Chuck Ryor

“You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” – John Bunyan

You’d think that I would have understood the concept of priorities by now (age 45), but I’m so easily distracted by the tangible that I ignore the intangible.  It comes naturally to me to try to live life without pausing to interact with the presence of God in my life.  Yet, as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding.  I can see the degradation of the quality and quantity of “fruit on the proverbial vine” the less frequently I commune with the presence of God.

Paul wrote in Galatians 5:19-21, “¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”

I’m tempted to be proud of the fact that I’ve never been in an orgy or involved in witchcraft.  But the rest of that list is a biography of my heart when I see the world through my selfish and “God-less” perspective.  Idoloatry.  Hatred.  Discord.  Jealousy.  Fits of rage.  Selfish ambition.  Dissensions.  Factions.  Envy.

To quote E.T., “Ouch.”

You may ask, “God-less?  Really?  Is that what’s going on when we act and feel this way?”  Yes.  Ultimately, the heart of man wants his own glory, his own way, and will selfishly fight everyone on planet earth in order to get it.  To have this perspective you have to be consciously incognizant of Jesus’ presence, because He would have us live an entirely different way.

The way of self-sacrifice (Matthew 6:24).

The way of service (Mark 10:42-45).

The way of Him becoming greater and we becoming less (John 3:30).

When I ignore Jesus by not setting aside time to pray I forget that He knows best and begin to follow my own nature.  Never a good idea.  I get busy doing my stuff – religious though it may be in orientation – and forget that it’s all for naught if He’s not at the center of both my life and my work. Jesus said in John 15:5 that apart from Him I could not produce the kind of fruit that honors Him. “⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

On the other hand, when I immerse myself in Him, walking with Jesus and enjoying conversation about life and its purposes in Him, I tend to see things as I should.  The Apostle Paul described in Galatians 5:22-23 the nature of the characteristics of someone who remains close to Jesus through continually remaining in his presence, “²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.”

This month of prayer is showing me, once again, that my first priority in life has to be to commune with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Every work – even the good ones – will be corrupted by my nature in the absence of His life-giving presence.  And all of our work needs to spring forth from hearts that are secure enough as God’s children to live this radical life of following Christ – giving all for Him and others.

The day after Christmas I had the privilege of preaching at Cross Life Community Church in Arcadia, whose pastor is my friend, JoJo Ma. In the context of a “Christmas Message” I lay out the essence of why we think Jesus has called to do this “Month of Prayer.”  We’re called to humble ourselves to pray and seek the Lord, because that’s all we really have the ability to do.

If you have a few minutes, I encouraged you to give it a listen and join me in this month calling out to God for His grace to be the person He’s calling me to be, and corporately that Prism Church would be the community of believers God has called us to be.

Here’s the sermon page: “The Humble Savior’s Gospel.”. Scroll down to the sermon, listen and let me know what your thinking.

Enjoy!

¹³ Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 5:13-16

Prism’s “Month of Prayer” is underway, and as such I’ve got some thoughts.  It really is exciting to set aside this much time to pray for people and for the Lord’s plan to unfold for our corporate lives.  As we concentrate this week on “Praying as Praise & Worship,” we’re collectively asking God for the following so we can properly praise Him as we’re commanded to do:

1.     That we would comprehend God’s Glory

2.     That we would appreciate all God has done

3.     That we would see all that God is doing

4.     That we would please God with our worship

5.     That we would live lives of obedience as worship

This Thursday we get together for our first mid-week Prism Mission Community, praying together and sharing our lives.  This is an exciting time in the evolution of a church community, when people begin to get to know each other beneath the surface of their Sunday Worship Community exterior.  Living lives inside a community of believers is one of the ways we get to experience the tangible presence of God.   Praying for each other is one of the ways we get to experience and carry each others’ burdens.

That’s the verse the verses from James 5:13-16 mean so much to me this week and hold promise for us this month.  As we live broken and honest lives before one another – humbly confessing our sins to one another, forgiving each other, and praying for each other – the Lord works healing in our midst.  I’m praying for deep healing in our hearts, too.  My heart needs a touch from the Lord and encouragement from His presence, and I’m betting yours does, too.

This Sunday we’ll be collecting prayer requests during our Sunday Worship Community.  If you can’t make it, please send along your prayer requests at prayer@prismchurch.com.  And please join us this month on Thursdays for our Mission Community prayer times, Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.

Wherever you are, please join me in praying this month.