[This week's blogs are reflections based on Pastor Sam's sermon series on the Lord's Prayer.]
For the past two Sundays Pastor Sam has, in his sermon introductions, touched upon a mystical aspect of prayer that we as “postmodern” Christians often don't discuss. It's the aspect of transformation in prayer.
We are okay with discussing transformation through prayer, or transformation as a result of prayer, but we hedge when confronted with the reality of transformation in prayer. What does Scripture say? Pastor Sam mentioned two examples of this transformation.
Spiritual. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a prayer session on a high mountain (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). While in prayer, Jesus's face and clothing shone brightly as He conversed with Moses and Elijah.
Physical. In the Luke account of Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-44), we are told that His sweat fell like great drops of blood.
Why does the Bible tell us these things? I don't know. But I can tell you that, especially over these last couple of Sundays, I've had two personal reactions. The first is a longing to get more serious about my relationship with God through prayer. The second is an incredible reluctance to get more serious about my relationship with God through prayer. No, that's not a contradiction- that's me being human. I want the benefit of spiritual highs without the price tag of the physical lows. But, we all know it doesn't work that way.
Are we serious about prayer? Then we have to accept the whole package. There's no avoiding it! When God sees our longing for Him, He calls us to draw near. And as our prayer life deepens, things happen that signal the power and presence of God. And like our Lord Jesus, every now and then there are people in our vicinity who see what transformational prayer does in us.
The prayer of blessing says it well: “The Lord make His face to shine upon you...” Do you want that? Moses, we are told, would descend from his encounters with God with a shining face. God shined on him, and the people were able to see that Moses had been with God.
It seems, though, that this deep relationship with God in prayer was a normal thing for our Lord Jesus: not because he was Lord, but because as Jesus He had made certain investments that resulted in the Presence of God being experienced. Tomorrow we'll consider the investment of time.
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