"From the desert to the garden"

The Disciplines of Christ - Part 5

The Art of Prayer

Intro: According to PewResearchCenter 55% of American claim they pray daily and 76% agreed that prayer was an important part of their daily life (http://pewrsr.ch/R44bux). Even in the age of no prayer in school, those statistics really are not that shocking. Why, because people like to pray or they like the idea of prayer. If you don’t think so, test it out for yourself. Go ask some people you don’t know very well if you can talk to them about religion. See what kind of response you get. Then go ask the same group of people if you can pray for them. Which do you suppose they are more open to?

So if people like to pray so much, why does it need to be considered a discipline? Well, let’s remember, a spiritual discipline is done for the purpose of becoming more Godly. In other words, we can pray incorrectly. Jesus knew this, that’s why he said, “when you pray” don’t pray like the hypocrites. Or  “And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans” (Mt.6:7).

Crying out to God in desperate prayer when we are in trouble or need comes pretty natural, but praying for the purpose of becoming more holy, more like Christ – that takes discipline!

Let’s dive into why…

 

The Discipline – Prayer for the purpose of Godliness.

 The Art of the Prayer

I hesitate to call prayer an art, but for the sake of consistency in our study thank you for indulging me. However, if you read some of the prayers of the Bible, they sound very poetic. Even the “Lord’s Prayer” is written poetically, “Our Father who art in Heaven, hollowed be thy name...” Much of the Biblical prayers are written this way because it makes it easy to remember them. So what if you stammer and stutter like Elmore Fudd when you pray? Do you have to know just the right words and articulate them in a certain way to really pray? Fortunately, when Jesus taught on Prayer he never made eloquence a prerequisite.

 

Now some recommend going by certain patterns when learning to pray. For example the A.C.T.S. prayer pattern (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). There is nothing wrong with following patterns like these if they help you keep a consistent and focused prayer life.

 

However, for the purpose of D90X and developing prayer as a discipline, you are challenged to establish the P.R.A.Y. foundation for your prayer life.

1)    Persistency – (Luke 18:1-8; Mt 7:7-8) Persistency is required in prayer because of its many benefits: it builds our faith, it teaches us patience, and so much more. Most of all it develops our perseverance which is much needed for all the spiritual disciplines.

2)    Relationship – (Mt. 6:9) Remember you’re talking your heavenly Father (daddy) so carry on a conversation with him in prayer like you would in any real relationship you have.

3)      Authenticity – of mind and heart (Psalm 139:23 – Search me, God, and know my heart: test me and know my anxious thoughts.) If you’re not going to have honest conversation with God about your innermost feelings and thoughts, your prayers will be weak and ineffective.

4)     Y (why) – asking God questions. (Exodus 5:22, “ …Moses said,…Lord, is this why you have sent me.”) – Moses met with God on many occasions and had many questions for him. If we’re going to have an authentic relationship with God through prayer that builds our faith then what we read in His Word and what we experience in our life will create questions that we have for God. It’s in pursuit of the answers to these questions that we discover God and what he can do in our lives…and like Moses, discover the purpose we are called for in this life.

 

The Story - Jesus is the garden (Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-44)

³² They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ³⁴ “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

Luke 22:40-44 (…he said to them, “pray that you do not fall into to temptation,” ⁴¹He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.)

³⁵ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ³⁶ “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

³⁷ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? ³⁸ Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹ Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. ⁴⁰ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

⁴¹ Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴² Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

 

 

Questions to consider: What elements of P.R.A.Y. do you see in Jesus’ prayer? Why does Jesus tell his disciples to pray? What do you learn about prayer from Jesus in this passage {hint vs.36}?

 

 Helpful Commentary:

It must have felt strange to enter the garden for the last time. Perhaps he felt like we do when we take one last walk through our empty house before we move. Memories cascade and tears flow. It is as if our history and future get compressed in the vice of one pregnant moment. Hope and fear, dreams and doubts collide…

…Here the suffering begins that will culminate on another hill, not so far away. These twin peaks of Gethsemane and Golgotha will punctuate the passion. Eight of his men Jesus leaves at the gate. Three he takes with him to the interior. There they sit, his closest friends, with this simple command: Pray. They fail – three times they fail and fall into temptation. So Jesus, a short distance away, was left alone. This is a trial he will have to face in isolation. He falls on his face and wrestles with God. “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” …He pleaded for the cup wrath to pass. He begged for an alternative path. Three times he prayed, three times the heavens echoed back with thunderous silence: NO, NO, NO.

