"Pray Like Jesus "
Do you remember when Congress tried to find a way around the issue of praying in school? Someone came up with the idea to mandate a "moment of silence." Students could choose to use that time to pray or not to pray. One teacher said, "I would be delighted for Congress to give me a moment of silence in my class at any time for any reason!"
God did not mandate quiet time or even prayer. Instead He sent His Son, Jesus, to teach us the importance of prayer. How did He teach us? Mostly by example.
Mark tells us that after a very busy day working with crowds of people, Jesus "went up into the hills by himself to pray." (Mark 6:46 NLT). Apparently, this was no once-in-a-while-event. Luke says, "Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness (a lonely place) for prayer." (Luke 5:16NLT). On one occasion "Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night." (Luke 6:12 NLT).
To me, this is not just about frequency of prayer. Praying often is important, but why we pray often is even more important. It seems Jesus put prayer ahead of any other ministry. Prayer made it possible for Him to minister effectively. Prayer kept Him close to the Father. Prayer shaped His thinking. Prayer provided Him with power.
Think about this: The retreat from the crowd and hectic pace of life to a quiet place to interact and intimately converse with His Father had much to do with His ability to resist the pressure of the world to press Him into its mold.
We follow Jesus when we discipline ourselves to withdraw (a form of fasting)from distractions in order to get close to God so that we can stay close to Him when we serve the crowds at work, school, church and home.
The idea behind Operation Global Rain is to take ten days (June 27 through July7) to establish a pattern in our lives of being alone with God to experience Him intimately and have our minds shaped by His will for our lives. To do that we may need to "make" time by forgoing some other cherished activity (a meal, TV show, Internet surfing) for an hour or more. Once the pattern is established, we can decide to make it part of our daily lives forever.
During that ten-day intensive, try doing the following:
1. Read the Bible passage assigned on the sheet you can find on the desk at church or on the website: www.operationglobalrain.com Take time to ponder the meaning of that Bible passage, what it says about God, and what it says about you. Personalize it. Pray for insight to see how it applies to you. Talk to God about the thoughts emerging from that Bible passage. Tell God, "By Your grace, I decide to live what I learned in this Bible passage"
2. Ask God to pour out the Holy Spirit on you and our church and school-its leaders, people, ministries and needs.
3. Make a list of people you want to see in the Kingdom and come to church with you, and wrestle with God in prayer about the salvation of these people.
You can do this alone, with your family, with a friend, with a group you invite to your home. Our church family mostly lives far away from the church, so we do not plan a meeting at the church during these ten days. If you take the initiative to get together with others, it will mean much more to you than if it is arranged for you at the church.
Let's follow Jesus in the priority He gave to prayer!
-- Pastor Ivan Blake
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