My Journey with Prayer – Steve Collins - The Church at Cahaba Bend

 

At age 29, a simple question woke me up in the middle of the night.  The question literally woke me up to my spiritual stupor.  A neighbor asked me later, “Where do you attend church”?  My response was I don’t and I was thinking…two kids, another one on the way, a fulfilling and promising professional career, a comfortable home, a couple of cars, vacationing twice a year, and a few dollars in the bank. My strategy to build success in my life appeared to be working quite nicely so church attendance/involvement wasn’t on my radar.  When posed with that simple question I thought about a perspective not even considered. I thought with my heart, so I woke up. Mark 8:18 says “Having eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear?”

Clearly, I was missing something in my heart.  I knew I had never felt completely validated or fulfilled with my efforts to build a successful life. All seemed stable. My life plan was generating positive outcomes. But “something” was lacking - an incompleteness inside of me.  God knew but waited for me to respond.  I questioned: “Is working, providing, consuming, and retiring define a lifetime of effort? Is that the cycle?  Is that the game of life?   Questions arose – there must be more to this life; more to my life than the blueprint the world had drawn for me and trained me to think, behave, and execute.

So, I went to church.  Having no personal familiarity with the Bible, and no church upbringing in any depth. I didn’t even own a Bible, which didn’t matter.  In my mind, the concept of God was that He’s a good guy who I had very infrequently called upon in the past, and only in a time of serious worry and crisis.  After exhausting my efforts to control and manage situations to my desired outcome, I would turn to Him.  But after none of that worked, I was compelled, better yet, convicted in my heart.  It turned out that the simple act of visiting a church, hearing words and a message that the world had never provided, ignited an interest to hear and understand more.  The simple act of attendance exposed me to new knowledge, new teachings, and new perspectives. God’s Word changed the way I looked at everything. I was literally awake!

In the beginning of my faith journey, prayer was a foreign concept. I didn’t feel comfortable, intimidated with the concept of prayer in general and simply chose to believe that any prayer I prayed was so highly personal that it was not to be publicly shared. It was what I term, “my concept of God” at the time and me.  I wasn’t qualified to pray for anyone nor pray audibly in a group setting.  In the past, if I prayed at all, it was “prayer light”, as I had prayed for a great harvest when hunting, and a bounty when fishing.  I prayed self-serving prayers because I had no understanding or confidence on the prayer “meter”.

I’m not sure how much time I wasted by having no real knowledge, no true understanding, and no wisdom regarding prayer.  I had no appreciation for the power that’s associated with prayer. I learned that God teaches in a three-fold manner. Through his children- people who by faith have accepted Jesus’ gift of eternal life, (John 3:16) - Pastors, Disciples, and others through His Word - The Bible is (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) and by prayer.  Once I digested that prayer was simply communicating with God, the whole concept and process of prayer was simplified, and prayer achieved a new meaning.

I got more serious about pursuing the knowledge of prayer. I started with Matthew 6:9-13, The Lord’s Prayer, which memorializes Jesus’ counsel on how to pray. When I say those words, I feel a real calm, true appreciation, heartfelt thankfulness, and hope.

As I continued to read God’s Word, I unearthed so many teachings that were simple, and yet profound. He gives us strength, wisdom, understanding, love, and peace in our hearts.  He will help us when we need it if we love him!

 

God doesn't give us material things, only our need.  John 2:16-17 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!" ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."

 

If we pray, it should be for the things of the heart.  A burden to speak, strength to overcome, or help for someone else.  We can pray for food on the table, but most of all, to have His Spirit in our heart, so we can see the need in others and show His love to others James 1:5-10 “⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD. ⁸Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. ⁹Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰But the rich should take pride in their humiliation-since they will pass away like a wildflower.”

 

The only things we should pray for materially are food and water.  We should thank Him for these things continually because they are blessings 1 Timothy 6:7-10 “⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

 

As Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 24"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

 

Worldly things mean nothing to God.  Jesus came to the World poor, and as a servant, to show us that we need to stay humble and follow Jesus. Luke 22:26-27 – “But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves”.

 

My journey with prayer has provided a set of spiritual tools than can be deployed at will to “Move the Mountains” I have faced and will face in this lifetime.  Prayer influences and impacts outcomes. Mark 11:23  “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”