…Ultimately God’s will prevailed. For Jesus there is no other path. His final choice was made. He cast his lot with the likes of us, to become sin and die in our place. His tears and travail hearken back to another wilderness experience when he first chose this course. Like then, Luke says, the angels arrived to comfort the man of sorrows. He is not nearly as alone as he appears. His weakness becomes resilience. His trudging in the Gethsemane became a victory march on the Via Dolorosa.

Meanwhile, the disciples are asleep. Imagine that! Jesus wrestles, their salvation teeters in the balance, while they drool on the rock with their eyes rolled back in their heads. Had they only known how critical this moment was, had they seen Jesus’ tears, his blood, the angels, perhaps then they would have remained awake. Maybe that’s the crucial problem – perspective. Had they known what we know, surly they would have had the stoic resilience to forfeit sweet sleep. Ah, but there you have it. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Are they really so different from us? Here we stand on the principles of Jesus’ second coming, drooling rocks. The church is in her greatest days, obvious to the Master’s impending return. If we could only see our future as clearly as Peter’s past, perhaps we could stay on task. The hour of prayer is not nearly as long when juxtapose (put side by side) to eternity.                                                ^{Mark Moore, Encounters with Christ, p. 177-178}

                                                          Further Reading: Psalms 2

 

 

  The Application Questions:  

1)            So, are the disciples that different then us? Do they make you feel better or worse about your prayer life? How do you relate to the disciples failure to pray and why?

 

2)            Jesus situation is dire; however, this isn’t his first rodeo. How does Jesus prayer in the dessert (Mt. 4:1-11), prepare him for prayer in the garden and eventually his journey to the cross?

 

3)            GROUP DISCUSSION: Discuss your challenges to P.R.A.Y. (to pray Persistently, Relationally, Authentically, and the “Y” (asking questions). Discuss Jesus’ humanity in his prayer in the garden. What makes it real? What do you say to the fact, that the answer to Jesus’ prayer in the garden was no? What actual good did they prayer do for him since the answer was no? Do you find it hard to accept “No’s” from God?

 

Strengthening your discipline of Prayer:

Prayer and Bible Intake are the two pistons that drive the spiritual disciplines forward. Without them, you handicap yourself spiritually. And as for the Bible, there are many things you can do, skills you can learn, to become a better student of the Word. However, prayer is different. In one sense it’s something you learn to do better, but is it a skill you can develop? Are there special supernatural prayers or words you can pick up to start praying better? No, in that sense, that’s not what prayer is about.

 

If you want to strengthen your discipline of prayer, in one sense you need to STOP praying! Stop praying those ole canned prayers, “Now I lay me down to sleep” “good bread, good food, good Lord…” you get the idea. And if you really want to make a change in your prayer life, you just got to dive into to it. This is not a discipline you need to take baby steps on. Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer.” And 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray continually.” Start taking your P.R.A.Y.  steps today when you pray. Start treating prayer as a journey or as a pursuit of God and you’ll start seeing changes pretty quick.

 

Sometimes, I make the mistake of thinking, my Bible reading makes up for time I haven’t spent in prayer or sometimes vice versa– I think that my prayer time will make up for the lack of time I have spent in his Word. The truth is that there will be days and weeks we spend more time in prayer and/or his Word. However, the most productive times in my life are when there are a balance of both. D90X is designed to help you create that balance, so if you’re just reading these lessons and are not a part of the D90X challenge. Pick up a booklet this weekend and you’ll see how many of the other spiritual disciplines in D90X actually are designed to help you pray more and more persistently and effectively.

 

Finally, this is the beginning of Holy week. And Adventure Muscatine has an excellent way to give you a booster shot of faith and to your prayer life in its annual Easter Prayer Labyrinth. Check out the dates and times at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adventure-Prayer-Labyrinth-2015/617788261692169

 

 

Praying through today’s discipline: Obviously, before you log off, spend some time in prayer. Think about the P.R.A.Y. mindset as way to consistently approach prayer. Ask your questions, let God search your heart and mind, let him begin to prepare you for change in your life and challenges ahead. If you have never seen your prayer life as a way to develop your relationship with God and other Christ followers, then my prayer is that you start that prayer journey today.

Blessings,

Jason