THE GREATER WORK
It is said that in order to master and become excellent at a skill, one must practice that skill for 10,000 hours. Needless to say, it is a pretty short list of skills that any given person has mastered to that level, and many of us never master anything by such a standard. A university graduate may have put in 600-750 hours over 4-5 years to get qualified for a profession only to find they know very little about the actual practice or application of their skill. Many people see do not view mastery of anything as necessary. Indeed, mastery of much in life is optional. But some skills are worth mastering.
Mastery has desirable by-products like wealth, fame, notoriety and recognition and often these by-products are the sought after goal, the reason a person puts in the time and effort to master a skill. Sometimes the by-products produce more recognition, fame and wealth than the primary skill, to the point where the original skill is overlooked because of the more obvious by-product. C.S. Lewis is famous as an author of many well-known books, but his writing was a by-product of his vast knowledge of literature, theology and philosophy; he did not set out to be a famous author. But without the mastery of literature, history, theology and philosophy, C.S. Lewis would not have had the skill to produce such masterpieces as Mere Christianity or The Chronicles of Narnia. The greater work was a by-product.
In His short ministry, Jesus modeled a relationship with God developed through many hours of prayer. 1 It is hardly conceivable that He spent all night reciting the “Lord’s Prayer”, begging for unmet needs or rattling off laundry lists of blessings for every one He could think of right down to the orphans in China and Pygmies of Africa. In John 17 we get a glimpse of Jesus in fervent prayer and this is very likely the type of prayer He prays even now as He continually intercedes for us.2 Jesus spoke and did only what He saw and heard from His Father in heaven.3 The more He prayed, the more He saw and heard. The relationship Jesus had with God produced fruit in the form of fantastic miracles of nature, extraordinary healings, super-natural resurrections and incredible deliverances from demonic power. The fruit didn’t just happen, nor was the fruit necessarily the primary goal. The fruit was a by-product of the relationship. The miracles, teaching and death of Jesus are such a blatant display of redemption that is it easy to overlook the prayer-life that produced such glorious fruit. But there would have been no miracles or redemption without the prayers.
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“God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.”
• • • John Wesley • • •
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Christians may view prayer as an optional, discretionary activity--one in which we get a minimal payoff and therefore exert a minimal amount of energy, tolerate a minimal amount of inconvenience and see no need to develop any level of expertise or mastery. We are assured God will hear our cry for help in an emergency, and therefore feel no urgency to develop the relationship further. Prayer is often experienced as somewhat tedious work with little reward, and therefore not an activity eagerly pursued. Being a great preacher or evangelist is perceived as a worthwhile or glamorous goal, while having a great prayer life seems mundane. Unlike a musical skill that produces an enjoyable product or a surgical skill that saves lives and earns a high salary, prayer is not viewed as a rewarding endeavor or even a ‘skill’ or talent worth honing through hours of ‘practice’. However, that is not a Biblical view or experience though, so we must set aside any preconceived experiences and perspectives and re-train ourselves to see and experience prayer in the way Jesus modeled it. One doesn’t get the glamour of God’s power without the relational ‘practice’ of prayer. Prayer isn’t preparation for the ‘greater work’ Jesus said we would do,7 it IS the greater work. The Spirit-filled life experiences are simply by-products.
We can do this too. We are instructed to pray continually.6 But how? About what? We needn’t grow weary after 90 seconds of prayer, wonder what to pray next or lose focus and start thinking of all the tasks we need to finish. We have an entire Bible of God-breathed scripture.4 Just like Jesus, who was familiar enough with scripture to use it like a weapon, we can use scripture to pray as we become familiar with the scriptures. This is not only profitable in prayer, it profitable for producing fruit.5 Just like you might respond to a close friend after receiving a personal letter, we can respond to God about the things written in His word. Two of the easiest ways to use scripture in prayer are praying the scripture and personalizing the scripture.
Praying the scripture is going through a text and thanking God for the gift or promise, receiving the blessing and speaking your faith and acceptance of what the verse says. John 14-17 are good chapters for this as Jesus is speaking and giving last minute instructions to His disciples. Your prayer might go something like this.
Personalizing scripture is replacing recipient pronouns with personal pronouns or the name of a person for whom you are praying. This is easy to do with particular promises, too. Ephesians 1-2 is an example of personalizing the scripture.
As you read and pray God’s word, the word will come alive and your prayer connection with God will become more vital and rewarding. God’s word is alive and powerful, and internalizing His word through prayer will strengthen your relationship with Him.
As our world changes and witches and Satanists openly convene to curse God’s people, believers must know their business and have a level of mastery. We must be about the greater works.
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“God rules the world by the prayers of his saints, that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered, that by prayer the church on earth has disposal of the powers of the heavenly world.”
• • • Andrew Murray • • •
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1. Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35, Mark 6:46; Luke 3:21, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Luke9:18, 28, Luke 21:27, Luke 22:39-41
2. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25
3. John 3:11, 5:19, 8:28, 38, 12:49, 14:10, 24,
4. 2 Timothy 3:16
5. John 15:7
6. Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 5:20, 6:18; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:17
7. John 14:12
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“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing ”
• • • Martin Luther • • •
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