Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Guarding our Hearts unto Prayer (part 2)

John Flavel's little book "Keeping the Heart" is a true Puritanical gem.

As a faithful under-shepherd, Flavel guides the Christian through the variegated "seasons" he or she will experience in this life, and how they are to specifically "guard their hearts" (cf. Proverbs 4:23) in each of these seasons.

The sixth "season" he walks us through is what he calls the "season of duty." For us today, we might simply call it the season of prayer.

As we saw in the last blog post, prayer is the most important weapon the Christian has in these last days (cf. 1 Peter 4:7).

And so Flavel asks the question, "How may the heart be kept from distractions by vain thoughts in time of duty [i.e. prayer]?"

He then goes on to give 10 (extremely) practical ways the Christian ought to keep their hearts unto prayer, some of which I will either omit or conflate together, as there is often much overlap.

His first prescription is almost so obvious it doesn't need to be mentioned.

And yet as a Christian, as well as a pastor, I know all too well how often we as Christians fail to do this very thing, which is simply this: plan to pray. He writes,
[First], sequester yourself from all earthly employments, and set apart some time for solemn preparation to meet God in duty. You cannot come directly from the world into God's presence without finding a savour of the world in your duties. It is with the heart (a few minutes since plunged in the world, now in the presence of God) as it is with the sea after a storm, which still continues working, muddy and disquiet, though the wind be laid and the storm be over. Your heart must have time to settle.
In other words, says Flavel, we can't expect to have profitable, intimate times of prayer in God's presence if we don't set apart substantial blocks of intentional time to meet with God.

Anyone who is married knows that the deepest times of relational growth come when a husband and wife "get away" to be alone without distractions (especially if you have kids). I need to communicate with my wife throughout the day. But the times we really grow in our knowledge of each other comes when we put the kids to bed, put our phones away, make sure the computer is not on, and just talk.

It's the same with our relation with God.

In a world that bombards us with trivial distractions (I literally just checked to make sure my phone was in my back pocket), we as Christians need to guard our hearts by guarding our time, especially our prayer time.

So this morning, before I even decided to "pen" this blog (thanks Todoist for reminding me!), I determined to go to bed earlier, that I may get up earlier, so that I may spend time on my knees (literally) crying out to God first thing in the morning. Wifey and the kids won't mind (they're still sleeping), and I have a sneaking suspicion God will honor this desire to draw near to Him (cf. James 4:8).

Ironically, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is one I regularly fail to implement in my own life (I confess, I do spend time praying in my head immediately when I wake up, but I don't have a specific amount of time allocated to active prayer):
O LORD, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I set [my sacrifice of prayer] before You and wait expectantly." (Psalm 5:4, my translation)
Reader, I don't know your schedule. But I do know mine, and how little time I intentionally (in the words of Flavel) "sequester" for intentional prayer.

Flavel goes on to write,
Few musicians can take an instrument and play upon it without some time and labour to tune it. When you go to God in duty, take your heart aside and say, 'Oh my soul, I am now engaged in the greatest work that a creature was ever employed about; I am going into the awful presence of God upon business of everlasting moment. Oh my soul, leave trifling now; be composed, be watchful, be serious; this is no common work, it is soul work; it is work for eternity; it is work that will bring forth fruit to life or death in the world to come.' Pause awhile and consider your sins, your wants, your troubles. David first mused, and then spake with his tongue.
May God help us not only to make resolutions to set apart time for prayer, but to also keep our deceitful hearts in check, that we may be able to keep our "appointments" with God.

Maybe take some time right now to ask God to help you guard your heart unto prayer by intentionally setting apart time for prayer and communion with God. As D.A. Carson says, we rarely fall into holiness, and so we must be diligent in our pursuit of God in Christ.

In Christ, and for His great glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

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