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Travelling in is the only way out


Travelling in is the only way out...... 


Jesus said, "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." Matthew 6.1

Christianity involves practice. But the kind of practice you need to play the piano... not as performance before an audience but, preferably, in a sound proofed room!

The practice we all need to be committed to is the practice of prayer, not simply as the way in which a professional practices their profession - it's their job after all - but also, and more importantly, as a daily commitment to deepening our understanding, becoming more and more familiar, more and more ingrained in prayer and letting deep prayer be part of ur lives. Please note I did not say we have to get "better" at it! There is just prayer, there isn't "better" and "worse" prayer. Any practice of prayer is a universe away from no practice at all.

So let's face up to the kind of teaching on prayer that some of you may have heard... "just believe enough and you'll get it" , "you need more faith, then God will answer you". Not only are teachings like these wrong, they are destructive and life denying and have nothing to do with what the Jesus taught his disciples. Yes he did talk about "asking the Father in my name", but that isn't a magic incantation or verbal formula. To ask "in Jesus name" requires us to be completely immersed in Christ, living in Christ, having the mind of Christ. And mostly we live as though we weren't.

But we are in Christ, that's what baptism means. But we need to grow up into Christ, to learn what it means to live as he lived,  so that we understand when asking in Jesus' name really means. One of most hideous parodies of Christian life is what is usually called the "prosperity Gospel". God will give you wealth, possessions and power if you only believe." No, he won't. Ask any Christian persecuted for their faith around the world. Being a Christian does not guarantee health, possessions, wealth or power, freedom or a long and happy life. It does not.

The prosperity Gospel displays itself before the world, and it's had it's reward.

Real prayer is letting God be God and letting God remind us we we are as he allows the mind of Chrost to develop in us, and nourishes to "grow up into Christ". Ephesians 4.15

Words are important, helpful and sometimes essential. But always, in the end they will give way to God's first language. Silence.

Does God answer prayer. The classic answer that question is yes, no and maybe/wait… those are his answer’s I mean - yes, no, or maybe/ or wait. But it’s the wrong question.

If God is on our prayers they have been answered before we ask. And often (not always, people can be healed etc) but often, we are the answer, because many of the most important prayers are about how we grow up into Christ. And if we live as Christ in the world then we can celebrate God’s kingdom everywhere. We change the world because we have been changed.







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