Last night at Home Group, we talked about serving the city. With our Lamentations series coming up, we are hosting prayer nights every other week: open to the city, to pray for the city. Put two and two together, and last night we were talking about serving the city through prayer. And we brought up the fact that numerous people have this story: “I see what you guys are doing, and I love it. ” But they won’t come to experience why we do it. They won’t involve themselves with our community. They love our destination…but they don’t want to walk with us yet. And at Home Group, we figured out the missing link: we aren’t praying as hard as we are walking. We love, live, and echo like Jesus. It’s been ingrained in our culture from the very beginning, which I take responsibility for. It’s my passion. But I also take responsibility for our weaknesses, including our communal intimacy with God. We don’t pray enough. And it’s a reflection of my heart. But that will be changing. As a church, we going to start putting more emphasis on prayer. And it starts now. I’m not sure about how to facilitate this thing, or even to encourage/spur us on to prayer. Maybe you reading this do have an idea. Step up, email me (derek -at- harmonydc.com), something. Here are some tools that you can use to become more intimate with Christ through prayer:
- EXAMEN.me: It’s a great online tool for typing out prayers and dissecting Scripture via an online journal. I love it like this. I’m too intellectual for my own good, and I need structure sometimes when I’m talking to Jesus. This provides me with an avenue for that structure.
- Moleskine: The way I journal is two verses at a time, followed by a prayer reflecting my thoughts on those verses. I keep my thoughts in a Moleskine.
- The 2:9 Booklet: This is a resource that we produced last summer during the Jonah series to lead us in guided prayer during the week. Worked out pretty good. It’s basically a collection of Psalms centered around 5 themes. There is an introduction within the book.
- A Floor: Eric Butler said it best last night: for intimate, gut-wrenching prayer, all you need is a floor. The resources above are great, but prayer doesn’t require them. It just requires time…and obedience. God already knows what we ask, but He desires a conversation. An outpouring of the heart. Time after time in Scripture, His people cry out to Him in their weakness…and He responds.
Harmony, what were to happen if we started praying our hearts out on a regular basis? Combine that with living out the Gospel on mission in this city, and God may move mightily on our behalf.