This one needed prayer...

Why pray?


It's a question that I've heard asked many times.  At one extreme, I feel my feeble mind utter it in dark moments, and then at the other it makes me close to indignant.  It can be cumbersome, boring, seemingly ineffective, or just downright impossible to do--and yet, it is essential.  It's to be basically as important as breathing in the life of a Christ follower.


We are always catching Jesus getting away to pray--and then from that moment going out to do something great.  The order is never reversed--it is always, prayer first and then action.


Look at this story from the Gospel of Mark:  Jesus (earlier in the gospel) gave all authority over evil spirits and the ability to heal to his disciples and sends them out to do those things.  So, when we get to Mark chapter 9--it is strange to see the disciples having an issue with driving out an evil spirit--since, well, they're supposed to be able to have authority over all evil spirits.  Jesus--of course--heals him, and then the disciples are asking the same question we are: "What happened Jesus?  Why couldn't we do it?"


Now, I don't know about your experience with spiritual warfare, how well you drive out evil spirits, or even what the HP level of any given Evil Spirit is.  I do know, however, if I were a disciple right now, I would be supremely confused.  I would be thinking: "Why is it that what I've done before, now all of a sudden won't work?  I go in to heal the kid, just like I've done before, and this ugly thing won't get out!"  None of the disciples around seemed to have a clue.  So, they then ask the One who would know.  They ask Jesus. 


And Jesus simply says, "This kind can come out only by prayer" (Mark 9:29).


You see, we spend so much time living in the wake of past accomplishments, and seeming evidence of our own strength.  At first, we stopped and prayed, and God directed us and gave us the strength to do whatever it was we had to do.  Then, we reached some magic quota of God power and decided that we didn't have to ask Him anymore for His presence to live.


We spend so much of our "everyday, ordinary life-- [our] sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life" (Romans 12:1 MSG) missing the fact that there are things God would have us accomplish if we would only stop and pray.  Like I said before, the order for Jesus was always prayer, then action.  When we run up against problems, hurts, frustrations, mountains, demons, and we think to ourselves "Why won't this go away?  Why can't I make that mountain move?"  our joy and trust in God gets depleted, and our promised "Abundant life in Christ" seems to be jeopardized.  


We know in this world there will be troubles, and we know that Jesus said "But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b)  


But how often do we live like that, or pray like that?  How can we know if we don't take the time to listen?  How can we know which mountain to move, or to climb?  Maybe that mountain you're trying to move is not your mountain. Maybe God never told you to even climb that mountain in the first place--but we were just too busy scaling the mountain before we even asked.

What's Right In Front of Us

I have this frustration.  I have had a major history of being talked over or ignored.  It actually became a joke in the community I lived in while in Fort Lauderdale because I was supposed to be in charge of the monthly business meetings.  BUT, the conversation would inevitably get derailed and we would all laugh as I couldn't get a word in edgewise most of the time.  (And it's not that I'm not a talkative person either...)

Now, I know some of this could have to do with what is going on in the internal (as Dr. Cloud would say), but I believe that it is just rude to talk over others.  I just do.  I like to be invited into a conversation, just the same way as I like to invite others into conversation.  And I think many people in our society are just used to being rude.  Call it one of my strengths that is also a weakness to community building.  What can I say?

What further frustrates me though, is not business meeting commentary--or small group or what have you.  What frustrates me is when I am in serious dialogue with another, they ask for advice or "what to do", I offer a game plan, and they straight up ignore or rationalize away what I said.  I mean--I might as well have told the wall.  You've had that moment, right?  Where you've thought something was painfully obvious--so you tried to help someone out--and they just didn't get it.

Now, this isn't a proud moment, or a "woe is me" commentary.  I've got my boundaries (also as Dr.Cloud says) and I'm working on that resentment.  However, I think my situation is not unique.  I think it speaks of a broad-sweeping issue:

  We spend a lot of time ignoring, or rationalizing away the truth that is right in front of us.

