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Refresh 3: Thanks and Praise (Worship) Changes Everything
becoming an 'activated by the Spirit' pray-er
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Becoming an 'activated by the Spirit' Pray-er
As we get used to his personal Presence with us at all times and find our way into an ongoing ‘prompted to quick prayers’ conversation with him, we soon recognize that ‘this could be habit forming’ and a whole new way of dealing with life day by day.
If we are honest with ourselves, we may have some very practical concerns about following through...every day...all day long!? But what if we could offload that burden onto God's Spirit who is already 'right there with us' and very much looking forward to helping us out?
'activated by His Spirit’ prayer Part 1
An 'activated by His Spirit’ prayer life (Part 1)
It may start out as an experiment occasioned by a God-moment connection with the Spirit of Jesus, but from that you will sense he is nudging you into something much more pervasive and permanent. An insistent question will arise that you may only vaguely recognize: “Does the Spirit of Love want to saturate my thoughts and motivations so completely that my energized spirit just has to overflow with ever-caring, freely-blessing prayers?" And then an even more personal and 'concerning' question can come to you: "Can He really turn me, with all my flaws and doubts, into someone who is forever looking for any chance to pray God’s best into people’s lives...and...into someone who thoroughly trusts Him to come through for them?”
In fact, you will find the Spirit is always trying to gently persuade you to step out of your ‘normal’
expectation that you are 'alone on your own' and realize that 'in this moment' He has caught your attention about someone or something He wants to pray about...through you! He foresees that you are exactly the right person to pray for this particular person's need. He knows that your way of seeing and thinking about the situation will let you call on our loving Father God in just the right way.
You will also recognize that this ever-repeating experience is His way of making 'normal what has previously been exceptional...in every sense. To take you from 'missing the prayer-moment' to 'without thinking about it' calling on God, the Spirit of Love will keep on prompting you to 'reframe what's really happening here' so that you can see whatever stress-full or 'impossible' trouble they are facing with His eyes and then take it on as just one more opportunity to prayer-bless someone's life, [letting the over-ruling presence of His love surround and fill their world/life/reality].
A bonus: seeing yourself this way - as someone who is prayer-partnering with God's purpose for 'these folks in particular' - lets you 'just leave it to God' to work out the details. In time, you will entrust to him even the most difficult problems you come across because you will have discovered for yourself (again and again!), "In His capable hands, 'all things are possible'." (Jesus, Matt 19:26)
His goal is to extend his/your prayer influence over every place you go, every person you encounter, and every challenge you and they face. He constantly wants to do more with you because He sees the endless volume of need for our Father’s love and Jesus’ healing touch in this badly broken and hurting world. And being that He is himself “the Spirit of Love” turned loose in the world, he cannot wait to get his hands on and do something about…all of it. That is precisely why your (however hesitant or short) times of “praying [with] the Spirit” like this can make such a difference.
Then again
Getting into praying this way can easily bring up some very practical concerns about being consistent in doing it every day, throughout the day! Things like:
- How will He make praying this way a habit, a naturally reoccurring time out’ that is permanently [entrenched] in my day’s schedule?
- And to support that habit, how will He instill a steady-beat prompting in me (an easily distracted human) such that I am motivated “always to pray,” wherever I am?
- And, finally, how will He take this praying-priority from the margins of my overly busy day and make it the first thing that comes to mind as I start each new task and establish in me a 'quietly ready to take it on' mindset with which to face the inevitable challenges that every new tomorrow will bring.
Let’s begin with the second of these three questions – instilling in me a steady-beat prompting to pray – because, as preoccupied and ‘stretched to the limit’ as we often are, His prayer-agenda will have to ‘fit in with’ all we have going on today and sometimes insistently pull our attention into prayer conversations with him even as the distractions pile up before us.
