As I have been preparing to participate in our church's 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting, which begins next week, the topic of prayer as been very much on my heart and mind. How to pray. Why we pray. Why we don't pray. What we expect from our praying. Do we even know how to pray?
I have been pondering these questions, and they have drawn my mind back to a post I wrote a little more than a year ago which was titled It's Time to Draw a Circle. That post had its birth as I was waiting in the dentist's office, doing some reading while I waited.
For those of us about to embark on this 40 day journey, it seems appropriate to republish the post. And even if you're not among those who will be fasting and praying in our church, the post may speak to your heart as well. About prayer. About the need to pray. About our motivation for praying.
Because, my friends, it's time to draw a circle.
Here's that original post:
"Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle." (Gypsy Smith, 1860-1947, British evangelist)
While I was waiting in the dentist's office, I pulled out my Kindle to do some reading. And it was then that I came across the Gypsy Smith quote. I immediately stopped reading and put the quote in my notebook, the one I nearly always have with me. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since.
Earlier in the day I had come across another quote that also made it to the notebook. It was part of a Facebook status update. I'm not sure the origin of the quote, but it stuck with me, just like the Gypsy Smith quote.
"We're so focused on God changing our circumstances that we never allow God to change us."
These two quotes have been playing over and over on a continuous loop in my mind since yesterday. And they have caused me do a lot of thinking. Thinking about change.
About what needs to change. About why I want it to change. About what's really important.
There are some things, some circumstances, in my life that I would like changed. For one thing, we would like to sell our house and relocate. That's definitely a change.
But as I think about that, particularly when I line it up with that second quote, I wonder if I'm praying for the wrong thing. Am I guilty of being too focused on the circumstance? Too focused on things like changing houses and not enough focused on what needs to change in me?
It occurs to me that I may not be the only one. That there may be others out there who are doing the same thing. Focusing on what needs to change - or what we want to change - in our circumstances, and giving far too little attention to what needs to change in us.
Perhaps it's our attitudes. Or our selfishness. Or our prayerlessness. Or our tempers. Or our relationships. Or our worship. Or lack of. Or our prayer life. Or lack of. Or our focus.
Perhaps we're concerned about our country. About politics. About the loss of our freedoms. About the changes that are happening all around us.
Whatever it is, maybe it's time for us to draw a circle, as Gypsy Smith suggested.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)
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