The Great Adventure

Written by cycleguy on October 29th, 2010

Many of you may remember SCC’s song by that name.  It was a celebration of freedom and grace.  Probably out of all his songs that was my favorite.  If you haven’t seen it or has been awhile you can find it here. But since my sermon this Sunday is not about that…I will move on.  (You can still have fun watching the video).  I have been preaching on Acts 2:42 and this Sunday is the last of the series.  It has been fun studying it and preaching it.  I think it has been fun to listen to also.  😛   When you look at the verse it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what “The Great Adventure” is all about this time.  Here…let me refresh you: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Along the way I have spoken about worship, community, intimacy with God and this week will close this series talking about prayer.   When studying or teaching or preaching on prayer, I sometimes feel like Doc Brown in Back to the Future II.  When he sees the confusion and pain his travel through time has caused, especially the possible damage that could have taken place because of Jennifer’s encounter with her “other self” in 2015, Doc begins to talk about dismantling the Time Machine and investigating the other mystery of the universe: women.  I sort of feel like I could have said that, only instead of women substituted “prayer.”  For something so “in your face” in the Scripture, it remains a mystery to me and many I know.

That is why I am calling it The Great Adventure.  I can’t take total credit for that title since Pastor David Jeremiah wrote an excellent book by that name.  There are so many misconceptions about prayer-what it is and is not.  We often fall into ruts and find our prayers are nothing more than rote and full of verbiage that says nothing and goes nowhere (except to the ceiling and back).   I will be using Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7-11 (Ask, Seek, Knock) to show God’s desire for us when we pray.  I will talking about what prayer is and is not.  Finally, within that same passage are 3 applications as well.  I am hoping that these apps will drive the point home about how we all ought to pray.

  • Pray Personally.
  • Pray Particularly.
  • Pray Persistently.

I will be using the following quote by Oswald Chambers in the message and want to leave it with you.

We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

How do you feel about prayer?  Do you find it as a mystery or a great adventure?  Do you struggle with your prayer life (as I do)?  How do you get out of a rut?  If you care to answer, I plan to use some of the comments during the message.  As always, I appreciate your prayers for me and the fellowship. Thanks to Dan for the banner.  Wait until you see next week’s!!  😀

 

31 Comments so far ↓

  1. Michael says:

    It is something that is getting better. My prayer time is much better than it was 3 years ago, but I think that is because my relationship has more depth than it used to.

    Know that you are prayed for daily Bill.

    • cycleguy says:

      Michale: Reckon that is the best thing that can be said: it is getting better. To stay the same as before and not get better speaks of stagnation. Thanks for the prayers my friend.

  2. Jim F. says:

    I am starting a series on prayer this weekend called Four great Old Testament Prayers. This week I am doing Joshua 10:6-14. In the following weeks I am doing the prayers of Elijah, Hezekiah, and Daniel.

    I find prayer a mystery and an adventure both in my life.

    Here is my thing with prayer – I get bored and distracted if I sit down for an hour and pray. I had a time where I forced myself to sit for an hour pray a specific way so that the prayer would go for 1 hour. More times than not I would literally find myself waking up and then feeling guilty because I feel asleep. So because of this I have adopted what I call prayer burst throughout my day. I have short periods where I just break out into prayer – for people and/or circumstance and/or whatever. Ever since I have started this I have been freed in my prayer life from many things like guilt and given a fresh perspecitive. I actually think in total I pray more than an hour now and I pray without ceasing.

    Just my thoughts on prayer.

    • cycleguy says:

      Sounds like a good series Jim. I like your suggestion also. Sure sounds like it beats the falling asleep mode. 🙂 Praying for you this Sunday.

  3. Prayer is definitely an adventure. I’m so glad you are spending time on it. More and more of us need to (I need to). It’s where the action is.

    One of my favorite quotes on prayer is, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” A.J. Gordon

  4. Always LOVED this song; it’s improved my day on MANY occasions. Score another for now 🙂

    I don’t like all of SCC’s stuff, but I REALLY like SCC. His lifestory as a Christian – at least what I know of it – speaks loudly of the grace of Christ and the power of God.

    • cycleguy says:

      I have always loved this song too Bernard but not all his stuff. However, like you, one cannot deny his strength of faith and character. Thanks for a good reminder.

  5. Tom Raines says:

    Prayer is also an adventure to me. A connection to God and the Holy Spirit that is, well…going back to the future.

  6. Kim says:

    My prayer life has been evolving a lot lately. I too was finding that my prayers were turning into a standardized equation.

    Greeting/praise + Requests for Others + Requests for myself + Praise some more = The Total Package Prayer.

    And I don’t really think that is wrong, but I wasn’t really getting that deep connection from it. So now I am trying to loosen up a little. Talk to Him like He’s my dad rather than my Father – if you know what I mean.

    I also have been using the prayer burst method. I like it because it keeps me focused on God all day rather than just for an hour in the morning.

    Oh and I am making a conscious effort to follow thru every single time I say “I’ll pray for you”. I used to be horrible about saying the words but never taking the action.

