Prayer ... Whoa ... What is it good for ... Absolutely Everything!!!!

I would like to discuss the topic of prayer today.  This is a topic that I often get questions from the youth about what is confusing or has them grappling with in their mind.  One question I often get is:  what is the correct way to pray?  My quick response is that there is no one proper and "correct way to pray" - but there are many different ways to pray and even the Scriptures cite praying while kneeling, sitting, standing, facing the skies, etc.  I tell them that I often pray while I am driving in the car (with my eyes open of course) and just have a conversation with God, like I would have with any "earthly" friend - I learned that one from my wife.  Some people pray while they are in the shower, or during their morning exercises.  It is a personal choice and develops over time as you develop your personal relationship with God.

I like to give resources on this blog to help you research and continue to read and learn about your spiritual development, so here is a great website about prayer http://christianity.about.com/od/prayersverses/a/basicstoprayer.htm  and it tackles the many questions that may be on your mind or you may even have been asked by others, bt were not quite sure how to answer (there are three pages to look at - so don't miss the robust information on pages 2 & 3).  I want to give credit to May Fairchild on About.com, because she does a very in-depth discussion on prayer and provides plenty of Scripture for you to research, reinforcing the need for daily prayer to supplement everything else you are doing to grow your spiritual formation.

If you are looking for someone to model your prayer life after, look no farther than Jesus.  Although the New Testament does not give an actual number count of how many times Jesus prayed, it does describe the frequency of His prayer life. According the Nelson Study Bible, Jesus prayed day and night and throughout the day. The New Testament also gives numerous accounts when Jesus prayed, such as on the mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the wilderness, the Lord's Prayer, in distress, for comfort, after the Lord's Supper and at the crucifixion. Jesus prayed endlessly, as noted throughout the New Testament.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have either said or have had someone say to you, "I will pray for you?"  If you are anything like me, you are more likely to forget unless you pray with that person right then - on the spot.  It also shows the intentionality of you on behalf on the person.  What I mean by that is sometimes people may feel like you are offering them a platitude by saying you will pray for them, when they know that you probably won't.  I had a professor at seminary who was in charge of our spiritual formation group that once shared with us a story about how he had been praying for each student in his formation groups, as well as for various friends and family members for decades and used to keep the prayer journal manually, but now has it on his PC.  He will often update the prayer journal, when he is given an update about an answered prayer or a change in an individual's status to a new or different prayer need.  This level of devotion and dedication to prayer and worshiping the Lord showed me how powerful prayer can be and also how dedicated we demonstrate to God we are in our spiritual formation and the formation of others in their journey.

Have you gone to the Lord in prayer today?  If the answer is no, consider starting by saying the Lord's prayer aloud right now.  Matthew 6:9-13 states,

"⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

¹⁰ 

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ 

Give us today our daily bread.

¹² 

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³ 

And lead us not into temptation,^[a]

    but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’"

I just returned from a men's bible study group where about fifty or so men are involved in the study of Scripture and daily devotion to God's Word, which involves Scripture memory each week, time together discussing how things went each week (accountability) and prayer together as a group (Mtw. 18:19) "

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven."

If you begin to see a pattern here, that is a good thing.  The overlapping of spiritual practices will start to happen without you even trying to make them happen.  You will find yourself involved in doing things that stretch you beyond your normal comfort zone and nudge you into volunteering or going on missions trips in foreign countries, finding more time in each day to build upon your relationship with your heavenly Father and preparing a way for you to share the joy that resides within you to everyone around you.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or feedback you may have on this entry and would love to hear any personal testimony about you spiritual formation journey so that others may prosper from reading it.

Recharging my Spirit daily,

Pastor Bill Blanck

These are NOT the lyrics you are looking for ... Move along!!!

So far we have discussed being in God's Word daily, memorizing Scripture as a part of your daily devotional time each morning, the friends and small groups we associate ourselves with.  This entry will be about worshiping God through the type of songs we lift up to Him and the lyrics we subject ourselves and others to in the process of listening to music to entertain ourselves.

