Praying in the Closet and in the Spirit
Do you plan for your prayer life? Think about that for a moment. As humans, we are taught to plan our lives in order to be successful, happy, and/or effective. We plan meals, parties, shopping sprees, dates, college, games, weddings, and events; just to name a few. In fact, we have created careers called event planners, where talented professionals are paid well to ensure the "thing" we desire, goes the way we want it to go. Why? The short answer is because we care about the outcome. We have a desire for a particular consequence. Therefore, we plan for it. Consider this relative to the "consequence" of spending time with the creator of the universe. Do we honestly weigh the enormity of time alone with God Almighty? Do we conscientiously plan out the time we spend with the Lord? Do we consider hiring an event planner to set up our meeting with God? Sounds funny or provocative? Yet, you get my point.
Prayer is an invitation to spend time with the God of the universe. Therefore, should you have a plan in place for such an occasion? Before you say yes, consider this. It is very possible that the things we plan become the things that enslave us. A plan can also yield a lack of enthusiasm for something that has a high-value quotient to us. Yet, if we still decide to plan it, it is only effective if we are disciplined to follow it. Discipline means a controlled form of behavior or way of working towards something. Meaning we become committed to an act or conduct towards accomplishing an end. It then becomes a task we must check off the list and not an event we look forward to. This is at the very heart of legalism. Legalism is the excessive adherence to law or formula to establish our "righteousness before God". It is the identical attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Bible. Envision looking at a plan on your wall that reads 7:00 a.m. - Prayer. Does this feel enticing? Imagine the heart of God, as He sees you checking the clock and counting down quality time alone with Him. Do you see how disappointed He looks? The Creator of Heaven and Earth stepped down from glory, took on human flesh; lived; was murdered; and then rose from the dead for you to one day write on a piece of paper,7:00 a.m. - Prayer. Just think about that. With this as a backdrop, I can feel the pendulum swinging toward resisting discipline and now embracing spontaneity. Wow, that is the perfect answer, right? No more set time for praying to God. We will now be carefree and reach for Him as the feeling or desire overtakes us. Hmm....maybe not.
I have attached below a great sermon from Theologian John Piper titled, Praying in the Closet and in the Spirit. It is the inspiration behind this post. In his sermon, he discusses the perils of "strong intentionality for disinclination towards discipline being equally at the heart of legalism". To understand what this means let us break it down slowly. Intentionality is a philosophical concept defined as "the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties, and states of affairs”. The definition of disinclination means a reluctance or lack of enthusiasm. Now, remember we already defined, discipline and legalism. So, let us put this together in plain English. If you maintain a mindset that you will not be controlled by a plan regarding your prayer life, it is equally consistent with the underlying mindset of the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Bible. Why? Because anything that allows YOU to ascribe how YOU will do anything in relation to God is NOT worship. This is at the heart of praying in the closest and in the Spirit. If you pray in the closet, it indicates you planned a place to go for worship, thus it is a discipline. Even if you spontaneously go into the closet to pray, it could be legalism as well. There is danger in the two extremes. Whether you are a slave to a disciplined relationship to the Lord or aligned to spontaneous worship; each can be form of legalism. The opposite of legalism is not spontaneity. And spontaneity does not mean genuine worship. The only way to avoid legalism is to approach God, as Christ did.
In, Matthew 4:1 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness"; In Mark 1:12, "Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness"; In Luke 2:27, "And he came in the Spirit into the temple"
Please continue.
Galatians 5:18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law"
Ephesians 6:18, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people."
Jude 1:20 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit".
True worship has nothing to do with your decision on what works best for you. The very idea that you can do something to add value to "working out your salvation", is at the heart of legalism which is the spawn of self-righteousness.
True worship takes place when the Holy Spirit overshadows your soul and coerces it to cry uncle; so that He can connect directly to the Father through you on your behalf. This spiritual communion can only happen because of your acceptance of Christ's blood sacrifice. It is here when the divine koinonia between the Holy Trinity and humankind achieves God's perfect plan.
Be encouraged,
Thomas Knowles, Minister of the Gospel of Christ Jesus
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