Day 1: What is Prayer?
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: John 15:1-11, Psalm 1:3
I remember starting junior high and being so excited to finally go to youth group. I had heard stories from my older friends about how cool youth group was. There were Xboxes, Italian sodas, pool tables, air hockey, summer camps, lock-ins, and more. I could hardly wait! When I finally stepped through the doors of my church’s junior high ministry, called “Phase 2,” it was everything I had been promised and more. While the cool environment impressed me, what kept me in that youth ministry was hearing and believing something I had never really considered before. My youth pastor, Jeremy Carpenter, convinced me that I could know God. I didn’t have to settle for just knowing about God. I could actually get to know Him, and He wanted to get to know me. Jeremy told me that there was something else; there was something more. And I believed him. That truth altered this junior higher’s life.
After hearing this message, I woke up the next morning while my house was still quiet, ate breakfast, showered, and packed my bag for school. I couldn’t get ready fast enough. I dashed into my room, closed the door, turned off the light switch, went to my desk, turned on an old lamp, and opened my Bible. Sure, I had read my Bible before, but this was different. I was being pulled in. There was a rope attached to my heart dragging me straight to my Bible. I began to read and read and read and read. I couldn’t get enough. But what happened after, that is what changed me forever.
I suddenly remembered what my youth pastor had told me: that I could meet with God and God would meet with me. I’m so thankful that I was unjaded enough to simply believe something so seemingly ridiculous. I’m so thankful that I wasn’t smart enough to argue about theology or to overthink methodology. I just closed my Bible and my eyes, opened my heart, and listened. It wasn’t long until I became aware that someone else was in the room. The longer my eyes were closed and my heart was opened, the more I became aware that I was not alone. So, I listened, then spoke, then listened, then spoke, then listened, and then spoke. I met with God, but more importantly God met with me.
What happened that morning and for hundreds of mornings after has shaped my life. Years later, while I was a student at Northwest, I learned that I didn’t have to be in the private of my room to meet with God, but that the Presence I felt, that Person that I met with, was actually always with me. Anytime I slowed down and was still enough to be aware, I could meet with Him again.
I have heard and read many definitions of prayer by more pastors and theologians than I can count. The truth is, the definition of prayer that matters most to me may just be the one that I learned as a naive junior higher. Prayer learned not by words, books, or sermons, but through attentive presence. Maybe that’s all prayer really is. Realizing that God is attentive to us, and then being attentive to Him in response, with our words, listening, and presence.
Prayer: Father, would you teach me to pray. Teach me how to be abide in Your Son in each moment of the day. I admit that my mind and heart are prone to wander. In my wandering would you lead me back to You. Amen.
Today’s Experiment: Jesus told His disciples to abide in Him like the branches of a tree that are connected. For me, one of the hindrances to abiding in God is how easily I am distracted. For today’s experiment, memorize and think about Jesus’ words, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” Say the words out loud, slowly. Emphasize a different word each time you say it. Think about what each word means for you today. Then decide, out loud, whether or not you will accept His invitation to abide. Tell Him what that means for you to abide today. Listen to what He says back.
As you go throughout your day, every time that you see a tree, take a moment to abide in God again. Remind yourself that you are in Christ and He is in you. Talk with Him about what is going on in that moment and listen to what He has to say. Be attentive to Him for just a second and notice that He is so attentive to you. Do it multiple times in your day.
By Rev. Christian Dawson, Campus Pastor
*To learn more about what prayer is, listen to this 13 minute sermon called, "Teach us to Pray" by Pastor Christian.