The Father, Son and Spirit aren’t living in separate rooms, absorbed in their own agendas. They are perfectly one, and their conversation about Glory is pure joy beyond anything we can imagine. That’s the joy we’ve been brought into! And prayer is the Lord’s gift to draw us into the conversation.
One with God! It’s a mind-boggling relationship of unequals (John 17:21). That the immense One should listen to billions of little ones is a miracle of mercy. But his love goes further; he welcomes each person in Christ into enjoyable conversation with himself!
Wonder gets squeezed out of prayer when we make it only (or mainly) about voicing needs. The massive truth is: we are in his company and involved in his conversation about Glory! That means: who he is, what he is like and what he does to display it is at the heart of our conversation with him. Our every need, prayer request and answer has a connection to this eternal conversation theme.
Conversation about Glory
Enjoyable prayer can’t survive as a fringe activity. It’s designed to be the core of life in Christ. When Paul told Timothy to first of all pray (1Tim 2:1), he wasn’t suggesting prayer be at the top of his to-do list, the first task to be ticked off before moving to the other urgencies of daily life and ministry. The apostle was making a value statement: our prayer core is the constant priority for shaping life and empowering ministry. And it’s connected to God’s unending conversation about Glory.
But, when prayer is unhooked from God’s presence and conversation about Glory, it becomes another activity in life rather than its enjoyable core. The unhooked prayer life is given a segment in the day’s busy space. We access it at scheduled times, or when a problem drives us to it, or when we’re in the mood to go there. And so, miss out on the “pray continually” adventure.
Living in pray continually mode is a growth journey, and our strongest motivation is the awareness of God’s company and his enjoyment of our close-up conversation about Glory.
- Read 1Thes 5:16-18 a few times
- Schedule some Rejoice always ‘inner room’ time. Verse 16 is a call to participate in the Lord’s joy in his own Glory. Focus on one truth about his Glory and talk to him about it (in celebration mode).
- In the conversation about Glory, the Speaker will say things about himself in his Word. Speak or sing your agreement replies to him (as per Col 3:16).
- Bring in that important part of “pray continually” given in verse 18, replying to truth about his Glory with thanks. In the conversation, he tells us what he is like and we reply how grateful we are for that truth about him and for how it effects our lives.
- Use that one truth about his Glory as a ‘conversation piece’ for the next few days (see the earlier blog, Prayer Conversation Piece)
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