rhythm of prayer.

Much like the idea of staying one step behind Jesus, learning to live a lifestyle of prayer requires some discipline, but the product is worth the attention it demands.  You see, prayer can easily be relegated to the activity of the hyper-spiritual, or limited to a certain context, but rather it is to be constant by all believers.  I know this is a challenging standard, but it what the Scripture declares in Ephesians 5:16-18.

It was this kind of passage and others which speak of whole life worship that caused me to wonder where to go beyond having a daily devotional time.  I wanted to do more than beat my drum once a day, I wanted to develop a rhythm I could march to, if you will.  I wanted to have more of a cadence to my prayer life.

Several years ago, while I was wrestling to incorporate this rhythm of prayer into my life, I heard someone teach about the Daily Offices of prayer as practiced in mainly litugical churches.  The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church is a good example.  The idea is to set aside set times throughout the day to rekindle this heart of prayer, in an effort to make it more and more of an ongoing practice.

I prayed about this and decided to incorporate this idea in my task list.  I have “Daily BIble Reading and Prayer” at the top of my list each day before this, and I think I had even begun to include a reminder to pray at the end of my day “Evening Prayer and Journaling”.  What I added was two other reminders as tasks, “Late Morning Prayer” and “Afternoon Prayer”.  As opposed to set prayers crafted by others, I vary these times each day, while keeping some of my focus similar.  

Please do not misunderstand me.  I fail to be as regular about this as I would like.  I have a long way to go in growing a constant, faithful rhythm in prayer, but this practice has added intentionality to my quest.  The recurring reminder to pray has helped me, and it might help you.

Another little reminder...whenever you walk through a door, pray.  We all go through numerous doors each day.  It also helps us to prepare for that next thing, whatever it may be, as marked by our entrance into another area or place.

For those who may wonder, this is the door to my study

Jesus, help me develop a rhythm to my prayer life.  I want to be faithful in prayer, like a soldier marching into battle, like a farmer planting his crops, like a runner running his race.  Show me what I need to do to take that next step.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy