We Gotta Talk
Principle #4 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers are transformed and become spiritually productive by the principle of dialogue as we communicate with our Creator. We can be grounded in prayer!
In this New Year, we are talking about getting a grip on life. This message series speaks to a universal human experience. We are discovering some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series helps Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!
One beautiful summer morning a man was hiking on a trail somewhere in the High Sierras of Northern California. Everything was just gorgeous, and around one bend in the trail there was a picturesque little log cabin right there on the side of the mountain. There was even an old mountain man sitting on the front porch, long beard flowing down his chest, wearing overalls, smoking a corncob pipe. The hiker walked up and asked the old-timer if he could take some pictures, and the mountain man agreed. After the hiker took a few photos, he asked the old man, “I’ve often wondered what the secret to living a long life is. Could you tell me what you’ve done to live to such a ripe old age?” “Well, I’ll tell you,” the grizzled man replied, “I always keep this corncob pipe full of rough cut tobacco, and when I’m not smoking, I’m chewing and spitting. I keep a gallon of moonshine whiskey right behind the door, and I stay about half-drunk all the time. And I chase every woman I can lay my hands on; every weekend I go into town and go dancing at the local honky-tonk.” The hiker was amazed. “I’m surprised,” he said. “That sure doesn’t sound like what I would call a healthy lifestyle. By the way, how old are you anyway?” The mountain man said with pride, “I’ll be thirty-two next week!”
What are the foundational principles of our lives? Let’s hope, not smoking, drinking, and sex! The Holy Spirit is disclosing to us through God’s Word that being good soil, going the distance with God, and having a hunger for the holy are the things that we believe in that help us live a long and happy life — an excellent life. The Bible gives us some very down-to-earth ways that we can make our time on earth, however long or short it is an experience that’s productive, effective, significant, and excellent.
By the way, people ask me from time to time why I use so much humor in my messages. Well, let me explain. Charles Spurgeon, known as the “prince of preachers,” was a character. His style was so loose he was criticized again and again for bordering on merriment in the Tabernacle pulpit. Certain incensed fellow clergymen railed against his habit of introducing humor into his sermons. With a twinkle in his eye, he once replied: “If only you knew how much I hold back, you would commend me…This preacher thinks it less a crime to cause a momentary laughter than a half-hour of profound slumber.”
This week we’re going to talk about the Principle of Dialogue. Living excellently requires that we communicate with our Creator. The kind of life God wants for us is grounded in prayer. Prayer is the foundation of everything else that’s spiritually productive in life. The power of prayer really makes a difference.
Two pastors’ wives sat mending their husbands’ pants. One of them said to the other, ‘My poor John, he is so discouraged in his church work. He said just the other day he was considering resigning. It seems nothing goes right for him.’ The other replied, ‘Why, my husband was saying just the opposite. He is so enthused, it seems like the Lord is closer to him than ever before.’ A hushed silence fell as they continued to mend the trousers; one patching the seat and the other the knees.
When we think about it, prayer is a pretty bold move. It seems tame enough, until we realize that when we pray, we are entering into the presence of Almighty God, the Holy One, and the Master of the Universe. We are asking for an audience with the King, and God grants it. We have to say something. What do we say?
Prayer is like a conversation with a best friend or a parent or a mentor that we trust enough to share our real feelings. There’s no need to pull any punches when we pray; God already knows our heart. Prayers in the Bible are always pretty straightforward and honest. Prayer is an expression of trust, and when we trust someone in a relationship, we’re not afraid to let our true feelings show — good or bad. We can be bold in our dialogue with God. Eloquence isn’t necessarily flowery language so much as heartfelt expression.Let’s consider the following prayer of a country preacher in Mississippi.
‘O Lord, give Your servant this mornin’ the eyes of the eagle and the wisdom of the owl; connect his soul with the gospel telephone in the central skies; ‘luminate his brow with the Sun of Heaven; possess his mind with love for the people; turpentine his imagination; grease his lips with ‘possum oil; loosen his tongue with the sledge hammer of Your power; ‘lectrify his brain with the lightnin’ of the Word; put ‘petual motion on his arms, fill him plum full of the dynamite of Your glory; ‘noint him all over with the kerosene oil of Your salvation and set him on the fire by the flames of Your Holy Spirit. Amen!’