    • cycleguy says:

      Kim: I can tell you are going through some type of evolving lately. It is good to see. You mentioned the prayer bursts, same as Jim. That might be something worth considering (for me). I like the conscious effort also. I am trying real hard to do that also along with committing to praying daily.

  7. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    I’m thinking that prayer is not always to be interesting, exciting, and easy. Peter, James, and John, kept falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying. However, I think that if I were on death row I would have more interest in praying to God too. 🙂

    To me, tongues is fabulous in prayer. It’s the starter for my prayer motor so to speak. I switch back and forth in my prayer time between praying in tongues and praying in english language.

    I struggle with scheduling my prayer time for a certain time of day also. I think it is the old man resisting. he likes sensual things not spiritual things. He’s the flesh. He’s like the serpent in the Garden. “Surely God doesn’t mean for you to be still for 15 or 20 minutes of your day to pray” “You’ve got so much to do!”
    I think prayer might be like the sleep habits of a child. The more sleep a child gets the more sleep they want to have. At first prayer is determination, discipline, devotion, maybe down right drudgery. But, I believe after a period of time it moves to delight. I experienced this delight for a short period of time in my earlier life with God until I began to let prayer slide. ‘I’ll pray tomorrow’

    • cycleguy says:

      I think we all experience the “I’ll pray tomorrow” side of things. Sometimes situations determine the intensity of our prayers. (Note: there are some who will not agree with your view on tongues but I am leaving it here since it is part of your answer). If you read this, please don’t respond to it and I am asking Linda not to pursue it any further, Thanks.

  8. jasonS says:

    I’m very passionate about prayer because I’ve experienced the power of it and the fruit of it. That said, there’s always more depth to be plumbed. Love that quote from Oswald Chambers too.

    Thanks Bill. Praying great blessings and life as you speak and minister a word of encouragement and hope!

    • cycleguy says:

      I have times of passion followed or preceded by times of blah. Don’t know if I am alone or not. I too have experienced its power and try hard not to forget that but… Glad you like the quote. I do also. Thanks for your prayers Jason.

  9. selahV says:

    I feel more like the old mare put out to pasture than one ready to saddle up and ride. My greatest adventure of late is my Iraqi friend who needs far more than the English I’m trying to help her learn. Praying is one of those deeply unuttered groanings going on within me–it seems like all the time–anymore. With every sad news account of abuse–to children, to women, to men–my heart cries out for justice and comfort.
    With all the political lies and usurping of power, I moan and beg for God’s intervention and protection.
    For all the daily sadness I see, I pray for God’s abundant grace to be sufficient to meet the needs of hearts I cannot touch–with hand or word.
    For the apathy within my own heart in areas most important to my Lord, I confess and pray for the restoration of my early faith in Christ.
    It seems to me each day brings me new opportunities to pray for others–for ministers who break the bread of life to their congregations, for the lostness of their souls, for the reconciliation of marriages, and other relationships.
    Yet, all too often, at the end of any given day, I sense how little I have prayed for what God sees most important. I weary myself. selahV

  10. Pray Personally.
    Pray Particularly.
    Pray Persistently.

    and Passionately…I may add!

  11. cycleguy says:

    Good one to add Jay. Thanks for the suggestion! I will see about doing that! But you sure know how to make a guy do more work1 😛

  12. Larry Hehn says:

    Gotta share my favorite prayer quote:

    “If we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is within our power to give, and that will cause us to pray.” – Richard J. Foster

    Cheers!

  13. Zee says:

    Prayer is both a mystery and an adventure, i’ll agree with Jim. a mystery because it still amazes me that He hears me. an adventure because His answers are certainly unpredictable – and often hilarious.

    my main struggle is related to my love for books & reading. i keep getting distracted… that’s why for me the best place to pray is either late at night as I am walking home or in the shower. sounds rather restricting, but yeah…

    how do i get out of the rut? i write. and after letting the white noise of thoughts out, it’s easier to focus on what God is saying.

    • cycleguy says:

      I get sidetracked also Zee. I do like to read but I also stay active and that has dangerous consequences when one is trying to listen to God or even talk to Him. Writing does have a way of focusing us. Thanks for the comment.

  14. Jaycee (E.A) says:

    This quote on prayer by Oswald Chambers is the most beautiful quote on prayer I’ve ever read.

  15. Ivan says:

    I can’t really figure prayer out: what is the point of praying; what am I doing when I’m “praying”; etc. OTOH, I enjoy it when I do it and it seems to have some kind of effect (although what that effect is exactly, …). It’s part of my explorations I guess.

    btw, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the English cookery writer Delia Smith, but she wrote a very nice little book on prayer called Journey into God.

    • cycleguy says:

      Fair questions Ivan. Good ones also. Prayer is not easy to put a handle on, so to speak. So many questions surround it. The point: I think it gives “words” to your thoughts when talking to God. What am I doing? I think the easiest way to answer that (but not the most complete or detailed) is you are talking (and listening) to God. It would be so much easier to answer in a one-on-one conversation than in a blog comment. I would suggest that you keep exploring. I have never heard of Delia Smith. Will have to check it out. thanks for taking the time to comment. Always good to have you come by.