PRAYER IS NOT PUNISHMENT FOR BELIEVING IN GOD

Prayer seems to be one of the last things we church people like....and one of the last things we do.

When I began in ministry I could not stand the praying part unless it was at a gathering where somebody needed to open the event...or close it out.  But I was bored with a capital B at the thought of prayer.  It seemed to me that prayer was an assignment of punishment; a go sit in the corner and think about your behavior for awhile.

After a bit I discovered why this venture had little adventure.  It was a one-way-Jose concept.  We prayed upwardly and then................

...that was it.

Nothing.

Over.

Time put in.

Didn't feel a lot better; but somewhat satisfied I served time.

Prayer, I have discovered, comes alive when we couple it with a faith that this process is precisely a two-way street.  We talk and God listens.  God talks and we listen.

Listen to God?

Yes, this is the missing ingredient.  Until this happens, we merely approach God with our wish-list.  God I want to order up some feeling better, I would like to place an order for an ill neighbor, and while we are at it, do You think You could do something about that husband of mine?

But when prayer opens us wide, we learn to pour out our praises of Him and our concerns to Him.  As with any father, ours loves to hear us go on and on about how much we love and need Him.  And then, be still.

Let Him get in a few words.

How will that go?  From experience all I can say is that words and ideas will flow from above and into your heart that did not come from you.  This morning at 4:00 I could not sleep.  I've learned that these times may be His exercise of trying to share with me.  I have practiced listening.

Hear is what He shared in my heart.  At the workshop on your class on creativity I want you to tell them that we are mistakenly building a karaoke church where we sing the words of someone else's song.  I want My people to move away from the security of following everyone else's hesitancy and begin to dream, imagine, and risk for I still have higher and greater ways that have yet to be discovered.

Just so you know, years ago I found such talk to be laughable.  But while I was arrogantly full of laughter I was equally empty of a relationship with God.  So mock if you like; and if you like, my guess is that you, too, do not pray.

God is our Father; not our Army Sergeant.  I believe He has big dreams for His kids; big, big dreams.  But some of His kids (like me) would rather squander our opportunistic future to do mighty things for society by merely hanging out with friends and hitting all the Sunday morning parties.

We have a Father with an enormous appetite for the fascinating and a wallet to match.  Prayer is not punishment for believing in God.  It is the communication system that allows us to be the privileged few who dare to imagine....Eph. 3:20-21.