Happy New Year! Thanks for joining with me in this 100 day pursuit of God. Today is day #1, and I want to give you a few thoughts to set you in the right direction.
Looking at the list of those who joined me I can see that the range of spiritual levels varies greatly. I love that! We are all in this together.
I want to say at the outset that I’m not at all a “prayer guru.” I’m simply a student of prayer as you are. My heart in this is to go deeper myself and to stir others to do the same. I’m convinced that most of us—myself included—are only scratching the surface of what is available in Christ. This special season is an intensified effort to dive into the ocean of grace and mine the riches.
It is clear in Scripture that the Father wants all of His children to have the kind of relationship with Him that is free, open, intimate and exhilarating. Consider the words of Jesus to a church of nominal believers:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
—Revelation 3:20
This invitation to eat with Jesus was not meant to be taken literal since Jesus was already resurrected. It represents the kind of relationship Jesus wants with His people. Sharing a meal together in the ancient world was a big deal. Meals were shared with family and friends. They reclined on the ground around the food and conversed without rush for long periods of time. So Jesus was inviting them (and us!) to come close, to be in friendship and communion with Him. To feel at rest in His presence. To feel at home. To share secrets.
That’s what we’re going for in this pursuit of God—we want to respond to His pursuit of us! We want conversation with God to become as natural as breathing. Prayer was never intended to be a religious duty that we force ourselves to do. It is essentially an exchange with God. We pour our souls out to Him, and He speaks things to us. At times we even feel the tangible presence of God manifested. Our minds are opened by the Spirit to see His glory. We taste eternity. Divine love is imparted into us. I don’t think there’s anything greater that humans could engage in!
In the spring of 1989, at 21 years of age, God captured my heart and filled me with the Spirit. My life was utterly transformed in a flash. In the weeks following, I became obsessed with understanding the Bible and learning how to pray. At the time, I lived in a small apartment in western Mass, so in the evenings I would make attempts, awkwardly, to pray. Since I really didn’t know what I was doing, I just started telling God everything inside me. I asked a lot of questions. My spiritual vocabulary was quite simple so I’d run out of words and just groan and cry. Again, I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I just kept showing up and trying.
No one comes out of the womb with a deep prayer life. And no one learns the art of prayer in a day. I’ve never heard anyone say that developing a life of prayer came easy. Like anything of worth, it requires effort. Just keep at it until it becomes natural! During these 100 days you will have high moments and low. You’ll have days when it feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling and bouncing back. Don’t be discouraged! It’s not easy. Remember that the best way to grow in prayer is—to pray! You will grow in it little by little if you just keep at it. I’m praying for you!
Pastor Scott