Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Watch and prayso that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”.

• Matthew 26:41

Pray continually,

• 1 Thessalonians 5:17

“Everybody prays. Everybody always has. And there’s no end in sight.
“Prayer seems to be instinctive, a part of human nature. Primitive peoples and enlightened Westerners, rural homesteaders and urban-dwelling professionals, stay-at-home moms and touring musicians, insecure artists and ruthless investors, doubting atheists and devout creati0nists—they’re all praying. ln the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, ‘Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.’ We pray. We can’t help it.
“Prayer invites you to learn to listen to God before speaking, to ask like a child in your old age, to scream your questions in an angry tirade, to undress yourself in vulnerable confession, and to be loved—completely and totally loved, in spite of everything.
“And yet most people, even most Bible-believing Christians, find little life in prayer. Prayer is boring or obligatory or confusing or, most often, all of the above.”

• Tyler Staton, Praying like Monks, Living like Fools

If the Scriptures and quote look familiar, I thank you for being a returning reader who also pays attention.  No, joking aside, that was the intro for a post entitled Everybody Prays.

Since these were the key paragraphs of the book’s introduction, I thought it appropriate to repeat that in the introduction of this new mini-series, Praying like Monks.  The author spends the first couple of weeks setting boundaries and defining the terms.  Then while most articles that I have read use the acronym ACTS, for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, the author uses adoration, confession, intercession, and petition.  Somehow, thanksgiving blends into those.  I know that our church prayer team loves hearing a “Praise and Thanks” because someone is cancer free or their surgery was successful or whatever the reason for the prayer.  So, thanksgiving naturally flows in and out of those four sections.  And then the author has some really good added chapters.  I think this will probably run for at least ten more weeks, a week or more for each chapter, just on Sundays.

But the author does speak about how the western society is drifting apart from God.  Churches are closing and many other churches are barely holding on.  But the faithful prayers of the faithful is needed.  Prayer is powerful.  It affects us, but it is a pleasing aroma to God.  The more we pray and the more effective our prayer time, the more pleasing aroma for God.  We need God’s Mercy now, maybe more than ever.  Yet, even when Elijah thought he was the only one left, God said that He had reserved 7,000 who had not bowed a knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).  There are probably many more than 7,000 today, but many are silent.  If their prayer life becomes silent, we may be in trouble.

Next week we will start with a discussion of finding why we do not pray.

Lord, guide me.  Help us as we start this journey to learn more about prayer and how to make it effective in our lives.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.