When we pray, it’s OK to be real with God. It’s OK to talk to God as if he were really there, because God really is present. It’s OK to approach the throne of grace with boldness. Why? Because Jesus has already been there for us. That’s the key to our confidence before God. It’s all because of Jesus. It’s not because we’re worthy or excellent in any way on our own. But Jesus opens the door for us and tells his Father we’re coming. So God is expecting us.
Right of Entry
It’s interesting to note that in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is referred to as our great High Priest. Jesus’ one sacrifice is totally sufficient for all Jesus-followers to be forgiven forever. Jesus’ task is to bring the voice of God to humanity and to usher humanity into the presence of God. As Jesus-followers we now have right of entry with God and we don’t need a high priest to go before us.
Phillips Brooks who has been called “the greatest American preacher from the 19thCentury,” says, a prayer, in its simplest definition, is merely a wish turned heavenward.
Just as in any relationship with family, friends, church or work associates; there comes a time to talk. There necessitates the need to come together and say, “We Gotta’ Talk!” It is also crucial to come into God’s presence and say, “We Gotta’ Talk!” We don’t come to talk merely about facts and judgments, but we come to talk concerning our feelings and intimacy with one another.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to enter into dialogue with God through prayer in Hebrews 4:14-16…
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
This instruction from the writer of the Hebrews is positive. It just kind of makes us want to get on our knees and pray right now, doesn’t it? We can observe two key commands in dialoguing with God from this text.
First, there is a direct access to God
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Jesus Christ is both God and Man. He is “Jesus the Son of God.”In his unique person, Jesus Christ united Deity and humanity, so that he is the only one who can bring people into a direct access to God.
In the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day, the high priest in Jerusalem would make sacrifices to ask God to forgive the sins of the people. Hebrews says that’s like what Jesus does: the sacrifice Jesus offers is himself. Because he’s pure and holy, he can offer his life before God and open the door for our communication. That’s the basis of our relationship with God. That’s how we become his adopted children.
Jesus said in John 14:6,
6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the only one who can bring to people all that God has for them. Jesus is the only way we can come into the presence of God and dialogue with him with full assurance in the faith we confess. Jesus gives us a direct access to God.
Second, there is a devoted advocacy with God
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus opens up our communication with God. Jesus enters fully into the human experience. He knows what we’re dealing with every day. Jesus was human, just like us. The only difference is, every single one of us falls to temptation. Every one of us sins. Jesus didn’t. Therefore, he can open the door to God in another way as our helper. He can intercede for us. He can go to God on our behalf and plead our case.
We can have a relationship with God through prayer that’s like a good parent/child relationship. As we well know, there’s nothing more real, bolder, more wonderful, and messier than parenting a child. We’ve had sick children. The grossest, most unpleasant kind of sickness — nose running like a faucet, skin hot to the touch, expelling toxic waste from both ends — our heart just breaks for them while we try to control our own nausea. What do we do with a sick child if we’re a loving parent? Throw them away? Leave them alone? Fuss at them? No! We take our sick children and we hold them close and we speak words of love to them. We let ourselves come in contact with all that nastiness, and we don’t give it a second thought. We’re not a parent until we’ve been “slimed” by our kids!
That must be how God feels sometimes when we come to him in prayer—nasty, slimy little sinners! But he loves us, and for the sake of Jesus, God listens, and God responds, and God embraces us. We receive mercy. So with confidence we come before a throne of grace to receive help. We don’t have to back-in; we boldly enter God’s presence!
Prayer is the way we communicate with God our repentance for our sins and receive his forgiveness. This is foundational to getting a grip and living excellently. We have to clean the record when it gets messed up.
As David sings in Psalm 51:1-2,
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
And that’s exactly what God does; he gives us mercy and forgiveness to cleanse the sins of the past and give us new, more excellent life. Then we receive God’s “grace to help us in our time of need.” That has to be one of our favorite phrases in all of Scripture—
“grace to help us in our time of need.”
When we pray, when we repent, when we relate to God, he gives us what we need to deal with the situations in our lives. Help is available to help us! Jesus gives us a devoted advocacy with God.
Get a Grip on Prayer–
To get a grip on excellent living, we have to be grounded in prayer in the New Year. “We gotta’ talk” with God. Prayer transforms us in our relationship with God.
