Text: Matthew 18:18-20, Luke 5:1-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll often\ncome across a quote or a few paragraphs in a devotional that I\u2019ll save for\nlater, thinking \u2013 Ahh! This will make a\ngood sermon illustration! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, as we\nthink a little bit about diving into deeper water in our prayer lives, I\nremembered a story told by the seventeenth century French mystic Jeanne Guyon in\nher book, \u201cExperiencing the Depths of Christ<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n But before I\nget to her writing, a little about Madame Guyon herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She grew up\nvery religious, spending much of her childhood in a convent until she was\nforced into an arranged marriage at the age of 15. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By the age of\n28, Madame Guyon was a wealthy widow with three surviving children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the\npiety of her youth was what drove her and she continued to have mystical\nexperiences of God. She felt called to\nshare these teachings and eventually left her children into their grandmother\u2019s\ncare and left behind most of her personal possessions to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At one\npoint, Guyon was imprisoned for her teachings on prayer, which focused on\nconstant prayer and inward stillness which brings us into the presence of\nGod. Her writings were considered heresy\nat the time because they prioritized stillness over vocal prayer and pious\naction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So imagine\nthis woman, who has not had an easy life. \nBut through it all, she believed God was with her in the midst of her\ntrials and suffering. Madam Guyon wanted\nothers to experience the depths of a relationship with God that she herself had\nfound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She tells\nthe story of a traveler who has embarked on a long journey\u2026 a quest of\nsorts. But when the man comes to the\nfirst inn along the way, he stops there and remains there forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe has been\ntold that many travelers have come this way and have stayed at this very inn;\neven the master of the house once dwelt here\u2026 \nOh soul! All that is wished for\nyou is that you press toward the end\u2026 Only remember this: Do not stop at the\nfirst stage.\u201d (Guyon, Experiencing\nthe Depths of Jesus Christ)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do not stop at the first stage. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wonder how many of us have stopped at the first stage of our prayer lives.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n We recite\nthe Lord\u2019s prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We have a\nfew prayers we turn to before meals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We might\neven have a daily devotional we pick up a few times a week that includes a\nprayer at the end of every reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But for many\nof us, we pray in much the same ways we did as children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We learned some\nof the basics of prayer and then stopped at that stage along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We forgot about our destination, what we were striving for in the first place:\u00a0 a life spent in the presence of God and a faith connected with the power of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n While we\nspend a lot of time thinking about the prayer that Jesus taught us, we forget\nwhat else Jesus taught us about prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask and it\nwill be given to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seek and you\nwill find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knock and\nthe door will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8 and Luke 11:9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have\nfaith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains\u2026 nothing will be\nimpossible (Mt 17:20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we ask\nfor anything in agreement with God\u2019s will, God listens to us\u2026 we know that we\nhave received what we asked from God. (1 John 14-15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n And from our\ngospel reading today: <\/p>\n\n\n\n What your bind\nor loosen on earth will be bound or loosened in heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When just\ntwo of us get together and pray about something, God goes into action in\nresponse. (Matthew 18:18-19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we pray\u2026\nstuff will happen! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not little\nstuff\u2026 BIG. GIGANTIC. POWERFUL. MOUNTAIN SIZED stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what\nscripture tells us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what\nJesus keeps reminding us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer is\npowerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why is it such an after thought? <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in the\nchurch, this institution dedicated to the teachings of Jesus, prayer seems to\nbe icing on the cake, rather than the main course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about\nour typical response to things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we see\na problem or we have a goal, we create a team! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have\nmeetings and we plan and organize and we get approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then we\nwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We work our\ntails off trying to make something happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And at the\nend of the day we find ourselves so busy and exhausted and barely one step\nfarther along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe, MAYBE,\nwe had a devotion and a prayer at some step along that journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But not\nalways. And not often. And not\nprimarily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Martha Grace\nReese reminds us that churches are not declining or struggling because we are\nlazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We work\nreally hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe the problem is that we aren\u2019t praying as much as we work.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Luke\u2019s\ngospel, Simon and James and John found\nthemselves in this very situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They were\nhard workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They had\nbeen up all night and put in the hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet,\nthey had nothing to show for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Until they\nlistened to Jesus\u2019 invitation to go a little deeper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To row out a\nlittle farther. