Running on Prayer: Part Four (Enjoying the Adventure)

I have stopped running.  Here I am writing the fourth and final installment of “Running on Prayer” and I have not run but twice in two months!  My plan throughout this four part series of articles was to show similarities between running and praying and I have done a good job of it up to this point, thank you.  But now, for some reason, I have stopped running with no idea when I will start back again.  I stopped right after the Quest 5k run.  I think not running has something to do with the fact that I reached a couple of “goals” during the Quest run.  First, I ran the race twenty seconds faster than I had run in over a decade.    Secondly, I finally placed in my age division!  (Of course there may have only been three in my age division and I got third, but don’t tell me if that’s really the case). 

Perhaps achieving the two goals at the same time was enough for me to say to myself, “Take some time off.”  Or maybe I haven’t been running because I think I am too busy to exercise.  Whatever the reason, the motivation is not there right now.  That kind of thing can happen in prayer as well.

This fourth installment of “Running on Prayer” is entitled “Enjoying the Adventure.”  But how can someone enjoy the adventure if they are not on the adventure?  Good question.  The prayer adventure can be neglected or even stopped all together unless we remain intentional about what we are doing. 

Maybe your prayer life has been going good and you have gotten to a place where you never thought you would be.  Since you made it to that point, something inside you eases up because you don’t think it will ever be that good again.  But the truth is that it’s only a beginning. 

Some things to remember about enjoying the adventure in prayer are second wind, euphoria, and an adventure run.

Second Wind.  There comes a point in running when you have stayed with it long enough that your body no longer hurts the way it did.  Your legs feel stronger and you can run with more ease.  A similar thing happens in prayer when we are willing to center in and not allow distractions to bother us.  We can focus more on the time spent with God.  When we get to that point, it seems easier and less “painful.”

Euphoria.  Occasionally there is a moment in running when you breakthrough into a state of euphoria where you feel like you could run all day long.  “Euphoria” is a Greek word that means “the power to endure easily.”  There are also times in prayer when the connection is so strong with God that you feel that you could stay there all day or all night in prayer. 

Adventure Run. The adventure run is when you chart a course and run, possibly for days, over a challenging course—maybe from one mountain top to another.  You can take adventure runs in prayer as well by starting at one point and praying until you reach another point.  It may be a 12 or 24 hour prayer vigil or praying for something until you get the answer from God.  Either way it is quite an adventure.

I hope that you are challenged to seriously begin Running on Prayer.  Remember, the first part is the “Preparation” or how to get ready for a serious attempt at the spiritual discipline of prayer.  This second part is "Getting Started" or how do you actually begin praying in an intentional way.  The third part is about “Avoiding Injuries and Other Pitfalls” that can happen while we move through prayer.  All to this leads up to “Enjoying the Adventure” of prayer.   So, don’t stop.  Keep on “Running on Prayer!”

This “Running on Prayer” is the third installment of four parts.  The first dealt with “Preparation” or how to get ready for a serious attempt at the spiritual discipline of prayer.  This second part looked at "Getting Started." This third part is about avoiding injuries and other pitfalls that can happen while we move through prayer.  Next time we will look at “Enjoying the Adventure.”

Last year I went out for a cross country trail run in the rain (I never said I was not crazy).  Cross country trails can be a lot of fun, but they also have surprises, like streams to cross and steep hills to climb that seem to come out of nowhere.   On this particular run, I started up a slick hill and felt a stabbing pain in the calf muscle of my left leg.  I stopped for a minute and it didn’t seem much of an injury so I began to run again…you know, like “run through the pain.”  The trouble with that strategy was that I ended up tearing a muscle to the point that it ended up bothering me for almost a full year.

Other nasty things can happen while running.  You can slip and fall (been there done that), you can run out in front of traffic if you are not looking, you can get lost.  I have a nephew who went out for a run and got lost.  He kept running and ended up in another state!  (Actually, he was vacationing in North Carolina near the border of Georgia at the time, but it makes for a cool story when I leave that part out).

So, what are the possible injuries and pitfalls in prayer? 

“The Terrible Toos.”  In running it is too much intensity, too soon, and too many miles that can get you injured.  In other words, overuse.  In prayer the “Terrible Toos” would be the opposite--not enough intensity and too little with not enough use.   Ephesians 6:18 says to “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers….”  When we follow that directive, and bring intensity as well as consistency to our prayer life, we will not have to worry about injuries of too little and too light.

“Keep Your Balance” In running, it is important to stay on your feet!  Slick surfaces or unseen obstacles can cause problems that could lead to injuries by falling or twisting your back or an ankle.  In prayer, some of those slick surfaces or hidden obstacles could be unconfessed sin, unforgiveness and disobedience.  Even one of these three things can cause prayer to be ineffective and can do great harm in our spiritual lives.  Psalm 66:18 states, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened.”  Matthew 6:14-15 states that God forgives us only when we forgive others.  And I John 3:21-21 states, “…If our conscience is clear, we can come to God with bold confidence.  And we will receive whatever we request because we obey him and do the things that please him.”  

