devotionFIFTEEN - Prayer: Our Bodies

“[Jesus] walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed” (Luke 22:41).

In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, an elder demon schooling a younger in deception says, “[humans] can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls” (Screwtape, Letter IV).

Read it again: whatever our bodies do affects our souls.

While many of us pride ourselves in the fact that we may spontaneously pray to God whenever, wherever, and however we please, such freedom should not—must not—keep us from formally and intentionally praying before God. We must enter our closets. We must get on our knees. Or our faces.

Some of us do a bang-up job of disconnecting our bodies from our souls—but they are not separable. The body reflects the spirit. We are material as well as immaterial. We are not simply spirits and neither should we believe ourselves to be. God created us body and spirit. Our bodies are part of us, just as Christ’s body is part of Christ. Therefore we stand in reverence or kneel; we lift up our hands; we dance; we cover our faces and beat our chests. We adore God in spirit and in truth, with our bodies and our spirits. Love the Lord your God with . . . all that you are. And we are bodied.

When I love my wife in the future, I do more than simply speak my love (and even speaking to her is, in itself, a physical act). I hold her hand; I fold the laundry; I kiss her lips. I show my love and affection for her, body and soul.

We are wrong to believe that our relationship with God ought to be devoid of our bodies. That is the error of the Gnostics. The body is not evil; God made it. God himself now possesses a body, and has ever since Jesus was born some two thousand years ago. So when we are commanded to love our God with all our being, it includes loving him with our bodies.

The Scriptures speak of standing, raising our hands, beating our chests, falling on our faces, and kneeling in prayer (e.g., Acts 9:40; 20:36; 21:5; Eph. 3:14), but they do not speak of sitting or reclining in prayer. The biblical narrative is full of the stories of God’s people engaging their bodies in prayer.

We stand to honor a person—the President, or a woman who excuses herself from the table. We kneel to show reverence and fealty to royalty. And yet as we approach the throne of God—we sit? Our standing signifies something. Our kneeling signifies something. Our sitting signifies nothing. Or at least, our sitting signifies what we ought not to signify in the presence of the Almighty.

You can certainly pray spontaneously as you go—while walking, cooking, driving, working, diapering, or gardening. But when you are intentional in vocal prayer—voicing your heart in words, spoken or unspoken—show your intentions with your body. As you come before him in prayer today, kneel or stand in reverence. Open your hands to receive him. Raise your hands in adoration of your Creator, your Savior. Beat your chest, cover your face, and pray for mercy.

“To human animals on their knees [God] pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion” (Screwtape, Letter IV).

kev

devotionFOURTHTEEN - Prayer: A Beginning

I am a beginner in the discipline of prayer. Perhaps I always will be. It is a discipline rich enough to fill our whole lives, because it is relationship with God. I grew up in a faith tradition that, while it thinks highly of prayer and sincerely affirms it, never taught me how to pray. And there is no question that prayer is difficult and mysterious. Many books on prayer that I find on bookstore shelves and in library stacks begin with the author’s concession about how much he does not know about prayer. There is always something of prayer that remains shrouded in mystery, because we’re communing with God, who is profoundly other, spectacularly higher than we are.

But at the same time, much of what is knowable about prayer remains a mystery to so many of us simply because we keep it at arm’s length. Some of us fear the intimacy, we fear the silence—we are utterly discomfited by the quietness. Some of us are faithless and no longer really believe in the efficacy of prayer—we have come to believe that prayer does nothing. Some of us are disappointed by prayer: We have asked God to act or move in a certain way and have been met only with silence, and our lives remain in a state of pain and turmoil.

I have been frightened by the silence of prayer—by communion with the Holy One, the Almighty. I have allowed sin to keep me from my Father. Maybe some of you are walking away from the very One who yearns to run to you and embrace you.

I have walked through periods of serious theological confusion about prayer. The reasoning was, “If God is sovereign and will do what he will do, is my prayer efficacious or even reasonable? In other words, if God is a theological juggernaut, then prayers of intercession and supplication are worthless, and I should only concern myself with prayers of thanksgiving and praise.” Maybe some of you are embracing that confusion.

I have been disappointed in prayer—prayed for healing and received none, prayed for relief and found none. I have misunderstood the purposes and person of God. Maybe some of you are losing hope just as I have.

There are many questions people have concerning prayer: What is it? What do I pray about? How do I pray? What is permissible, and impermissible, in prayer? Is there anything impermissible in prayer? Are there other kinds of prayer of which I should be aware, or is the spontaneous vocalization of my heart the extent of Christian prayer? Does prayer accomplish anything? When and how often should I pray? Where should I pray?

