Photo by Yanin Diaz on Unsplash
This is part two of a six part series on Preparing for Pentecost. You can read part one here.
When you know that you have a ministry assignment ahead, how do you prepare?
Many of us have learned, through painful failure, that without God’s manifest power, on our own, we’re quite limited in what we can accomplish. God tells us repeatedly in His Word to prepare for mission, and for all of life, by praying.
The focus of the upcoming season of Pentecost is mission. It’s worth remembering that Jesus had his friends pray before the first Pentecost in preparation for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and for mission.
In Acts 1:4, Jesus told his apostles to ”…wait in Jerusalem for the gift my Father promised … and in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
How did they wait?
The main way they waited in the ten days after Jesus’ ascension till Pentecost was this: “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women….” (Acts 1:14) This was evidently a ten-day continuous prayer meeting in the Upper Room, interrupted only by a process of prayer and casting lots to select Judas’ replacement among the twelve. (This is the final time the Bible records casting lots to make decisions in the Church, presumably because the empowering guidance of the Holy Spirit superseded that practice.)
The Holy Scriptures not only describe this pattern here; elsewhere, God repeatedly commands us to pray continually:
“Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” (Luke 18:1)
“…[B]e constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion…” (Eph. 6:18)
“In every situation, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.” (Phil. 4:6)
“Be joyful always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
What can it mean, practically speaking, to obey the command to pray without ceasing? Believer, God never commands anything that is impossible to fulfill. Be comforted; this does not necessarily mean attending a continuous prayer meeting or living a cloistered life.
Prayer is communication with God. That can be through talking, listening, or resting in His presence. When you are aware that God is here with you, that is prayer. It does not have to be spoken aloud; it’s about your heart attitude. God wants us to bring Him in on everything we do. It means conversing with God when you are washing dishes, reading the news, or interacting with others. When you are perplexed about something it means asking God, “Lord, what do you want me to know about that?” And then, you wait on Him to give you revelation.
Try this simple tool. Please say this prayer inspired by 1 Thess. 5:18 silently to yourself, in your mind, at least a couple times. “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.” Again, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.” Now, try to keep on doing that while you continue to read this article. Even while you read, you can also thank the Lord. With this simple, silent prayer of thanksgiving, you are praying at the same time that you are reading.
Brother Lawrence (1614-91), in his book The Practice of the Presence of God, taught us that it is possible to live on more than one level at once. You and I already do this. While we drive, we think about the dry cleaning. While we listen to ourselves talk, we can be wondering if we make sense. When we listen to others talk, we can be thinking about what we will say next. Prayer can become the soundtrack, the background, the mood music in the back of your mind. Starting with a simple background prayer like this will help you to pray without ceasing.
But what does this have to do with mission?
It is God’s mission to have unceasing, fatherly fellowship with you. A man told me this years ago, and it changed my life. He said, “God desires you to receive from Him far more than he desires you to work for Him.” He’s more interested in his abiding relationship with you than He is in your performance. Do you believe that? It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s true.
It’s not that God is uninterested in fruit from you. But it is only when you take the time to receive from Him, to become wholly connected to Him, that your works become the sweet fruit that he desires – fruit that will last, because it flows supernaturally from your abiding, love relationship with Jesus. If you stray from your first love, then both overwork and “under-fruit” predictably follow. We can reorient our lives not by working on our problems directly but rather, by focusing on our relationship with God. As Dallas Willard taught, spiritual disciplines are not the answer; spiritual disciplines put us in a position to encounter Jesus, who is the answer.
Prayer is not only preparing for mission; prayer is part of the mission itself!
The Rev. Clancy Nixon is Director of Renew, a ministry of Anglican Revitalization Ministries. He served as rector of a church he planted for 24 years, and he led church-planting and revitalization efforts for the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic for seven years. He continues to work with the province in healing and renewal ministries. If you’d like to learn more about Renew and how we might serve your congregation or diocese with a conference or coaching, please visit https://www.americananglican.org/renew.
