Day 24: Waiting Prayer, Part 3
“After they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God more boldly.”
Acts 4:31
I’ve heard it said that the Holy Spirit continually refills us spiritually like a balloon. If we blow up a balloon using our breath, stretching it to capacity, this is like being filled by the Holy Spirit. Then, if we let the air out of the balloon, the balloon deflates but never truly empties of all air. If we are in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us—just like the early Church and Apostles received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, the apostles and early Church had the indwelling Holy Spirit, and were, from time to time, also filled by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes our spiritual life looks like the deflated balloon, and sometimes we are filled by the Holy Spirit to capacity. On the scale of filled or deflated, where would you mark your spiritual life in this moment? If you feel more toward the deflated side, I hope this prayer time today, gives you some relief and peace.
My favorite chapter (chapter 10) in my favorite book on prayer (Prayer by Tim Keller) is called, “As Conversation: Meditating on His Word.” In this chapter, Keller draws from both John Owen and Martin Luther, their different prayer practices seeking God’s presence. I felt great relief when Keller taught me that both Owen and Luther, two giants of the faith, sometimes struggled to feel the presence of God. Likewise, I love the teaching they give on what to do on those rare occasions when I feel the presence of God in my meditation and prayer.
If you feel the presence of God, stop and savor it, says Owen.[1] Sit and wait, and enjoy the feeling of being filled and surrounded by grace. Wait and adore God, the Father, because He allowed you to feel His presence. “If you feel loved, then express love back to Him,” says Terry Wardle. When this happened to one of my friends, recently, he just lay on the floor and wept, God’s presence and love physically overpowered him and took him down like a WWE body slam of love. My friend just lay in the floor, weeping, and savoring the goodness of our Father.
I’ve never had such a powerful experience, but I have felt God speak to me through the Scripture. I have felt the Holy Spirit’s prompting. And I have also had spiritually dry times, when I felt like I was just going through the motions. If you don’t feel the presence of God in your prayer life, but rather are distracted and worried, then cry out to God for help. If God gives no relief, then “our expressions of grief at God’s absence are themselves ways to show love to God, and they will not go unappreciated by Him.”[2]
What relief! Here I struggle to be filled with the Holy Spirit and ask God to fill me again, but sometimes, I am distracted and anxious. Most of the time, I don’t have a refilling of the Holy Spirit where my meeting place shakes. My disappointment in my ability to focus or my disappointment in not feeling God’s presence reveal my love for Him. I move into joy and peace and out of guilt and anxiety when I think about my prayer life this way. This is the way that Jesus once again gives me peace. One more way, that Jesus even redeems my weakness and struggles, and gives me peace in Christ.
Prayerwork, Part 1: Ask our Father, to refill you with the Holy Spirit, and wait a few minutes, just reflecting on how much God loves you.
Prayerwork, Part 2: Whether God allows you to feel His presence or not, turn to your favorite Psalm, of use Psalm 40, and use the words of the Psalm to prompt your prayer of praise to the Father.
Prayerwork, Part 3: Pray for your future prayer partner one more time and then ask God if this is the right time to call or contact that person and ask them to pray with you once at week. If you feel the Holy Spirit prompting you to call this person, then contact them today. If you don’t feel for sure either, way, pray another couple of days for correct timing. If, after a couple more days of prayer, you do not receive a clear, “No,” then contact them to ask them if they would be willing to pray with you.
Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30