I want to struggle through some of these questions and begin to answer them for myself. I am not so foolish as to believe that I will be able to plumb the depths of prayer in these small articles or in my short lifetime. But come along with me anyway. Together we can extend our hands into the dark and slowly feel our way forward, using the lights that others have left for us in their exploration of this multifaceted and treasure-filled cavern. And we must pray—for that is the only way we will ever truly come to know how to pray.

We can begin. Try to commit to a discipline of prayer in your life. Maybe it will only be a moment or two before bed or as you rise, or five minutes during your lunch break. That is your decision, of course, but it is a decision that must be made.

Prayer is one of the most important things we fail to do. And it is not something we can set aside—it is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

kev

Prayer Request

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. - Philippians 4:6

Eugene Lim: I need prayer for my assignments and also wisdom to guide my cell group members.

Lee Ling: That'll just be exams in May. Im definitely not prepared for mocks, so pray that I'll stay focussed and have that determination to study my best for the next 2 mths before finals.

Richard: Pray that I have wisdom, time management, sensitivity to hear God, in different areas in life.

Myrtle: Pray that I'm able to send out resumes soon! n take time to do my projects.(dont want it to be so last min..)

Christine: Please pray for more manageable exams in the upcoming weeks.

Kevin: Pray for directions of which church/cell group to settle in. Pray for my preparation for my upcoming prelims/final papers. I need to have more motivation and focus in my studies.

Glory: pray for God's guidance in preparing for g cube camp. lots of things to be done. need to prepare for scenarios, etc and we don't have much time. everyone's busy with exams. have to meet up this wkend to prepare and there's another paper next mon. yup. so keep me and my group in prayer!

Jessica/Gillian: All from UOL, so lets' keep them in prayer too as they are going through their mocks. Pray for good health and good spirit as they take time to prepare for exams.

Let us continue to keep one another in prayers daily. It can be a general pray to cover health, studies, family or anything. Prayer is a power weapon that God has given to us, so lets' use it to the fullest shall we? Lets' work hand-in-hand with our God in prayer and we will see wonders happening. Amen to that? Have a blessed week ahead guys!

Prayer Request

Prayer not only moves us in line with the will of God, but it invites God’s will to come and be done in our lives. The prayer of “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in our lives is necessary.

Leeling: Pray that God will grant me the wisdom and confidence in leading the Lifegroup. Pray that this won't be a temporal commitment. Pray for God's blessing, favour and strength to be with me.

Kevin: Exams are coming and I've still got quite a fair bit to study. Pray for discipline to study and be focus. Pray for proper time management, that I'll be productive and efficient.

Glory: Pray that I will praise God in good times and bad times. Pray that I will constantly stay close to Him even if times are smooth sailing. Pray that God will help me in my preparation for my upcoming mission trip to Mongolia.

Jessica: Pray that I can experience God in a special way.I want God to touch me and change my life.

Richard: Pray for my parents' salvation and that I'll never give up praying for them. Pray for encouragement that comes from God to see me through.

Myrtle: Thank God for all these years of blessings in my life. I want to get into a deeper level of knowing Him and being close to Him. Pray that I will not neglect him in anyways when life is good.

Gillian: I want to have a close relationship with God. Pray that I can be consistent in my QT with God and I want to glorify Him in all I do.

Christine: I'm not in talking terms with my parents. Please pray that reconciliation will take place and I will be able to talk to them nicely. Pray that I will be able to put God first again in my life. I want to have more of Him each day.

Eugene: Pray for my endless project that I'm doing. Pray for strength and wisdom.

Haha, these are compiled based on the sharing that we had on Wed. Pray as it makes wonders!

Prayer Request

UOL prelims are just round the corner and I guess many are running through their own revision before the first paper hits. Can I ask that ALL students from UOL to submit their own set of prayer request for the upcoming prelim so that we can prayer together as a Lifegrp. We'll support one another in pray, shall we?

Today, Pastor Prince challenged the church to surrender 1/10 of our brain, the only usable part of it to God and in return God will honour us by making the rest of the 9/10 of it to function like never before. Do you understand what I'm saying over here? (: To put it in simple terms, basically we are to always give God FIRST in all that we do. We should always give him our firstfruit as an offering to God. In this case, by giving 1/10 of our usable brain to God. We're telling God that we are going to surrender our all to Him. So why don't you now say this little prayer now and I'm sure God will in cause the rest of the non-active 9/10 of the brain to work in a miraculous way. Our memory bank will increase, creative juice will increase and more wisdom of God can stay put inside!

So what are you waiting for? Simply just login into the blog's account and put your request in the 'Comments' area.