{"id":3704,"date":"2015-01-22T13:52:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T13:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3704"},"modified":"2015-01-22T13:52:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T13:52:42","slug":"behind-the-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/behind-the-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been over eight years since one of the most significant conversations that I\u2019ve ever had. I had driven two hours from my home to visit with one of my mentors. We went for lunch and then took a walk around the campus at the Bible College where he teaches. Our conversation that day had little to do with theology training. Rather, my interest on that day was to glean some of his insights regarding long term health for the church where the Lord had called me to serve; and for myself, amid all the demands (those that are clear and those implied or assumed).<\/p>\n

In eager expectation I waited for a long list or two; perhaps a \u201cto do\u201d and a \u201cnot to do\u201d list. I expected, based on my conversations with others, a list of techniques, strategies, even models for pastoral success. What I received that day was not what I expected, but something I have never forgotten and will forever treasure: \u201cYour greatest investment will be time spent in prayer. Take time, don\u2019t wait for time, to pray for your congregation, everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n

My thoughts, no doubt my expression and I\u2019m sure a few words communicated: \u201cHow can my greatest investment be largely unseen? That doesn\u2019t measure up to our training to succeed and accomplish; to build and to conquer.\u201d His reply \u201cYour greatest investment for the long term benefit of the church and yourself, will be time spent in prayer, everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Kate Morse, in her book, A Guidebook to Prayer: 24 Ways to Walk with God<\/em>, brings me back to that conversation from eight years ago, when she says: \u201cPrayer is more than a practice. It is a living adventure with a relational and risen Lord (Loc. 145-146)\u2026For most of us the issue is not the abundant presence of God but our limited attention to it (Loc. 215-216). \u201d That phrase caught my attention, abundant presence of God<\/em>. The insight regarding these 24 ways of walking with God were intriguing in presenting the practice of prayer from some new perspectives. However, I found myself thinking less about the practice and more about the promise of God\u2019s abundant presence in prayer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"doorway-closet-prayer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 gave a similar invitation regarding prayer, when he talked about what a room or closet.\u00a0I often thought of this room like a closet, small, cluttered or dark. But I have come to deeply appreciate the way \u201cThe Message\u201d communicates this invitation to find out what lies behind the door:<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won\u2019t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 6:6)<\/p>\n

When our focus is on the presence of our Holy God, we should allow ourselves to linger. In so doing we come to realize that it is not a small closet, but it is a large room where, despite the fact that His Light penetrates even the darkest most remote corners of our thinking, the best of God\u2019s blessings reside, and that He desperately wants to share some of them with us and talk to us about the others, so that we can be encouraged, strengthened and comforted as we learn to serve His purposes for His glory. He wants us to discover that it is a place worth coming to everyday, several times a day.<\/p>\n

Amid the many parts of that room, is a place where I continue to be shaped by the Lord\u2019s Prayer. While I didn\u2019t grow up in a Christian home, I did grow up in a public school that read the Lord\u2019s Prayer every morning over the public address system. I was familiar with the words, but they never really caused me to consider their meaning, nor did the bring any change in my life, particularly as Morse describes it: \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Prayer, then, contains in it all the important fundamentals of Jesus\u2019 proclamation. When we pray the Lord\u2019s Prayer we affirm Jesus Christ\u2019s priorities and we join with the catholic (meaning all-embracing or universal) church throughout time and place, proclaiming our united calling.\u201d (Loc. 1602-1604)<\/p>\n

However, over the course of these last number of years in particular I have come to be shaped by the example and the very words themselves. Three things that I am willing to share about what I\u2019ve learned behind the door are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The prayer for \u201cdaily bread\u201d is a prayer for provision. There have been times in our lives where this prayer fulfilled that meaning; however these words are now teaching us about contentment for ourselves and provision for others – being satisfied in the daily provision and being generous with any increase.<\/li>\n
  2. The importance of praying for \u201cdeliverance from evil\u201d. The unseen forces that battle around us cannot be taken for granted. To pray for protection from evil is vital for the life of a community, a church, a family and an individual. But it is not easy to sustain that prayer.<\/li>\n
  3. The acknowledgement of the \u201challowed name\u201d of Our God and our declarative allegiance to submit ourselves to His Power and for His Glory, takes a lot of inward wrestling against the relentless push of our own ego and goals – \u00a0a quick stop into the room can never be enough.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That\u2019s just one part of what\u2019s behind the door that Jesus invites us into in order to discover the blessings that await us in prayer. Morse\u2019s book describes 23 other areas behind that door and I would venture to guess that there are more to be discovered if we only were to \u201ctake time\u201d rather than \u201cwait for time\u201d to discover them.<\/p>\n

    What are the challenges that you face in “taking time” for prayer?<\/p>\n

    How have you overcome those challenges?<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s been over eight years since one of the most significant conversations that I\u2019ve ever had. I had driven two hours from my home to visit with one of my mentors. We went for lunch and then took a walk around the campus at the Bible College where he teaches. Our conversation that day had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[491,2,8],"class_list":["post-3704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp4-3","tag-dminlgp","tag-morse","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3706,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions\/3706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}