I mean, we all ask for advice or "What to do" and ignore it when we get it.  Francis Chan puts it this way (and I'm paraphrasing here from the DVD "Basic: Follow Jesus")

"When I tell my daughter to clean her room, she knows better.  She doesn't go into her room and say:

'Daddy, I spent all afternoon memorizing what you told me to do.  Aren't you proud?'

or

'Daddy, I had a small group meeting on what you said, and we came up with many different meanings for that phrase.  What do you think?'

No!  She goes and cleans her room because she knows that's what I want her to do."

So--why do we do this with one another?  Because we don't trust each other easily--and for good reason.  I mean, we've been let down and hurt by others before.  However, what about those "tried-and-true" people who really do have our best interests in mind?

Furthermore, why do we do this with God?  The one who never goes back on a promise, who loves us more and better than we could even imagine, who is always faithful (even when we are not), the one who is always trustworthy (even when we are not), the one who  has been around the longest (who should naturally have the most insight into any given situation), the one who inspired people to write down His teachings so we'd have a foundation on how He wants us to live, and who ALSO gave us his very Spirit to dwell within us to guide us into specifically what the Father wants ANND--who this life of ours is really about anyway..so...why still the distrust?  As I heard one Sunday morning: "When did trust and obey turn into just know and understand?"

I'm not saying I have any answers for this question.  I am just saying I know how much it frustrates me when I'm only trying to do or say things for another's good and they don't listen--so I can only imagine how frustrating that is to God when I do the same thing.

Cheyenne

It's Wednesday.  I'm wearing an orange (or "creamcicle"--if you want to get technical) youth shirt, jeans, sneakers and a Stetson zip-up hoodie as I head in with the principal to lunch duty.  I get to monitor lines, see a sock-purse that a girl got from the Dollar Store, and sit with many of the youth I work with. It's already been a great morning.

As I'm standing with the principal, getting ready to wrap up lunch duty--over walks Cheyenne.  She has short blonde hair, glasses, and a big puffy pink down jacket on.  Her aide stands behind her, holding her backpack while Cheyenne talkes with the principal excitedly about being able to walk to class herself.

Cheyenne has a learning disability, and also has very little concept of appropriate personal space as she relentlessly hugs the principal and calls her "sweetie."

As I take all this in, I can't help but be won over by Cheyenne's charm.  Though it is apparent that she is not "normal," it is truly apparent how much and how freely she loves those around her.  It is apparent by her big, warm smile how happy she is just to enjoy small--yet large--victories of being able to walk to class herself.  It is a good day--and then she spots me.

She quizically looks me over, and stands within an 1"1/2 of my face as she matter-of-factly inquires:
"Are you a middle schooler?"

I mean, after all.  I'm in a youth shirt, jeans, and hoodie standing in the middle of a middle school.  It's a fair question.

"No," I reply, "I graduated a long time ago."
"Oh," Cheyenne says. "Then, are you a woman?"
By this question, I can only assume she means "Are you an adult? A Grown-up?" Something along those lines, because I think that my gender is pretty obvious.

"Yes," I reply.
Cheyenne moves closer and continues to inquire. "Then, where do you work?"

Clearly, because I am a grown-up, I have a job.  Of course.

"I work with a Church here on the island," I reply with a smile.
Cheyenne mulls this information over for only a second as she looks me dead in the eye and says:

"Then, do you see Jesus?"

For a moment the world stopped, and I couldn't help but fall in love with her simple question.  All the verses of Christ being with little Children, insisting that the little children are allowed to come to Him, and that we are to have a child-like faith came rushing to my mind in that moment as I looked into her innocent eyes.

"Yes," I replied trying to hold tears of joy in so I didn't alarm her,"I see him all the time."

With that, satisfied, she turned to her aide and left.  That was all she needed to know, and it was enough.

If I knew I wouldn't have confused her, I wish I had said:

"I'm looking at him right now."