The Obedience of One Man

Revival has been on mind lately.  I have been reading about revivals to glean some insight about what sparks revival in a particular place and time.  Recently I stumbled upon a revival that I had never heard of.  It’s called the Fulton Street Revival and it occurred in New York City in 1857. Jeremiah Lenphier started a noontime prayer meeting On September 23rd. His story is a powerful one and you can see it here:

I love this story because it reminds me that one person can make a significant impact on the world.  Jeremiah’s risk to follow after God was inspiring.  He had no way to know how things were going to end.  For all he knew he was going to be alone praying by himself and for the first 30 minutes of his very first meeting that is exactly how it looked.  Yet, Jeremiah saw the need to pray for his city and its people.  Then, an amazing thing happened. God moved in the city and people came to know Jesus.  I wonder what would happen in our own cities if we followed Jeremiah’s example on Fulton Street.  What might God do if we gathered together to pray for our city and its people? How might God move in our communities and our churches?  How might God move in us? Lets find out!

Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers”

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers”

James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

 

James 5:16…

During New Staff Training for my new CCO job, we have been leading college students through the book of James during a Bible study.  As I was preparing for the Bible Study last night, James 5:16 stuck out to me.  I have been pondering this passage since last night and have a few thoughts.  The passage reads:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.  The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (NRSV)

My first thought is this.  I have no desire at all to confess my sins to anybody.  It is hard enough to own up to my sin with God.  There is nothing in me that wants to confess and put myself out there in such a vulnerable way.  And yet there it is.  James is telling us to confess our sins to one another.  I don’t think James is suggesting we blab to everyone about everything we do.  But, I do see the value in having a small group of people in my life that I can confess to and who will pray for me.  If I am honest, I just don’t don’t want to do it.  So then, to use another phrase James uses a couple of times, I am finding that I being “double minded.  In James 4:7-8 we learn the answer to being double minded is to “submit yourselves to God” and to “Draw near to God”.  I guess I have some work to do.

My second thought here is that I am challenged to think about how I pray and what effects the outcome of our prayers.  I am not an expert on prayer, in fact I am left with some questions to ponder.  How might our prayer lives be changed when we are intentional about confession?  How might this change the dynamic of our relationships and our communities?  What might change if we took James seriously in his charge to confess and to one another and pray for one another?

Ready Made Themes…

I just switched to this new theme partly because I like the look of it…but mostly I switched because I really like the header photo of the person walking down the road.  I relate to that picture.  It reminds me that like everyone else I am on a journey…that we are all pilgrims looking to make our way through a life that doesn’t always make a lot of sense.

As I was considering this theme, I was reminded of a conversation I had early in the week with someone about prayer.  That person was talking about how prayer seemed most authentic when they speak from the heart, not from prayers that have already been written down or spoken by someone else.  My initial reaction was agreement, but as I thought about it and this new theme with a ready made picture that I was drawn to, I decided to reconsider.

Sometimes it is nice to tread where others have tread before us, because there are moments when someone has said something so much better than we ever could.  I think prayer is not an exception to that.  Sometimes…we can use others prayers to say what we have been thinking or feeling, and for whatever reason have been unable to articulate.

So with that in mind…I leave you with one of my favorite prayers from St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen

Prayer…

I have been thinking a lot about prayer recently.  I have been wondering a lot about answered prayers and unanswered prayers….especially prayers that seem to go unanswered for long periods of time.  I don’t necessarily have anything deep or meaningful to say about these things this morning.  However, as I have been thinking about prayer this quote I came across recently keeps coming to mind:

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

That is a fascinating was to think about prayer.  It is as vital to our lives as the breath we take…yet how often do we treat prayer as an inconvenience.  Sometime people even fear prayer in public because we are afraid we will be judged for what we say or how we say it.  But we never fear breathing…in fact it is such a part of who we are that we don’t think about doing it…we just breathe.  What if we thought about prayer in the same way?  What if we truly “prayed without ceasing”, without even thinking about?  What would our lives, communities, and churches look like if there were a hand full of people who prayed like we all breathe?

Lets be unafraid of prayer, and embrace it like we embrace our next breath…let us treat prayer as if it were vital to our existence…because as followers of Jesus…it is.

Almighty God, help me to pray as I breathe.  Amen