“Drink Plenty of Water” Injuries happen when runners get dehydrated or they do not have enough stored water that the body needs.  A prayer in Psalm 42:1-2 demonstrates the need to “thirst” after God, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  I thirst for God, the living God....”   Prayer becomes natural and can even become a craving when we focus His guidance and leadership.  Our lives will be filled with a desire for God and not for other things that can prove to be idols in our lives.

If you are feeling that your prayers have been on the injured list instead of in the finished column, perhaps it is time to look at what might be causing the lack of success.  These are just some of the things that can hinder an effective time with God.  You may be seeing how these or other things have hindered and injured your prayer life.  But remember that the One we pray to is the One who can allow His empowerment to lead us back to the spiritual health of “running on prayer” again.       

This “Running on Prayer” letter is the second installment of four parts.  The first dealt with “Preparation” or how to get ready for a serious attempt at the spiritual discipline of prayer.  This second part looks at "Getting Started."  The next two will be "Avoiding injuries and other pitfalls" and “Enjoying the Adventure.”

This month we are doing a message series at New Horizon called "in tune."  In it we are looking at some of the spiritual disciplines that will help us draw closer to God.  But of all the spiritual disciplines, the discipline of prayer is primary because it allows us into the presence of God and it can be practiced throughout all the other disciplines.  A good resource to read during this time is Richard J. Foster's classic book, Celebration of Discipline.  When commenting on developing a prayer life, Foster makes a comparison to developing as a runner.  "Occasional joggers do not suddenly enter an Olympic marathon.  They prepare and train themselves over a period of time, and so should we.  When such a progression is followed, we can expect to pray a year from now with greater authority and spiritual success than at present." 

So how do we get started in our "Running on Prayer?"

“You got to begin in order to win.”   Nike says, “Just Do it.” In prayer it is like putting one foot in front of the other.  Just start talking to God--even if you don’t know what to say.  The first thing to do is to simply seek time with God without any real agenda except a desire to be in His presence.  God is always with you and you can talk with Him at anytime.  This should be a time that you can avoid other distractions. 

Through preparation, you have already scheduled the time to pray, you have a designated place to meet God in prayer, you have your Bible and possibly a short devotional to help get you started.  Now you simply allow God to have your undivided attention.  You may want to begin by saying something like, "Okay God, here I am and I want you give to you all my attention.  I don't know how this will work, but I truly do have a desire to draw closer to you.  In James 4:8, Your word promises that if come near to You that You will come near to me.  So thank You for meeting with me today."  You may want to just spend the next few minutes allowing God the opportunity to speak into your heart. 

One thing that helps me is to take a notebook with me to write down the things that I sense God is saying to me.  (I also keep another page ready to write down anything that comes to mind that I need to do later.  I write it down and then get back to being with God). 

“Go slow at first.” Understand that prayer is a learning process.  Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).  It is in many ways freeing to know that prayer is a learning process because you are freed to try different things to see what works well and what doesn't.  So you will need to start out slowly in prayer.  You’ll need to walk before you can run.  Don’t expect your prayer life to develop overnight.  Start out slow and then begin to increase your time and depth of prayer knowing that it may seem like a lot of work.  You may want to start with just five or ten minutes and work up from there. 

"Consider working with a personal trainer."  There are those in your life that would be willing to pray with you and help you along just as there are better runners who are willing to help a novice runner to succeed.  Praying with someone who has the spiritual gift of intercession or someone who has developed the spiritual discipline of prayer over a long period of time can be very advantageous in helping you to become effective in prayer. 

“Build endurance, speed and strength over a reasonable period of time.” Relationship building with anyone always takes time.  The same is true between you and God.  Seek to learn God’s agenda for your life.  Seek to listen to what He is saying to you.  This will strengthen your prayer life and will help you to become more confident. 

Many treat prayer as a way to give God a wish list.  However, a much higher goal of prayer is to get to the point where you can walk with God in such a way that you know His will and direction for your life in any given situation. 

Prayer can be a very exciting part of being a Christ Follower.  It is the opportunity that we have to spend time with the God of the universe—to have His attention and to know that He knows our needs.  We can “run” to God just because we want to spend time with Him and He wants to spend that time with us.

Running on Prayer: Part One (Preparation)

When I first started running again after several years, it was nothing short of hard and painful work.  It is still hard and I am not very good at it, but I really like running.  It is a struggle for me to get in shape to the point that I can run easily and I have been trying with slow success for over a year now. 