We’ve probably seen the signs that say “Swim at Your Own Risk” or “Ski at Your Risk” or “Ride at Your Own Risk.” While traveling on my Sabbatical I saw a sign at a cheap truck stop that said, “Eat at Your Risk.” Now that’s pretty scary!
But there needs to be a sign, “Pray at Your Own Risk.” There are certain kinds of prayers that can wreak all kinds of havoc in our lives. They upset our balance, and they cause us to rethink about our meticulously planned future. They take us down unexpected paths. They are risky prayers, but prayers we must begin to pray if we genuinely want to get a grip on life.
There are three transforming prayers which go beyond the “please prayers, thank you prayers and sorry prayers.”
1. Search Me
“ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” (Psalm 139:23).
A “search me” prayer exposes whatever secret exists in us that is not fully surrendered to God. With extraordinary courage David says, “Search me, God. Test me. Expose whatever secret exists in me that is not fully surrendered. Bring it out into the light. Expose it so that by your power and grace it can be touched and removed and put out of my life, because I don’t want anything in my life to be deterrent to my full devotion to you.” What a prayer!
Perhaps, if we pray the “search me” prayer, the Spirit would tell us to redefine a relationship that has become an integrity issue in our lives. Or the light might shine on the way we’re treating our bodies, or how we’re handling our money, what we’re doing with our temper, or how we are nursing our grudges. Someday we’ll look back over our shoulders and we’ll say, “I’m so glad I prayed that searching prayer and that God answered it.” But we pray it at our own risk.
2. Stretch Me
“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:29-30).
A “stretch me” prayer encourages us to boost our boldness and faith. The believers in the early church—who were being hunted down, beaten, often murdered for their faith—got together and decided they needed to pray. They prayed in essence, “Lord, increase our courage and our faith. We don’t want to cave in. We want to take a stand. We want to be bold…all the way to the end, if it goes that way. Stretch our faith!”What a prayer!
Maybe, if we prayed the “stretch me” prayer, the Spirit would stretch our patience in pressure situations. Or stretch our compassion to believe that we can express kindness in a fast moving day. Or stretch our self-control when temptations hit us from all directions. This is the “stretch me” prayer—to have a bigger heart, to have a deeper faith, to be bold and take a stand when everyone else is caving in. God will answer it. But we have to pray it.
3. Shadow Me
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)
A “shadow me” prayer gives us no relief from danger whatsoever but it gives us rest in the heat of the battle. It should have a neon warning light attached to it. With full assurance David says, “Lord as you lead me step by step, I know that as I live consistently in you presence you will shelter me and protect me. The road might be dangerous but I know that nothing can harm me as long as I rest in the shadow of your care.”What a prayer!
Conceivably, as we pray the “shadow me” prayer, the Spirit would shadow us in small ways. Throughout the day, if we’re in a position to listen, God may prompt us to encourage someone, to mend a relationship, to carry out a specific act of servanthood. Sometimes God leads in larger ways that can alter the whole trajectory of our lives. In any case, God will not wrestle the remote control of people’s lives from their hands. If we want to run our own lives God will allow it. But God has a better path that is shadowed under his almighty hand. We can get to a quiet place and get on our knees and say, “God, lead my life. I only have from here to the end. Lead it.”
So excellent living is grounded in prayer. This is the Practical Principle for today, so God’s practical advice today is, “Do this.” We pray; practice it; develop it; persevere in it. We set aside a time to pray. We get a place to pray. We find some good resources alongside our Bible to help us pray. But even more than that, we let prayer become a constant attitude that we carry with us every moment of every day. God is always around; why don’t we carry on a running conversation with him throughout the day? God is like a best friend, a parent, a spouse, always walking beside us.
In a book called Only a Prayer Away, John Guest says, “Just as husband and wife live out their lives against the backdrop of being married, so do we live out the entirety of our lives against the backdrop of a constant relationship with God. He’s always there, always loving us, always ready to listen to us. As we recognize his unwavering commitment to us, we’re able to live in the day to day adventure and challenge of his presence. We enjoy the dialogue. It’s as if we say, ‘Oh, I must talk to him about this!’”
In prayer, “we gotta’ talk.” We can tell God anything at any time. In prayer we can approach the throne of grace boldly because Jesus has opened the door with a direct access. In prayer we can find mercy to be forgiven and mercy to forgive with a devoted advocacy. We can pray searching, stretching, and shadowing prayers. We can be grounded in prayer for excellent living. Amen!
