PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 11:11–14 (NIV)
“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’”
CONSIDER THIS
I want us to back up a few steps today.
There’s a massive front story that can easily get all the attention, and certainly, it deserves much. It’s the quiet backstory I want to keep lifting up. We have just come through the extraordinary event known to history as the Gentile Pentecost; the day the church Jesus is building came to our house. You see what I’m trying to say here, don’t you? The overwhelming majority of people who follow Jesus today are Gentiles. In other words, we were not born Jews. The massive significance of what unfolded in Acts 10 and forward is we did not have to become Jewish to follow Jesus.
How did this happen? Well, God made it happen. But how did God make it happen? The kingdom of Jesus doesn’t just appear fait accompli. The movement moves through people—as we indicated earlier—people who are ready, open, and willing. I want to get a bit more specific on what this looks like. How did Cornelius get involved? Let’s ask him:
“Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me,” (Acts 10:30)
And Peter, we know how he got started, but how did he wind up in the home of a Roman centurion on this date at this time? Luke makes it clear:
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. (Acts 10:9)
The readiness, openness, and willingness of both Cornelius and Peter are signified and signaled not by their public works but by their hidden lives. They were men of prayer—hidden prayer—secret prayer. On an average, ordinary day, at 3:00 in the afternoon, Cornelius was in his house, at his place of prayer. On another average, ordinary day, at noon, Peter was on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s house at his place of prayer.
Are you seeing this? Prayer was woven into the fabric of their days, carved out into the spaces of their dwelling places, and etched into the calendars and clocks of their chosen priority. Prayer was a clearly defined reality in their everyday lives. They weren’t saluting the priority of prayer. They were praying, which is to say they were: Ready. Open. Willing. Awake. Their life of prayer was the front story for them.
If they hadn’t been there. We wouldn’t be here.
I am so challenged by this ever-present backstory of prayer. It is so easy to agree with prayer as a priority. It is so easy to want to live a life of prayer. It is so easy to feel bad about my prayerlessness and then feel better about myself for feeling bad about it. None of that internal wrestling with its self-shaming, try-harder ethos goes anywhere. For prayer to become the backstory of my life, my family, my church, my community, this world—it must become the front story of my life. Peter had a meeting set up with Jesus every day at noon. Cornelius had a meeting with God on his calendar at 3:00 p.m. every day. Here’s the interesting part. Cornelius invited his whole family and all his friends to come into his prayer room three days later at 3:00 p.m. for this meeting with Jesus—and Peter—and behold what happened.
Twenty-five years ago, I was serving on the staff of a mega church, and I had the mega schedule to prove it. I was so busy, often with two breakfast meetings, two lunch meetings, and meetings everywhere in between. Because I was working for the church I lived with the unspoken assumption I was praying all the time. One morning as I was rushing out of the house to one of those meetings, I sensed the deep, inward, voice of Jesus, “STOP!” I put my bag down, walked over next to the couch, and knelt on the floor. I can still see myself there all these years later. I said no words. As the silence enveloped me, I heard again, in the deep recesses of my inmost being these four words:
Create space for prayer.
Jesus was calling me into a meeting with himself. Ever since that day, these four words have shaped for me the calling within my calling. I won’t rehearse here my manifold failures and too-many-to-count “forgettings” of these four words. Nor is there time now to celebrate the wins across these past going on three decades. All I know is I’m hearing the volume turn up on this four-word calling like never before.
Something tells me the same is true for so many of you.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
Do you have daily meetings on your calendar with Jesus? Do you have a set place of prayer in your home or office or place of work? How have you or are you or might you create space for prayer?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing the classic, “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” It is hymn 440 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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2 Responses
I do begin each and every day before dawn in the quiet stillness of prayer and meditation. Sometimes this consecrated time is interrupted, and has a negative effect on the remainder of that day. My primary goal is to become more aware of the Spirit’s presence throughout my day. A secondary goal is to gain through the Spirit’s presence the Spiritual discernment to experience His presence in other believers. My desire is to engage in a bridge building ministry for the kingdom of Christ Jesus.
I have an unusual place for prayer. It’s in my bed when I lie down and everytime I wake up during the night. I talk to God some, but I mainly listen and as I do a word comes to my mind and then more words. Then they become a sentence. The process often repeats until I have several sentences on my heart. When I fall asleep and wake up later, the sentences are still on my mind so when I get up I post them on social media and in my blog. This happens almost every night. I also talk to and listen to God and stay aware of His presence throughout the day.