Henri Nouwen suggests three areas are the most critical in our spiritual lives and that they are the three areas which Jesus’ spiritual life point… Read More »Learning to Pray His Way #9: The Three Moves of the Spiritual Life
Meant for More Than Just Me (Eph. 4:1-6)
Chris Altrock – January 31, 2010
In 1937, a researcher at Harvard University began a study on what factors contribute to well-being.[i] The research team selected 268 well-adjusted male Harvard students. Researchers studied these individuals for 72 years to determine what affected their levels of health and happiness. The study tracked a number of factors, including physical exercise, cholesterol levels, marital status, use of alcohol, smoking, education levels, and weight. Over the period of 72 years, several directed the research. For the last four decades, the director has been George Vaillant. In 2008 someone asked Dr. Vaillant what he had learned about human health and happiness from these 268 men. Here’s what the doctor revealed: “The only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” Perhaps the most significant thing they found by following 268 men for 72 years was this: the only thing that really matters are your relationships to other people.
This is our second week in a series which explores Eph. 4. Last Sunday we spent time in the first verse of chapter four. This morning, we are striving to hear from God in Eph. 4:1-6. It is a text in which Paul focuses on the importance of our relationships: 1I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4:1-6 ESV).
A Primer on Prayer (Eph. 6:18-20)
Chris Altrock
I’ve decided to devote at least part of 2010 studying the prayers of Jesus. I’ve already spent several weeks immersing myself in the prayer-life of Jesus. And one thing I am struck by is the simple fact that Jesus prayed. I often think of prayer as the pathway to two things: resources and relationships. I pray in order to gain resources I cannot produce myself. And I pray in order to gain a deeper relationship with God which I cannot deepen in any other way. Yet on both of these counts, it would seem that Jesus would not need prayer. Consider resources. Jesus had the power to create most resources by himself. He had the power to create food—multiplying fish and loaves. He had the power to heal illness—from blindness to leprosy. He could control the weather—stilling a storm with just a phrase. Why would someone like that even need to pray? What resources would Jesus require that he could not produce himself? In addition, consider the issue of relationship. Jesus is God. He and the Father are one. If one purpose of prayer is to cultivate intimacy with God, it would appear as if Jesus already has the deepest intimacy possible. He is so intimate with God that he is God.
In spite of all of this, Jesus still prayed. I’ve discovered at least 29 references to the prayer-life of Jesus. From his baptism in Luke 3:21 to his ascension in Lk. 24:51, we find Jesus praying. As Luke explains in Lk. 5:16 “16But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” Prayer was a habit. It was something Jesus constantly did. He prayed at the feeding of the 5,000 (Mk. 6:41) and after the feeding of the 5,000 (Mk. 6:46). He prayed for the forgotten (children) (Mk. 10:15-16), his fellow workers (John 17), his global family (Jn. 17), and his foes (Lk. 23:34). He prayed when healing (Mk. 7:32-34) and when hurting (Matt. 27:46). It seems there were resources needed by Jesus that he could gain in no other way but through prayer. It seems there was a level of relationship with the Father that could be experienced in no other way but through prayer. Because of this, Jesus prayed.
The mere fact that Jesus prayed so passionately and so consistently is striking. As someone who wants to pattern his life after Jesus’ life, I am compelled to pray as Jesus prayed. As those who wear the name of Jesus, it seems especially crucial for us to make room in our lives for prayer in the same way Jesus did.
But what would that look like? How would that flesh itself out?
For about ten years, my family has gathered at the same house with (mostly) the same couples for New Year’s Eve. We eat finger-foods, play… Read More »Learning to Pray His Way: #1