At it’s core, prayer is simply conversation and connection with God.

John Mark Comer reminds us,

“we need to learn how to be with Jesus—not in the silence and order of a monastery but in the noise and chaos of the city.”

 

It’s our desire that everyone at First B would experience life with God beyond a Sunday service. God wants to meet with you in your living room, work place, car, neighborhood, grocery store, gym, and classroom! The ordinary places and moments of our day are invitations from the Holy Spirit to slow down, pay attention, and just be with Him.

Learning to be with Jesus, is learning how to pray throughout your day as you become more aware of God’s presence with you and others, and His ongoing work of redemption in the world.

Space and pace matter significantly as we learn to be with Jesus in prayer.

Space helps shape the intention of our hearts and limit distractions. When Jesus first taught about prayer with His disciples, He didn’t start by teaching them how to pray, but where to pray:

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6 NIV). 

We also see Jesus retreating often to a quiet place to be with the Father in prayer. Jesus would pray in spaces of wilderness like lakes, mountainsides, and gardens (Matt. 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13, Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, John 6:15, etc.).

Do you have a quiet place where distractions are limited and where you are expectant to encounter the Spirit?

The pace of our lives often determines the level of relational connection we have with God and others. Jesus demonstrated a life that was unhurried and interruptible, making Him available to the Father’s presence and the presence of others.

Dallas Willard reminds us,

 “We should take as our aim to live our lives entirely without hurry. The peace and joy and strength which God intended for human life, the well-being and health of mind and body, is inconsistent with living in a hurry.”

Similarly, John Mark Comer says, 

“To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it.”

Does the pace of your life support a life of being with Jesus in prayer?

As a church family, let’s encourage one another to be with Jesus in prayer as we step into intentional spaces and into an unhurried pace!