To be honest, I have an extremely eclectic music listening style, but over the last dozen or so years (and even in the last two or three years) I have become more discerning with what I listen to and why I listen to that style or genre of music.  Let me explain!

My life used to be extremely fast paced and filled with stress and self-induced goals about things that I felt would fill me up with joy and satisfaction.  I used to pick my music based on the tempo and beat and maybe a line or two, or the main chorus - without ever really paying attention to the entire rest of the song's lyrics to see the message they may be putting forth.  If it sounded good or fit the mood I was in at that moment, I listened to it. If I am being truthful right now, this has led me to find out about some truly amazing artists and genres of music over my lifetime and that is a great thing.  On the other hand, it has also led to many a time, when I would listen to very long periods - even days of sad, depressing, or dare I say hopeless lyrics that had a profound impact on my general mood and demeanor.  This is not difficult to test, all you have to do is think about the type of music you listened to the last time you were extremely upset, sad, depressed, or even thoughtful, relaxed, upbeat and maybe even overjoyed.

So what does all of this have to do with spiritual formation?  A lot!  It took me a very long time to slow down and begin to listen to the music of life.  When you are able to listen to some of the lyrics of your favorite songs in entirety, you may become surprised, even appalled at what their actual meaning and message was aimed at saying to the world.  I could go on and on about various artists and give specific examples, but that takes this entry off the topic.  The point is that music that is done to worship God is often done with a Scripture or several Scriptures as its basis.  As a long time listener of Christian Rock groups like:  Petra and Stryper, and also of Christian artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and to be more current with artists like Tenth Avenue North, Third Day, LeCrae, and Group 1 Crew; I have found most of these artists will include a direct quote from a Scripture verse in the song and will often put that reference in the liner notes on the CD insert.  My favorite group Building 4:29 based the name of the group on Ephesians 4:29 which says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (emphasis added)

If you are a not a regular listener of Christian worship music I encourage you to give it a try.  There are plenty of ways to sample all of the various genres of Christian music for free.  You can go to the local library that you support with your taxes and check out a few CDs to listen to; you can also use online music listening sources like Pandora, Songza or IHeartRadio (to name a few).  The beauty of the online radio sources is they are free and you are able to let the station know the songs and artists you approve of with a thumbs up and those you don't like with a thumbs down and it with adjust the station to your preferences.  What you will find is that as you listen to Christian music more often, it will supplement your daily reading and Scripture memorization and you will often say to yourself that you recognize the verse that was just vocalized in the song.  You may even find a certain joy and peace that starts to build as your "walk" with God begins to strengthen and build "layers" during your day.  

Spiritual formation is about maturing in your relationship with God.  It is about finding ways to continually expand and grow in your faith.  There are many ways to investigate and learn about our Lord and Savior and there are many ways to offer up our worship to Him as we continue in the process.  As we walk down the path of life, we will find it beneficial to partner with Him by seeking out music that uplifts and edifies others and Glorifies His name in the process, versus the plethora of alternatives we are offered down the dial that has another agenda in mind.  

I treat each song like a trivia game now, I listen to the song and try to figure out the Scriptural inspiration the artist had for writing the song.  Sometime I will even jot myself a quick note and go online and look up the lyrics, there are also plenty of free websites that will provide you with the entire songs lyrics.  A quick Bing search will give you plenty of options.  I like to use http://www.azlyrics.com/l.html to find lyrics because they have a pretty vast selection of artists.

You will find that with each post I am attempting to show you that this process is like the opposite of peeling back the layers of an onion, we are adding on a layer each post and each layer adds to your spiritual formation journey.  As Paul states in 2 Timothy 4 6:8, "⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."  

As we go through our life, we will add layers to our formation spiritually, and this will take faith and determination, but our goal is to "finish the race" and I pray that you will remain in the fight and continue in your devotion to know Christ and to grow to be more like him each and every day.

Recharging my Spirit daily,

Pastor Bill Blanck