Alone Time with God

"Prayer is the Nerve Center of Fellowship with Jesus... Therefore, we learn that no Christian can have fullness of joy without a vital fellowship with Jesus Christ. Knowledge about Him will not do. Work for Him will not do. We must have personal, vital fellowship with Him; otherwise Christianity becomes a joyless burden."

~John Piper, Desiring God

For a few months now I've felt like my focused alone time with God has not found consistency in my daily schedule. And, when I do finally set some time aside each day, it is easily interrupted. I'm sure many can relate to this. I have some reasonable excuses (like a new baby), but none that should make it impossible. The Holy Spirit has brought this matter to me a lot in the last week through several different books, magazines as well as just speaking to my heart. I wanted to share a couple of those thoughts because like I said, I'm sure I'm not the only one that needs to work to spend more quality time with God.

One way God has challenged me has been through a book called Prayer and Temperament, which talks about different personality types and the methods of prayer that tend to work best for each basic personality type. Working through the prayer exercises for each example has helped me to spend more time in prayer and to get different kinds of fruit from the different prayer methods. But even beyond that, just reading about the different saints/servants of Christ who are associated with each of these prayer methods has really inspired me to want the kind of life devoted to prayer that they had. It is obvious that God worked so powerfully through them because they were regularly getting away and interacting with Him on a deep level, and not just out of duty, but because they wanted and needed it.

A few days ago I read an article by Vicky Beeching in Worship Leader Magazine, and she had some similar comments about being inspired by the prayer lives of some Christian monks, nuns and "mystics," and the writings that came from their times with God. Though the article was talking about the positive aspects of ministering via online resources, blogging, twitter, etc., Vicky made the point that those who use these tools ought to be intentional about sharing God's heart, not just spewing stuff out to have new content or to keep people's attention. And of course the way she says we will get in touch with God's heart and have messages of truth worth sharing is by drawing away and getting alone with God. I would add that even if you're not doing online ministry or aren't in vocational ministry, it is still important that you hear from God's heart too, so that you can share it with those God puts in your life.

Now, specifically thinking about my situation as a "minister of worship" or for others who are in vocational ministry, God has impressed a passage from Acts 6 upon me about the importance of our prayer lives in order for us to fulfill our calling to preach, teach, counsel, lead worship, etc. In Acts 6 the need arises for the apostles to appoint a group of men to manage the needs of the poor because it wouldn't be appropriate for them to "neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables." That might sound harsh, but the issue was not that they didn't take the needs of the poor seriously, but that they recognized the need for them to focus on preaching, teaching and praying. Note that their time and attention wasn't just on the Word, but in prayer (Acts 6:3). The ministry of the Word hinges upon the prayer life, but is often neglected because of the business of life or by other elements of one's ministry work. If you have been blessed to work in ministry, then I think this passage tells us that we ought to be dedicating a portion of that time in prayer. (Another side note, this doesn't mean that those who minister to the poor can neglect prayer and the Word of God. The most incredible ministers to the poor I've met have been people of prayer and full of the wisdom of God's Word.)

So, all this to say, in the words of John Piper (again)...

"Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in... Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days."

~John Piper, Desiring God