Recovering a Passion for Prayer

10am HC – St. Matthew’s

14 September 2008

Martin Saxby

Romans 5:1-11

 

 

This year has been extraordinary and extremely difficult.

 

We have seen the successful marriage of the two parishes of St. Matthew’s and St. Oswald’s – this can be none other than the hand of God. Human strength and human wisdom could not have unified our two parishes is such a remarkable way – only God!

 

We began the year gathering together outside the front of St. Oswald’s with an act of worship, prayer for the local community and a renewed commitment to the people of New Bilton – and a pig roast. And God has continued to bless our union and the level of cooperation and the work of the Holy Spirit in changing people’s lives has been amazing. And soon we are holding Alpha in St. Oswald’s – brilliant!

 

At the same time we have faced a number of challenges:

This has frankly left me quite weary, disheartened, uncertain about our future direction, and probably a little demotivated.

 

I have been conscious for some time that in many areas of our church life things are not running as well as they should, as someone put it to me earlier last week – “we seem to have lost our passion; things are not being done as well as I’ve come to expect” – I could only agree with them and I explained the reasons.

 

I have been very well supported in many ways, and it is great to have Esther now as a Careforce Volunteer and Ben working for us supporting me and the Youth Ministries; and yet again, we have some people to interview and the Leadership Team is nearly re-formed.:

 

There is hope!

 

Paul reminds us in this passage that:

            Troubles produce perseverance

            Perseverance produces character

            Character produces hope

            Hope doesn’t disappoint

And     The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

There is a hope that doesn’t disappoint, God will never fail us and the Holy Spirit has poured His love into our hearts.

 

So much of the Christian faith is about persevering in the time of trouble and these seasons teach us a great deal about God and most importantly about ourselves.

 

 

 

As we come to the end of our resources we are driven back to God, to dependence upon him and to a recognition that we can do nothing without him.

 

The story of Jesus at the wedding of Cana where the wine runs out teaches us that just at the moment when we run out, Jesus delivers a tanker full – but not before!

 

Last week I was reminded of a time like this in the life of John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard network of churches around the world. He was at a low point, nothing he did seemed to be working, what he had done seemed to be falling apart. In prayer he cried out to God and as he prayed he heard God’s gentle rebuke:

 

“I’ve seen your ministry, now let me show you mine”.

 

Sometimes God has to bring us to the end of our human resources to force us back to him and I believe God is calling me and us as a church to a fresh emphasis on prayer, of coming to the source of our strength to be equipped for the Christian life.

 

Ultimately and fundamentally the Christian life is about our relationship with God, about our “being” not our “doing”. Living a life devoted to Jesus begins and ends in our relationship with him and prayer is at the centre of that relationship.

 

Without Jesus at the centre of our lives, without our lives being constantly filled by the loving presence of the Holy Spirit, without our inner spirit being replenished through our relationship with Jesus in prayer we will be running on empty and ultimately grind to a halt.

 

I’ve talked with people about prayer – and yes many of us will say that we pray most days – we’ve said grace before a meal, we’ve prayed an arrow pray at some point during the day when we were in need – but most admit to not having a meaningful prayer life where they meet with God in the secret pace and encounter his presence.

 

How can we, how can I, expect to function effectively without coming into Father’s presence and talking with him and listening to him.

 

In our busy lives it is so often our time with God that can get squeezed out and we can come up with all sorts of excuses for it. I’m not wanting to beat anyone up about not praying enough – the question for me and for each one of us is whether we are taking prayer seriously in the first place.

 

No one “practised the presence of God” more than Jesus. No one prayed continually, as Paul encourages us to do, more than Jesus – but still we find that each day he set aside time to go to a quiet place to be with Father and pray. If he needed it how much more do we.

 

Some of us spend less time than it takes to eat a sweet than we do in prayer every day!

 

If Jesus needed time each day to be alone with Father – why don’t we do it?

 

Or ask the question another way.

 

Why do we find time for the things we do do:

 – because we want to do them, and there is nothing wrong with any of them!

 

So why do we struggle to spend time with Jesus?

 

Maybe like Paul we are in a struggle with our own human weakness – he explains in Romans 7 & 8 that in our own strength we cannot do the good things we want to do and whatever our desires to do good we fail. Only as we allow the Spirit to take control of our lives will we live according to the Spirit and through him cry out to God, “abba, daddy, father”.

 

 

 

So this brings me back to John Wimber or the wedding at Cana – it is only when we recognise that we have come to the end of our resources that God can come in and transform us.

 

Are you dissatisfied with areas of your life, including the spiritual? Do you sense God calling you to a deeper relationship in prayer?

Have you come to the end of your own human strength?

Are you longing for more of God in your life and victory over your circumstances?

 

Where ever you are at this morning I believe God wants us to come before him in deeper fellowship with him and each other, with renewed and deeper spirituality and experience of Him.

 

Over the summer I read a little book “Rhythms of Grace – finding intimacy with God in a busy life”. In this book the author, Tony Horsfall, coming from a very strong charismatic evangelical background warns us in this age of busyness and activism, that we desperately need to hear the Spirit’s call to a more reflective approach to life, getting away from drivenness and into the rhythms of grace-filled living.

 

He quotes Bruce Wilkinson at a time when this truth dawned on him:

 

“God didn’t want me to do more for him. He wanted me to be more with him.” (p.77)

And later he writes a sentence that challenged me along the lines I have spoken of already.

“It is almost as if God were waiting for us to come to an end of ourselves in order that his divine life might take over” (p.86)

 

Are you at an end of yourself and longing for a different way?

 

I believe God is calling us to begin a new journey of prayer – I don’t know the route we will follow but I know the destination is greater intimacy and fulfilment in Him.

 

Over the coming weeks I shall be sharing new opportunities to prayer and I sense God is calling us as a church to a period of concentrated corporate prayer, probably a weekend of prayer – as we cry out to God and bring before him our church, our community and the issues facing us of staffing and buildings. 

 

We have re-located and are re-decorating the Prayer Room in the Church Centre to the room at the rear of the building by the back door to make it more accessible and a focus for prayer – we plan for it to become increasingly used for meetings for prayer, or simply for people to drop in and pray. Maybe a place where the idea of 24/7 prayer from Red Moon Rising may become a reality.

 

The Bishop and new Warden at Offa House are coming to St. Oswald’s on Tuesday 21 October at 7.30pm to lead an evening of prayer – this will be an opportunity to learn more about prayer and to pray.

 

We will soon announce plans for our coming together for a time of prayer and fasting for our church.

 

I pray that God will stir up within you a passion for prayer, for intimacy with him and that we can uphold and encourage one another on this journey.

 

Those who read Red Moon Rising will remember what amazing things God does when his church becomes a house of prayer.

 

I believe some of you will have been particularly challenged and excited by what I have been saying this morning about prayer and that God may be calling you to help practically, please come and speak to me over coffee after the service.

 

Now let’s do what I’ve been talking about and pray.