For the past several months I've been reading through John Calvin's the Institutes of Christian Religion. It's been a surprisingly great read. I thought it would be...I dunno...too Calvanistic for me. What I mean by that is that most of the time people who call themselves Calvinists have very firm lines drawn about a few specific points on theology, predestination being the predominant one. It can dominate conversations, Bible studies and even friendships. Now, I happen to agree with a lot of those theological points, but the vibe some Calvinists give off in writings or conversations can be a hard one focused too much on the tree and missing the entire forest. To my pleasant surprise Calvin was not too Calvinistic for me.
In fact, the entire book is a worshipful one that leaves me at the end of nearly every chapter more aware of God's greatness, goodness and worthiness. Not once have I seen the T.U.L.I.P acronym, instead I've seen sound logic, pleas for holiness and the constant reminder to lift my eyes to the Lord.
As I was reading the most recent chapter a metaphor appeared in my mind that I wanted to write down. This section was on prayer and how far too often people in the 1500s would approach prayer glibly and without focus. That gave me some comfort actually. It's not just our distracted generation that can't maintain a simple line of thought when it comes to prayer, other generations, 500 years ago wrestled with the same thing. Calvin urges the Believer to prepare his/her heart and mind for prayer in order to be focused and reverent when praying. He adds: "we must understand that the only ones who prepare themselves for prayer adequately are those who are so impressed with God's majesty that they can be free from all earthly worries and affections." (Part XI, chapter 20:5) Whoa, that was convicting and enticing. I want desperately to be free from earthly worries and affections and, no, I don't usually prepare myself for prayer. It is often hasty, distracted and a motion I feel I must get through before I can move on to something more interesting.
The next part was when the metaphor came to me. He talks about relying on the Holy Spirit to help us concentrate and pray for the things that really matter. This reminded me of when I volunteered with the middle school youth group. At the end of each meeting our small groups would take prayer requests then pray for each other. One guy would always have us pray for the Blackhawks because they weren't playing hockey well that season. We'd ask what else we could pray for, but that was all we ever got. Sometimes I wonder if the things I pray for today are similar to asking God to bless the Blackhawks so that they could play better so that I could feel better about myself because I am aligned with them.
It appears I got distracted, how did that happen? Moving on... Calvin's exhortation to us to rely on the Spirit in prayer encouraged me. "Because it is hard to reach the high standard God requires, we need help. As the eye of our mind should be fixed on God, so our heart's affection should follow. But both fail in this and go in the wrong direction. To help us in our weakness, God gives us the guidance of his Spirit in our prayers, to show us what is right and control our desires, because 'the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.' (Rom. 8:26)" (Part XI, chap. 20:5)
This is when I thought of my son, Charles. Just last week he took his first stumbling, independent steps. Two at a time then a lunge forward to my outstretched arms. Then three steps, a giggle and a lunge to his mom. We often walk with him around the house holding on to his outstretched arms while he runs everywhere he can.
This is similar to how the Spirit helps us pray. We can barely walk on our own, but by holding on to the Spirit we can pray with more direction, more concentration and pray for the things that matter most (even if the Cubs could use some deliverance one of these years).
This encouraged me to intentionally ask the Spirit to help me as I prepare my heart and mind to pray; to use that image of my son walking with my help as a metaphor for how God is helping me to talk with him.
What about you? What helps you to pray and what does leaning on the Lord look like for you as you pray?
In fact, the entire book is a worshipful one that leaves me at the end of nearly every chapter more aware of God's greatness, goodness and worthiness. Not once have I seen the T.U.L.I.P acronym, instead I've seen sound logic, pleas for holiness and the constant reminder to lift my eyes to the Lord.
As I was reading the most recent chapter a metaphor appeared in my mind that I wanted to write down. This section was on prayer and how far too often people in the 1500s would approach prayer glibly and without focus. That gave me some comfort actually. It's not just our distracted generation that can't maintain a simple line of thought when it comes to prayer, other generations, 500 years ago wrestled with the same thing. Calvin urges the Believer to prepare his/her heart and mind for prayer in order to be focused and reverent when praying. He adds: "we must understand that the only ones who prepare themselves for prayer adequately are those who are so impressed with God's majesty that they can be free from all earthly worries and affections." (Part XI, chapter 20:5) Whoa, that was convicting and enticing. I want desperately to be free from earthly worries and affections and, no, I don't usually prepare myself for prayer. It is often hasty, distracted and a motion I feel I must get through before I can move on to something more interesting.
The next part was when the metaphor came to me. He talks about relying on the Holy Spirit to help us concentrate and pray for the things that really matter. This reminded me of when I volunteered with the middle school youth group. At the end of each meeting our small groups would take prayer requests then pray for each other. One guy would always have us pray for the Blackhawks because they weren't playing hockey well that season. We'd ask what else we could pray for, but that was all we ever got. Sometimes I wonder if the things I pray for today are similar to asking God to bless the Blackhawks so that they could play better so that I could feel better about myself because I am aligned with them.
It appears I got distracted, how did that happen? Moving on... Calvin's exhortation to us to rely on the Spirit in prayer encouraged me. "Because it is hard to reach the high standard God requires, we need help. As the eye of our mind should be fixed on God, so our heart's affection should follow. But both fail in this and go in the wrong direction. To help us in our weakness, God gives us the guidance of his Spirit in our prayers, to show us what is right and control our desires, because 'the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.' (Rom. 8:26)" (Part XI, chap. 20:5)
This is when I thought of my son, Charles. Just last week he took his first stumbling, independent steps. Two at a time then a lunge forward to my outstretched arms. Then three steps, a giggle and a lunge to his mom. We often walk with him around the house holding on to his outstretched arms while he runs everywhere he can.
This is similar to how the Spirit helps us pray. We can barely walk on our own, but by holding on to the Spirit we can pray with more direction, more concentration and pray for the things that matter most (even if the Cubs could use some deliverance one of these years).
This encouraged me to intentionally ask the Spirit to help me as I prepare my heart and mind to pray; to use that image of my son walking with my help as a metaphor for how God is helping me to talk with him.
What about you? What helps you to pray and what does leaning on the Lord look like for you as you pray?
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