40 Days of Spiritual RebootSample

We are on the theme of intercessory prayer this week. The church has been called to approach the throne of grace boldly through the atoning cover of Christ’s work on the cross. This is a huge advantage and assurance. Jesus said, so far you’ve not been asking in my name. Ask, now… whatever you will… and it will be done for you. This gives the believer two clear truths. One is that we have direct and unmediated access to the throne of God through Him who sits on the right hand of the most high. The second is that ‘prayer is effective’, It matters. It makes a difference. It's not a superfluous, mystical, ceremonious exercise. It is personal, powerful and productive. It moves the heart of God to action. Today I am not teaching on prayer and the study of God’s will i.e. how to pray in God’s will and what prayers God answers. Once again I’m reminding us that my goal is to renew our habits for spiritual growth and one of them is 'planned praying'. Can you pray for sudden prayer requests or situations that arise? Yes. Can you change your prayer matters or add to the current list? Yes. Yes. Yes. What we are saying here is, there is a bare minimum score. You want to pray for no less than ten minutes or half an hour etc. You want to pray for no less than ‘all these matters’ through the week. It's about being sure of two things. I’m covering all these important concerns and people in prayer through the week. I’m developing a prayer habit that ensures my minimum knee-time is adequate as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHOOSE PRAYER DAYS

Make a decision about which days of the week you want to carve out time for prayer. Explore what is the best time of day to cover these matters. This is not meditation, worship or reading…. so you could be anywhere but talking to God about all these matters. Like one would sit with an authority or a superior or a parent and open their little spiral notebook and say… I have a few things I need to run by you sir, boss, mom, coach, Lord… you get what I mean? Once you’ve figured this time out… mark it in your calendar and set an alarm. Angels aren’t going to lose their feathers if you reschedule or replan. But it needs to be seriously important for that to happen. People around you need to learn that you take your time with God in prayer very seriously yet aren’t so Pharisaical that you use that to duck your responsibilities with relationships or work.

KEEPING A PRAYER NOTEBOOK

Your prayer plan needs to be put down in a notebook that finds an important place on your desk or side table etc. It shouldn’t ever get ‘put away’. It's your scratch book. Why? Because God answers prayers. And you scratch them out… OR move those prayer points to another list called praise points.

This notebook needs to be with your bible or your organiser. Today we do most everything on our smart phones. You can use List apps, Note apps like Evernote, Todoist, etc.

MAKING A PLAN

A young Nagamese lady who frequented our home many years ago once said to me… “I pray for your family”. I met that statement with my usual cynicism because of how glibly we say, ‘I’ll pray for you”, but never do. I said, “really???”, she said, “yes, on Tuesdays” as she spun around and walked on. That had a profound impact on prayer life. It is a joy to know she is reading this today. So when you have decided which days are possible… write them down and fix the time. Be as realistic as possible. Start small, start low. Build gradually.

Next: make a list of the areas of your life you want to cover in prayer time. By your life, I mean the concerns that are just outside of your influence but are still part of your life. Things that you cannot change or effect. You need God to intervene. The reason I make a point of this is, if we can help the situation, help the person, give, love, care, assist, lead, serve…. then… God doesn’t expect us to pray about it… but do these things. Hope you got what I mean’t. (James 2:16 - “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?)

Divide these broad heads in your notebook. Use colour coding or page dividers. Attach these heads to the weekday of your choice. This won’t change for a few years even if everything else does. e.g. Monday is the day you pray for your family and friends. Tuesday is the day you pray for the salvation of colleagues, neighbours and visitors at church. Friday is the day you pray for the nations. Peace. Government and Reconciliation. You get the picture.

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

I do hope your personal worship, meditation and bible reading plan are going strong. Don’t let anything slide. You’re doing great. Keep it up my dear brother/sister. Chin up.

COME CLEAN

Come clean with God about how difficult it was to come up with prayer matters for people and situations beyond our own personal lives. If you did this exercise honestly and if you’re human… you would have found it tough to point out concerns that are beyond your own personal needs and cares. But the beauty of this exercise is that you ‘will care’ by the time you’ve prayed for these matters a few times over. What difference does that make to the world that YOU care? Well… now you share the heart of God. He... has someone on earth who cares about what He cares about. And you... have someone in Heaven who cares about what you care about.