There is just something about running that I love.  The more I run the more I want to run.  I even charted out a path to run around the yard.  I call it my “Cross-country Course.”  In June I ran in a 5k race with my son Samuel, as well as a niece and nephew, Promise and Russell.  I celebrated seeing Russell come in first place in his age division.  (I have NEVER placed in my age division in ANY of those darn races, but that is a personal agenda that I try to keep to myself!) 

Funny how that works--the more I am able to run the easier it becomes.  I’m not very good, but I still like to get out and run for the enjoyment and pleasure I receive from it.

What I have experienced in my prayer life is very similar to running.  Many people are gifted runners and there are people who are spiritually gifted in the area of prayer.  For those who are not, they have to work harder, but they can still enjoy it all the same.  Now, for you powerful prayer warriors and spiritually gifted intercessors this will not make any sense to you.  But for most people prayer is a lot of hard work!  There is a reason that the Bible talks about a “sacrifice” of praise!  When you decide to develop your relationship with God, it can be frustrating at the start—sort of like running.  So it is good to begin with a solid plan. 

Let’s look at praying like someone would look at running.  Like running, there are things to consider as you get serious about prayer.  The first thing to do is to prepare.  Here’s how:

“Workout at 5:45 a.m.”   Set aside the time to pray by putting it in your calendar or daily planner.  Can you schedule a time each day of the week?  If not, how many days can you schedule each week?

“Find a good running course.”  Pick out a good place for you to pray. Finding the right spot will help you focus on the task of praying.  It may be a closet or a favorite chair.  Or it may even be a running trial!

“Obtain some good running shoes”

Proper equipment will help in your prayer development.  Even though you don’t need running shoes to pray, there are some things that will help.  The Bible is very important for effective prayer.  If you want to get to know God, you got to read His book.  Later, you will even want to pray the promises of God that you find in scripture. 

Next time I want to carry the prayer running metaphor even further and talk about getting started on your prayer training.

Prayer can be one of the most exciting parts of being a Christ Follower.  It is the opportunity we have to spend time with the God of the universe—to have His attention and to know that He knows our needs.  We can “run” to God just because we want to spend time with Him and He wants to spend that time with us.

Its called the “Viral Effect” and its happening again in a major way. A video is sweeping across the internet world and into our hearts. When Susan Boyle, a forty-seven year old woman from Scotland, stepped up to a microphone and began to sing, very few people were prepared for what they heard. The event was an audition for the show “Britain's Got Talent.” Simply looking at Susan’s appearance and hearing her talk, most everyone expected that her performance would be something less than inspirational. But “most” were wrong. When Susan Boyle began to sing, she not only won the hearts of the judges, she has now won the hearts of many all over the world who have watched and listened to her performance on the web. Since it first appeared on the web two weeks ago weeks ago, her performance has been viewed by over fifty million people! This unknown woman from a small village in Scotland is an overnight sensation because of the viral effect.

Our current message series at New Horizon is called “The Viral Effect: The Early Church”. The good news about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection began to be shared person to person and the rapid growth of Christianity has been like a viral effect. AND…it continues! In spite of articles assuming the decline of Christianity, its important to know that the church worldwide is growing at an exponential rate. In his book, Megashift, James Rutz states that if the current rate of growth continues, the entire world will be composed of Christ followers by the year 2032.

Susan Boyle has won the hearts of over 50 million people around the world (at least for the short time it takes to watch a seven minute video). But God, through Jesus Christ, continues to win the world one person at a time. And that is a viral effect that has lasting and eternal significance.

Sign me up! I want to be a part of that! I invite you to join me in praying for the viral effect of Christianity to impact the whole world.

Last time I wrote about the importance of an attitude of helplessness for effective prayer.   In his classic writing entitled “Prayer” O. Hallesby states that “Prayer and helplessness are inseparable.  Only those who are helpless can truly pray.” 

But he also mentions a second aspect in our attitude for effective prayer—Faith.  Hebrews 11:6 states “And it is impossible to please God without faith." This can be intimidating to me because of the reality of who I am.  Different Bible passages talk about the importance of praying in faith (Matthew 8:13; 21:21-22; John 11:40; James 1:6-8).   When I am honest, it is hard for me to pray without doubt.  And with this in mind, praying effective prayers can seem totally out of reach.

A man once brought his son to Jesus to be healed (Mark 9:14-30).  He was not sure that Jesus could help.  Jesus’ response to him was “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?...Anything is possible if a person believes.”

The father then cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”  The prayer that condemned itself as unbelief was actually revealing the faith that existed in the man.  Jesus could act on that faith by healing the man’s son.   That needs to be my earnest cry in prayer as well. 

It is through my helplessness and doubts that a door is opened to Jesus.  My faith is somehow strengthened by God when I am truly honest with Him--even with my doubts.  Honesty is what He is looking for in a prayer life.  It is letting Jesus into the heart in such a way that He can truly fulfill the hearts desire.