His preference is…
We should note here that in times of ‘learning new things,’ He does not want us to ‘try extra hard’ to get it done or stress out over getting it just right. Rather than demanding that we force ourselves to ‘do our duty,’ he much prefers engaging directly with our heart-hesitations about exploring something ‘outside my comfort zone’ and then (he especially loves this part) gently walking with us into more and more freedom to do it ‘as naturally as breathing’ and without strain! That’s our grace-full Father God “at work in us both to will and to do what fits with his loving purpose for us all.” (Phil 2:13)
And so…the Spirit starts with the simple gift of bringing people we love to mind or quietly giving us a gentle heart-nudge concern for the person right there with us and, by those, moving us to pray. Paul describes this initial heart prompting at the beginning of his letter to his very dear friends at Philippi, Greece: “I thank my God every time I remember you.” (Phil 1:3) Here, he is not only being thankful for them when he happens to remember them but also for getting the reminder-to-pray impulse from the Spirit. Looks like we can rely on the Spirit to keep us thanking and blessing God for our loved ones and talking with him about coworkers and friends, even in our most distracted (and distraught!) times. For sure, His kind assistance with ‘just getting started…again and again’ is very welcome. Thank you, Father!
Since we need Him for such a basic thing as remembering to pray, it could make sense to let him take on the rest of our prayer life as well. When Paul prays, he often talks about “praying by the Spirit” or as it is sometimes translated, “praying in the Spirit.” How might that self-description of Paul's way of praying shed light on our questions? Both translations do give us the sense that somehow God needs to be intimately involved in our praying. What we may want to know is how the Spirit of God makes his way into my praying my prayers? AND HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE PRAYERS ARE 'IN ONE ACCORD' WITH HIM/HIS PURPOSES/PLANS.
If we appropriately unpack the full meaning of the ‘short hand’ wording Paul uses, we get “prayer activated by the Spirit/our spirit” – which starts to clarify for us that the emphasis is not on Him or us but on ‘we-together’ making prayer happen, with Him as the energizing-it-all heart of love motivating our hearts and minds to pray for the needs of our loved ones. We are not on our own nor are we silently waiting for some grand ‘divine intervention’ that we ‘wish’ would come to pass…somehow. We are His ‘prayer partners,’ with one heart calling on our loving Father God to step into this messy life and make some truly good changes happen for people.
There are even times when we are self-conscious about this…when we ‘just know’ that what we are thinking or saying or feeling as we pray is “not just me” doing it. Partner-praying relies on His Spirit’s deep desire to introduce God’s very best into our troubled world and lets Him make us a ‘prayer-agent of change’ to bring God's healing life-energy into the lives of those we love and even those who 'just happen' to cross our path today.
Reflecting on all this:
How do I identify that it is the Spirit of Jesus who is prompting my thoughts/prayers???
Reflecting on all this:
[Please: nothing ‘formal’ here; just make quick notes. Lots of help comes our way when we tell our God-stories...especially if we can share them with someone.]
What “I am limited by…” thoughts about yourself might be holding you back from praying God’s best into your loved one’s lives?
What does God's Spirit use to heart-nudge you into prayer? (Concerns for their... thankfulness for... disturbed by what they are faced with... yearning for their...)
Ever struggled with not being sure whether you were really praying ‘properly’ and ‘according to God’s will’? What thoughts came to you and how did it feel?
If you with God's help managed to work through it, take a moment to describe to yourself how that all came about...
...and then tell this story to one close friend/confidant who will ‘get it.’ What blessings came to you and them during and after your time of sharing?
Also, tell the story** of a time when you ‘just knew’ that what you were thinking/saying/feeling in prayer was “not just me” doing it.
What advantages do you see in letting the Spirit join with you in praying like this?
Note: we are always available for conversation about your experiences. We would love to hear from you via Share Your Story or Ask Dwight.
But...
But…
One might also want to ask, “How do we get into 'we together' making prayer happen in the first place?” Since we are about to lean on the Spirit to activate our praying and praying more consistently, it would be helpful to know how release/rely on Him as sort of the jumping off point for experiencing/doing prayer in tandem with Him. TO KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS/FEELS LIKE Please click here to go to 'Refresh' 4 [getting started with the Holy Spirit].