Enjoying God!

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. I am really looking forward to today's encouraging prayer. And James, why don't you share with our listeners the quote from C.S. Lewis you shared with me right before we went on the air?

Okay. Well, Robbie, I just found this yesterday in Lewis' book, Letters to Malcolm Chiefly on Prayer. He's writing about why we don't pray more. And he says, now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer.

The really disquieting thing is it should have to be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And if the few, the very few minutes we now spend in conversation with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then? I love that because, you know, he's pointing out that we shouldn't see prayer as a duty. I mean, we just shouldn't. And we need to see it really as a delight.

That's exactly it. And that's what I thought would be a great topic for us to discuss today. First, just to ask, do you enjoy God when you pray?

And if you do, then how do you do it? Lewis was quoting the Westminster Divines when he said that we were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And what they actually wrote in the Westminster Catechism was that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. So it's not just what we were born for. It's what we're meant for every day as we live. But why don't we see it that way?

I mean, why do we sometimes, or more often than we care to admit, we make prayer out to be some kind of a chore really? Well, Lewis made that same observation, Robbie. And in that same letter, he wrote this very honest paragraph.

Well, let's now at any rate come clean, he says. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to admit it is never unwelcome.

When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We're delighted to finish while we're at prayer, but not while we're reading a novel or involved in a crossword.

Any trifle is enough to distract us. And we know that we are not alone in this. That really is a great description of how we can do so many things other than just praying.

Isn't it? And Lewis points out that one of the main reasons for this is the sinful nature that we struggle with and alludes to the fact that this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. So, you know, we don't like to be naked if you will before God. And then he adds, if we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty. It would be a delight.

Someday, please, God, it will be. So his point in all of this is that we are meant to grow into this more and more into, you know, more and more delight in him. You know, James, if I think about it, this is at the heart of what Jesus said about being our friend. Of course, he tells us to pray and that if we do, he commands we will be his friends.

But just look at the language he uses. You are my friends. And, you know, we enjoy spending time with our friends and that's the very thing really he wants for us.

Exactly. That's a great way to put it. Lewis is right that this is something that God is working in us. And I just want to encourage our listeners in this today. Work on enjoying God when you pray.

Tell him that you want to. You know, usually when Christians talk about delighting in the Lord, they go straight to obedience, which of course is vital, but they don't go on to the next step of just being a friend to him in his presence. You know, some like to talk about the serious duty of delight or however theologians might put it, but I think that Lewis is right that we need to see it as less of a duty or a chore and just embrace it for what it is, a blessing. You know, just think of all the Psalms that talk about being joyful and rejoicing in him.

That's really what they're about. Just being a friend to God, enjoying him. That's where Jesus is going when he says, you are my friends. And it doesn't dishonor him. This isn't trivializing God and seeing him as a buddy. It's about just boiling our response down in the simplest way to loving him, treasuring him, wanting to be close to him. And that actually exalts him. Yeah, so James, what might this look like when we spend time with God in prayer?

Yeah, let's go there. Talk about the how of this. I think it helps to think about something else Jesus said about true and false disciples in Matthew 7. Some who did all these lofty things in his name came to him, and then he says, I never knew you.

So that's got to be our goal, right? Knowing him. And that means not only spending time in his word, but just learning to be with him. So we start there, wherever we are, and then we think of him as our friend. And by the way, that friendship will lead us to greater obedience because we won't want to hurt our friend's heart, right?

But this is where it gets very childlike, very simple. Just let your heart be happy because of him. Tell him you want to ask for his help with it, but just do it.

Just go there. You know, think of it this way. It may sound like a funny analogy, but imagine if your dog could talk. I mean, if I were to say to my 90 pound chocolate lab, Max, Max, why do you love me?

He might say, well, I don't know, dad. I just love you because I love you. I just love you because you're you. You're mine.

I'm yours. You know, it's just pretty good. It's just in his nature to love. And that's our new nature in Christ. So, you know, the love our animals have for us is simple but profound in its own way.

And I think we can learn a lot from them. Oh, yeah, we can. And just think about the way they'd like to be with us, right? No matter where we are. Well, that's so true. Yesterday, I was standing up on a tall ladder, cleaning our roof, and I looked down and, you know, again, a tall ladder. And there's Max just sitting there looking right up at me because he just enjoys being with me. And that's where we need to grow in God, in the most simplest, in the most simple ways.

You know, some days are better than others, but God will help us. And one day we will see Jesus face to face. And then, you know, it should be just like continuing the conversation we already started. And I have a feeling it'll start with this, you know, laugh of recognition and a smile. Well, I'm really looking forward to that.

Yeah, me too. But, you know, because we're still learning how this works, let's just run to him now and ask for his help. Father, help us. Lord Jesus, help us.

Holy Spirit, help us. Oh, we want to enjoy you. And we do, Lord. We love you. Oh, we want to enjoy you more and more. So thank you that you want us to. Thank you that you want to be our friend. Thank you that you loved us first.

Help us to love you back. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.