"A How-Dunn It"

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. Today on Encouraging Prayer, we're going to talk about something you might call a how-done-it.

Hi, I'm Rachel Torres here for Robbie Dilmore. So, James, I've heard about who-done-its, but maybe you'd better explain to our audience what a how-done-it is. Okay. Well, Rachel, if you ever look at something someone did a long time ago and wonder how they did it, that's a how-done-it, like building the pyramids. We still don't know how they moved such heavy stones the way they did. Today, we could just look at a number of things.

Just Google long-forgotten skills, and you'll come up with things like using a slide rule or memorizing phone numbers or calculating change without a cash register or writing in cursive. You kind of get the idea. Yeah, I gotcha. So, what does this have to do with prayer? Well, you look at a verse in Scripture about something Jesus did, and you see something really interesting. Here it is, Luke 6-12 says, One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. Now, what's interesting about this is it's right before he chose the twelve apostles.

They're mentioned in the next verses. So, what you see is Jesus had the decision to make here, and he prayed all night about it. And that brings us to the how-done-it part.

How do you do that? How could you spend the entire night praying about something? Yeah, I see what you mean. So, you're thinking that if we can learn the way Jesus was praying for such a long time, it would help us learn to spend time with God as well. Exactly. Because we all struggle with that, don't we? I mean, if we could figure out how Jesus just—you know, what did he do? I like what Ben Patterson wrote about this. He wrote, the more pressing question for us is not why Jesus prayed all night, but how? It's not hard to imagine working all night or even reading all night if the book is really fascinating, but praying all night?

How does one do that? Did Jesus just ask over and over again who should be among the twelve? I mean, that's highly unlikely, he says, not only because it would be incredibly boring, but because Jesus had spoken out against babbling or meaningless repetition.

So, what we really want to learn here is just what did this look like? If we learn how Jesus did it, it changes everything. And that's not overstating it, because the more we pray, the more we discover what only God can do, and the more we can learn how to pray more, the better. I mean, we want that. It's not the amount of time that matters in and of itself.

That would be legalistic. But what we need to do is discover how to lose track of time. That's an interesting take on things, because usually we think about how to make the most of the time we have.

That's right, we do that. That's how we're wired. But what this is all about, I think, is becoming so enthralled with the one we're talking to that we just put our watches away, and when we pick them up again, we realize time has gone by. Yeah, the image of sitting in God's presence and looking at our watches isn't exactly a good thing.

Yeah, no, not at all. I think of something John Donne wrote about that. He wrote about trying to pray and being distracted by the noise of the carriage, or the buzzing of a fly at the window. But Psalm 27.4 comes to mind with this. It says, "...one thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His temple."

So there you go again. How could David write that when we never see Scripture telling us that David saw God with his own eyes? What David is referring to here, though, is a reality of the heart.

Think about it. Paul writes in one place, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened as to knowing God, may be opened. So what we're looking at is this whole concept of once-taste God, and only God will do. And I think that's why David used the language of gazing. It's this prolonged, protracted enjoyment.

And this isn't anything mystical. This is just intended to be the norm for believers, because we're just loving God. We're just in His presence, kind of, you know, soaking it in. And if we're not doing that, what's the heaven for? Yeah, I see what you mean. If we're going to be in God's presence for all of eternity, it helps to learn how to enjoy Him now.

That's right! Ben Patterson, whom I quoted earlier in his reflection on this verse, also mentioned Psalm 27, and he summed it up this way. He said, Jesus knew what He needed most in order to make good decisions was not information, but a refreshed fellowship with His Father. His night was spent doing all the things that genuine prayer is, asking and listening, inquiring and praising, thinking and thanking, meditating and singing, sitting in silence and speaking forth.

It's a list. Not because it's a list at all, but because it shows this unhurried, uninhibited, natural relationship with God. And that is what so much of prayer comes down to.

Just being with God and, oh, to learn how to do that more and more. That's what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. And we might think something like, well, Jesus could do this because He was Jesus, but He came to save us and teach us and show us how to have a relationship. And when He does that, one of the things He does is teach us the Lord's Prayer. So, you know, if we're going to start spending time with God, I think that's a good place to start.

Using it as an example, as a template, if you will. Don't just pray the words, but bring them into life. Hallowed be Thy name. Worship Him. Praise Him.

That can take some time. Thy kingdom come. Talk with Him about heaven and how you can serve Him here and how you want to make it there.

Thy will be done. Talk about wanting what He wants and asking for His help to do that. Yeah, this is really practical when you think about it. That's right, because a moment in His presence changes everything, transforms everything, changes us, empowers us, and He blesses us because of it. And ultimately, I don't think it's the how of doing this that matters so much, because He's given us all the same basic building blocks and how we put them together will be as different and unique as each of us. But the important thing is that we simply want to do that, to tell Him. We want to spend time with Him, and He will help us and lead us and bless us. He'll show you how to do this.

I think that's the real solution to the how-done-it. Just be with Him and be open about it. So, James, really, what this is all about is just hanging out with Jesus.

Yeah, I guess you could put it that way. Just, again, be with Him. Imagine He's with you, near you, in the studio, in the car, wherever you may be. Welcome Him into the moment, into whatever's going on in your life. Give it to Him. This is about so much more than words.

It's a matter of the heart. Thanks, James. I think this will be super helpful for our listeners. Would you close us out with a prayer today that we will each go there more in our hearts and lives?

Yeah, absolutely, Rachel. Let's pray. Lord, we do ask, help us to be real with you. We thank you that as we are, you make yourself real to us.

And, oh, we look forward to that. We love you, we praise you, and we look forward to you. In Jesus' name. 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.