As we press deeper into the practice of prayer, and realize that our soul is literally approaching the throne of the Almighty Creator and King, we understand more and more why Jesus underscored that we should come in His name. As Americans, born into the rights and power of the individual, we are perhaps hampered by our culture, on this point.  Only people under a government “by the people and for the people” would ever think that we could walk right into the presence of a ruler and address him personally. Even if we are entering God’s presence as a beloved and welcomed child, we dare not forget that it is only His gracious kindness that calls us such, and only the great price Jesus paid that opens the way for us. As the writer of the book of Hebrews points out, we could not pray at all without Christ going as the High Priest into God’s presence for us. Indeed, it is His crucified body and poured-out blood that remove every obstruction between us and God and make any relationship on good terms possible. “Therefore…having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith….” (Hebrews 10:19, 22)

For the sake of His Beloved Son, God accepts us; the only way into His presence is to wear Jesus’ name and right-standing, to come as His followers. What Jesus taught His disciples about prayer comes into focus much more clearly now: “I am the way….No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Not just the way to find forgiveness from God, but the way to find Him at all. Prayer then is the result of our closeness to Jesus– how offensive it must be for us to bring a list of our desires and concerns to the Father if our relationship with the Son is either casual or neglected.

Prayers rightly come out of time spent with Jesus, shaped by His will and purposes, marked by His grace, motivated by His love. Prayers rightly flow out of our interaction with the Savior who is renovating our hearts in the process, and this is why He can promise “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) Asking in Jesus’ name for things He already greatly desires to give us brings Him great honor, both as the Giver and as the One who is bringing about this spiritual transformation in us. Paul inextricably links time spent with Jesus to our growth process: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) So we see both prayer and spiritual growth flowing from the same sweet source– the presence of the Savior in our minds and hearts, because we have thrown open the doors and granted Him access to every room.

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“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance– now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15)

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“For our consolation when we survey God under the high and terrible aspect of a sovereign, we have this to reflect on, that He is under covenant bonds of promise to be faithful to the souls that seek Him. His throne must be a throne of grace to His people. And sweetest thought of all, every covenant promise has been endorsed and sealed with blood, and far be it from the everlasting God to pour scorn upon the blood of His dear Son.” (Spurgeon, The Power of Prayer in A Believer’s Life)

Our old friend stands there and talks about how our prayers have upheld him when he and his family lived in dark places; he tells stories about how God did miracles in people’s lives when we prayed; he tells us that praying is the best way to help them, “because when you pray you are entering the battle.” And I realize this is the work of prayer that Jesus calls us to, the kind Paul modeled when he said to the believers: “…since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” (Colossians 1:9) To people like this, prayer is the most vital work of God’s people, an agreement between heaven and earth that God’s will should be done above all else, an open door for God to work in amazing ways.

There’s no question that understanding prayer is a foundational skill for anyone who is serious about following Christ, but I suspect that our experience of prayer will be determined by how we see it. It’s kind of sad really, how we get hung up on saying the right-sounding words…so that God will listen and others will think we are good at this? That kind of performance-measuring barely lifts our eyes off Self long enough to remember what we are even doing in the throne-room. And it’s surprising how many people feel like their own needs are bothersome or selfish; somehow maybe it feels more spiritual to pray for someone else.  No question, the Accuser is working to make sure that if he can’t sway us from our faith, we will at least be so hampered by faulty ideas and skewed perspectives that we will be frustrated and ineffective in it.

In our small group we keep looking back to the old picture that most of us saw when we were growing up– the one of Christ standing outside a door with no handle, knocking– a rendering much older than the artist, actually. The picture of Christ knocking is as old as the words of John’s vision closing out the New Testament. It’s Jesus showing us visually what kind of relationship He wants with us: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Anything less falls short of Jesus’ idea of what prayer is like.

If prayer for us is like handing Jesus a weekly to-do list while He stands on the mat, then we are missing something very precious. And if we are thinking about how to word our wants in a way that will make Him sure to do it, then we are barely beyond the realm of superstition. I wonder how Jesus feels about the thoughtless earth-bound words we often call prayer? Real prayer is opening the door and inviting Jesus in to live with us, to inhabit the space of our lives and be the kind of friends that sit down and eat Monday night dinner together. It’s continually turning the eyes of the soul toward Him and asking for His opinions, His wisdom, His perspective on our experiences in life, and choosing to enter into what He is doing in the world. It’s exciting and unexpected, costs time and energy, and is a bit terrifying, if you think about it.

