A - Alone and Assembled

Being devoted to prayer will mean that you will regularly pray alone and regularly pray in the assembly of other Christians.

O how crucial it is that we meet God alone through Jesus Christ. There is no Christianity without a personal trust in and communion with God through Jesus. All is show and husks and pretension without this. Susana Wesley with her 16 children used to pull her apron over her head in the kitchen and all the children had learned that this meant silence in the kitchen. Children need to learn that mommy and daddy have times with Jesus that are sacred and may not be interrupted. Find the place, plan the time, teach the children discipline.

But I think that praying in the assembly of other believers is more neglected than praying alone. Alone and assembled. The New Testament is full of corporate prayer gatherings. In fact most prayer in the New Testament is probably thought of in terms of gatherings for prayer. Acts 1:14, "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers" - that is typical of what you find. Acts 12:12, When Peter got out of prison "he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying." Prayer meetings were normal and I think normative in the early church.
Being devoted to prayer in the New Testament surely included praying with God's people. How are you doing in this? This is not advanced Christianity. This is basic Christianity. This week we have twelve 30-minute prayer meetings planned plus the eight hours of prayer all night on Friday. The options are meant to help you make a new breakthrough. During the rest of the year there are 30-minute prayer meetings six mornings each week, Wednesday evening at 5:45 downtown. Then there are the small groups that meet for prayer and ministry. Then there is Sunday morning that includes prayer in song and other ways. If assembling for prayer is not part of your devotion to prayer, make 2003 a breakthrough year. Both-and: free and formed, alone and assembled.

D - Desperate and Delighted

Being devoted to prayer will mean that you come to God in prayer often desperate and often delighted. I simply mean that prayer is a place for meeting God with your deepest heartaches and fears and prayer is a place for meeting God with your highest joys and thanks. The pillow you use for your elbows when you kneel daily before the Father, will be a tear-stained pillow. And yet, because God is a prayer-hearing God, you will say with the apostle Paul, "sorrowful yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10). And often that joy will overwhelm the burdens of this fallen world - as it should - and make you want to leap for joy. The Father wants to meet you at those times too. Be devoted to prayer in desperation and in delight - in fasting and feasting. Not either-or, but both-and.

E - Explosive and Extended

All I mean here is short and long. I would have said short and long, but then the letters would not match and the acronym would not spell anything. Besides explosive is more vivid and is exactly what prayers can be from time to time. If you are devoted to prayer you will explode regularly with prayers of praise and thanks and need and they will not last more than a few seconds. And if you are devoted to prayer you will have times when you linger for a long time in prayer to the Lord. Sometimes I make a quick phone call to Noel and other times we spend an evening together. If you love Christ and lean on him for all things and treasure him above all else, you with meet him often with explosive prayers and often with extended prayers.

S - Spontaneous and Scheduled

What's the difference between this and "free and formed" or "explosive and extended"? By "free and formed" I meant the content of our prayers - what we do when we come to pray. By "explosive and extended" I meant the length of our prayers. By spontaneous and scheduled I mean when we pray.

If we are devoted to prayer we will pray spontaneously through the day - without ceasing as Paul says - a constant spirit of communion with Christ, walking by the Spirit and knowing him as a continual personal presence in your life. No plan will govern when you speak to him. It will happen dozens of time in the day. This is normal and good. This is being devoted to prayer.

But if you only have this, you won't have this very long. The true rich fruit of spontaneity grows in the garden that is well tended by the discipline of schedule. So I plead with you, have your set times of prayer. Plan it for 2003. When will you meet him regularly? How long will you set aside? I encourage you to begin every day this way. Are you willing to plan one or two half-days or days away by yourself or with a friend or your spouse - not to read a book but to pray for 4 hours or eight hours. How? By simply reading your Bible and turning it all into prayer. Noel and I have had some of our richest days away by taking a short book of the Bible and reading a chapter and then pausing and praying that chapter into our family and church. Then reading another chapter and praying, and so on. But that does not just happen. It must be planned. It is not spontaneous. It is structured. And it is glorious.

So there you have it. God's word to us to day is "Be devoted to prayer." Be constant in it. Be faithful in it. Why? God commands us to; the needs are great and eternity hangs in the balance; and God hears and does more in five seconds that we can do in five years.
And how shall we be devoted to prayer? These things. Without them prayer F A D E S. Let your prayer be…

F - Free and Formed
A - Alone and Assembled
D - Desperate and Delighted
E - Explosive and Extended
S - Spontaneous and scheduled

May the Lord give you a spirit of grace and supplication in this week of prayer and all year long.

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