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To push\nbeyond what they had always done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Was it\nsimply that there were more fish out deeper in the water? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Surely, that\ncan\u2019t be it\u2026 for they knew these waters like the back of their hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Was it that\nthey just put in more hours of work? <\/p>\n\n\n\n A whole\nnights worth of effort didn\u2019t accomplish what miraculously came in through one\ntoss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No, what\nchanged is that they had spent some time with Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And they listened to what Jesus asked of them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cUnbinding\nthe Heart,\u201d Reese shares the story of\nthe Benton Street Christian Church and their evangelism team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As they got\nstarted in their work, Reese asked them to not make any decisions for three\nmonths to but simply spend their time in prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was\nincredibly difficult for this church full of do-ers and they got frustrated\nthat the only thing they could report was that they were praying\u2026 but they did\nit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They got together\nand prayed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They prayed\nbetween meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They prayed\nevery day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They got\nteased a little\u2026 but then they started getting prayer requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And by the\ntime their three months of prayer was done, they had vision and energy and\ndirection and one month later had fifty people involved in the ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As one of the volunteers later said, \u201cIt was incredibly difficult for these four \u2018can-do\u2019 women to wait in prayer\u2026 a year and a half later, all four of us would say our prayer lives have been permanently impacted by this experiment\u2026 the entire church is still being impacted by this willingness to risk praying first.\u201d \u00a0(p30) <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Isn\u2019t that a\nfunny phrase\u2026. To risk praying first? <\/p>\n\n\n\n What risk is\nthere in praying first? <\/p>\n\n\n\n What risk is\nthere in stopping to ask God to be present and to guide our work? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll tell\nyou what the risk is\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Something\nmight happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Something\nmight change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it just\nmight be us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard\nFoster once wrote, \u201cprayer is the central avenue God uses to change us. If we are unwilling to change, we will\nabandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or to put it\nanother way, if we are content with the status quo, we are probably not people\nwho turn to prayer a lot in our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The opposite\nis also true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If we believe\nGod is active in the world\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n If we see\nthat something needs to change\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we want\nto transform our very way of being in the world\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then prayer has\nto be part of the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is key to\nthe journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It isn\u2019t\njust one stop along the way\u2026. It is the very road beneath our feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Two weeks\nago, our church leadership team thought together about the work we have before\nus this year and the role and responsibilities each of us will play along the\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the\nthings that we focused on was our vision statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Can we read\nthat aloud together? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Through personal engagement in and partnership with our community, we will live a life of love, service, and prayer, so that all who hunger might be fed by God\u2019s grace. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve been\nworking hard on making this happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We try to create\nopportunities for people to personally engage and reach out to our partners\nlike CFUM and Women at the Well and Simpson Youth Academy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We focus on physical\nhunger through our food pantry and meal programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We reach out\nto meet that hunger for connection and relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But do you\nknow what we haven\u2019t done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We haven\u2019t\ninvited all of you to pray about this vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We haven\u2019t\nstopped to ask God to help us accomplish this work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As much as\nwe talk about love, service, and prayer\u2026 as much as we even practice\nintercessory prayer for one another\u2019s joys and concerns\u2026 we have not prayed as\na community for our work together as a church. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s almost\nas if we took all of the power of God to bring fruit and change and life to our\ncongregation and we locked it up in a box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2026 let\u2019s\nset the power of prayer free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s let the\ngood news of Christ loose on the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s turn\nthis work over to Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as\nChrist urged Peter, James and John out into deeper waters, this next week, each\nday you\u2019ll get an email inviting you to pray for Immanuel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not just for\nour people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But for the vision\nGod has given us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the work\nbefore us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s not\nstop at the first stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s not be\ncontent resting before our journey is complete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But\ntogether, let us keep pressing onward, deeper, out into that place where the\npresence and power of God can truly change us and this world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n May it be\nso. Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: Matthew 18:18-20, Luke 5:1-10 I\u2019ll often come across a quote or a few paragraphs in a devotional that I\u2019ll save for later, thinking \u2013 Ahh! This will make a good sermon illustration! Today, as we think a little bit about diving into deeper water in our prayer lives, I remembered a story told by…<\/span><\/p>\n