Real prayer is all those things, but it is the spark of restoration that can change everything it touches….because it is God’s Spirit partnering with our spirits to transform the world. As John heard and saw in his vision of heaven: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ ” (Revelation 21:5) He is calling us all to enter the spiritual battle and be Prayer Warriors; it is perhaps the most worthwhile work we can do for the Kingdom of God, and for our own spiritual growth.

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I give you my life,
I give you my trust, Jesus.
You are my God,
You are enough, Jesus.
My heart is Yours…
Take it all, take it all,
My life in your hands.
(My Heart Is Yours, Kristian Stanfill)

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“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.'” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

This collection of prayers sits on the bedside table, words penned almost four hundred years ago by men and women who were willing to leave everything behind for the sake of their faith, sail across oceans and build homes on raw, uncultivated land. No guarantees of success or survival. But they had a dream to build a community on godly principles that would be a shining light to the rest of the world. I pore over their prayers at the end of the day and see their hearts burning bright with devotion, the power of God’s Spirit still evident in their words.

I am struggling to get back to normal, in the aftermath of the holidays, to find a quiet rhythm in ordinary days again. It always seems to take awhile to get used to the house stripped of its Christmas glory and rattling empty. Cooking is difficult without the extra mouths to feed, and I end up giving away the leftovers to anyone who will take them. All the little projects and plans I set aside during the busy rush of Christmas are still in piles,waiting to be picked up and smoothed into order, and I feel January slipping away already without much progress. My head says this is temporary and not the first time, counsels to wait it out till this feels normal again, do the everyday things that I know are productive and good. Everything seems unstable inside. And at night I read the extraordinary prayers of the Puritans, now faceless, nameless– their ordinary days swallowed up in the past– and long to live up to the legacy they have left behind for us.

What stands out the most is the sheer content: guess I would have thought their everyday physical needs would be more pressing and necessary. But these prayers read like poetry; they are psalms of adoration and worship. I am surprised at their deep knowledge of God’s nature, of His Word, of the finer points of theology. Clearly these were no uneducated servants and peasants, but literate men and women who had more lofty goals than raising enough food to eat and building houses, however difficult it was to survive in those early years of settlement. It reminds me of Jesus’ words to the crowds following Him around: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31, 33) These people understood His priorities, were looking at God through a magnifying glass, so that everyday life flowed along underneath that exalted vision.

Just as remarkable is their view of Self. Written long before ideas of independence or equal rights or personal potential, these prayers show a deep recognition of their own sinfulness and utter dependence on His grace, without even a hint of low self esteem; perhaps the clarity of seeing God in His glory and oneself forgiven does that for a person. They were certainly better off without the clouding factor of a narcissistic culture. And throughout runs an earnest desire to know God more fully, to serve Him faithfully, and surrender completely to His will. I mouth the centuries-old words deliberately, each night, often seeing how far short I fall of their intent– but you have to start somewhere,. And I find myself drawing near to the Throne of God in new ways. It is humbling, strips away the pride of a modern education, the assumption that our sophisticated technological world has made us better and stronger somehow. These writers knew God, desired Him to a depth that makes me wonder when half-asleep became the new normal. Prayer orients us as creatures around our Source and Center, and the whole of our ordinary little worlds can settle and turn, with that alignment.

As I wobble here, finding a way to live the ordinary days well, the Spirit whispers quietly, “…call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you…I will be found by you…” (Jeremiah 29:11, 13) And I do know this to be true (though it seems I have to re-learn it again and again), that focusing the eyes of your heart on God is the best way to live the ordinary days; that praise and adoration of Who He Is gives me a better view of who I am; that the daily rhythms fall into place when my spirit walks closely with His. These very old prayers of saints long gone serve as both guidebook and reminder of how an extraordinary God fully intends to make my heart His home.  Prayer is the door opening, between my heart and His, my reaching out to the One who loves me with His life. And He is always standing there, knocking, ready to come in.

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“Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given thyself for me,
may I give myself to thee;
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to thee,
in every moment of my time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart…”
(Christ Is All, in The Valley of Vision)

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 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with Me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from Me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with Me and My words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how My Father shows who He is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as My disciples.” (John 15:7, The Message)