Drawn to Prayer

Today Brice talked about our tendency to turn prayer into a sort of "shopping" or "wish list" that we take to God in the hopes of getting what we want. He suggested that often prayer becomes nothing more because we are too lazy to be spiritually disciplined or too arrogant to truly yield control or both. So, prayer seldom leads us into the kind of relationship that God intends and desires. Rather, we remain focused on our "wish list," looking for "results," never realizing the richness of the relationship God desires to share with us.

There are those who say we never truly pray until we forget our list entirely and allow God to draw us into a prayer relationship with Him. Many of us have a hard time with that concept because prayer is something we evaluate by the results we get. We miss the point that prayer in and of itself is what we need because God uses that time talking to Him and listening to shape us to see things more like He does. The process of praying is where the hidden treasure lies because we grow ever closer to God. And... then even our "wish lists" will look different... shaped by God's priorities rather than our own.

Richard Foster once wrote that if we walk into a dark room, turn on the light switch, and nothing happens, we don't draw the conclusion electricity doesn't exist. No, we recognize there is something wrong with the bulb or the switch or the breaker or... His point is that when prayer disappoints us, when it "doesn't work" the way we think it should, the problem is not with God... the problem is with us... with our approach to prayer. Something to think about this week.

Here's what our worship looked like today:

Arise and Sing
O Come, Let Us Adore Him

Welcome and Greeting

Praise the Lord

Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord

Prayer

Reading: Colossians 3:15-16

How Great Is Our God

Reading: Hebrews 10:23-25

Sing to the King

Communion: Encouraging One Another

Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You

Jesus, Draw Me Closer

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church (age 3 – 3rd Grade)

Open Our Eyes, Lord

Sermon: Brice Smith

I Will Praise You

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

Closing Prayer Song