Some of my favorite people in the world are senior citizens. From day one as a young follower of Christ, God saw fit to surround me with some seasoned senior-saints who have deeply impacted my life and ministry. Sharing meals, traveling with one another, working shoulder to shoulder in the Kingdom… I’ve benefited greatly from those a generation (sometimes two) ahead of me. One of the things we often joke about is how the body just doesn’t want to cooperate in your older years as it did when you were young. More than once I’ve been asked to help an older brother get to his feet after he knelt at an altar to offer prayer unto God. One man in particular had such bad arthritis that the popping in his knees was audible while both kneeling down and standing up. Several of my Christian brothers and sisters who have conquered many years can no longer kneel down at all. Thank God that no particular physical posture is required for acceptable prayers. God looks always at the posture of one’s heart and that is where the kneeling must occur. Having said that, I’d like to give a warning concerning the danger of spiritual arthritis.
James 4:10 – “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” {ESV}
1 Peter 5:6 – “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you…” {ESV}
Tonight we begin a series of focused prayer gatherings at Meadow. Each night this week those who are willing and desirous will come to a stripped-down service at the church house and kneel before the Lord – our God, our Maker. I’ve sensed in my heart since November that God is calling us to humble ourselves before Him, search our hearts, repent of all sin made known to us, call out to Him for His presence and power, and request that He would fill us and begin a new work unlike any we have been entrusted with before. These scheduled prayer meetings are a result of God leading my heart to purposefully reclaim some of the simplicity in Christ that I (and the people I shepherd) have misplaced as our ministry together has grown and expanded. We anticipate some great fruit to come forth at some future time but we know that, for many, spiritual arthritis must first be dealt with. Friends, far too many in the American church have forgotten the significance and necessity of being a praying people. Even more so, churches no longer emphasize the dynamic of corporate prayer; busy-ness and distracted lives have served to minimize the powerful of activity of God’s people joining many voices into one voice before Him. We have unprecedented technology, impressive education, ministerial sophistication, religious professionalism, spiritual shortcuts, amped-up ministry methods, quips and cliches which have all taught us how to engage in religious activity without remaining desperate for the presence of God among us. Our spiritual joints of prayer have become calcified and inflamed, bringing severe discomfort to our own souls and the hearts of our churches. When we first came to Christ, praying and seeking the face of God was as easy as breathing in the air but if one does not wisely guard the first-works (Revelation 2:5), one will forfeit them and all that is afforded through them. Prayer may be the very first among the first-works that we have let slip. We simply cannot afford to let this go unaddressed any further.
Our focus tonight at Meadow is not one of celebration and knee-slapping good times. We will likely gather for a corporate reading of Psalm 51, receive some simple instructions for our time together, break off into smaller groups of 4 or 5 people and then commence to kneeling in our hearts before an unseen throne of glorious grace. May God grant each of us transparency before Him and a willingness to get real about sin that has far-too-long lodged in our hearts. God’s word says, “Humble YOURSELVES…” Humility is not something we request from Him but something in which we obey Him. Now is the time for me to become small. Today is the day we purposefully begin to decrease so that Christ increases through us. May God graciously meet us as both young and old draw near to the throne of our King to obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.
A few days ago, I was reading Matthew’s account of Jesus praying just prior to His crucifixion. I remember thinking…How could the disciples have fallen asleep?
I have to admit, it wasn’t an easy thing leaving my Buckhead office, driving over an hour through rush hour traffic, and attending a prayer service with a bunch of folks I don’t really know. It also wasn’t easy because I selfishly guard my time. There, I said it. God must have laughed when I swore that I would give money, possessions, whatever, but never give time.
So attending tonight was my emanupation proclamation…shutting down my rebel outpost and getting on with obedience. It is a process.