24-7 Prayer

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Familiar but Fresh…Simple Prayer

Posted by David Ward on 14/04/2025
Posted in: Bible, Personal thoughts, Prayer and liturgy, Solitude and silence, Spirituality, Spititual Practices. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
Matthew 6:6 MSG

Jesus modelled a life of simple, honest prayer, springing from his relationship with the Father. Sometimes he prayed publicly, sometimes in solitude. In Luke’s gospel, one of the disciples sees him at prayer and asks the question, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus answers by teaching the prayer that has become known as the Lord’s Prayer.

When Matthew was arranging his memories of Jesus’ life, he puts this teaching on prayer into the record of Jesus’ teaching we call the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). You could say that this was a summary of all Jesus’ teaching about how to have a close relationship with God, a relationship that affected all other relationships.

When it comes to prayer (having a two-way conversation with God), Jesus focusses on the difference between simple prayer and showy prayer, between honesty and hypocrisy (hypocrisy’s Greek roots are about pretending to be what you’re not or play acting).

The Message version really brings out the contrast between the two types of prayer:

Simple prayer is about:

  • Finding a quiet secluded space…not being on show
  • Not role playing before God…being yourself
  • Being with God honestly and simply…not trying to impress
  • Switching focus from ‘you’ to God…what does God want to talk about?

Showy prayer is about:

  • Turning prayer into a drama…impressive speeches and gestures
  • Not being yourself…trying to impress God and whoever else is around
  • Using formulas, programmes and advice…”pray this way and you’re guaranteed 100% success!”
  • Using techniques to twist God’s arm to give you what you want…it’s all about me, me, me.

As I read this passage, and thought about it I quickly became aware that the longer I’ve been a follower of Jesus the more I’ve been tempted towards showy prayer. At the moment I’m trying to simplify the way I live my relationship with God, so this was a good thought!

It also raised a number of questions:

1. Is it wrong to pray out loud, in the gathered church meeting, at public occasions and so on?

My general reading of the gospels reminded me that Jesus often engaged in both kinds of prayer…public and private…so it seems to be less about location and more about attitude. Am I praying with honesty and humility because I want to find out what God wants in this situation?

2. For many years I’ve used a daily office, Celtic Daily Prayer (CDP), to guide my life of prayer. And what about Lectio 365 and all the other wonderful prayer resources from 24-7 Prayer, or using Spiritual Disciplines…do these count as formulas, techniques, programmes and advice?

This one really made me think. What counts as honesty and simplicity? There have been times when because of the way I was, the only way I could drag myself into God’s presence to pray was by using CDP, and I was often amazed at how God met me. I think there’s a difference between structure that builds helpful habits, or resources that help me pray more knowledgably and honestly, and self-serving techniques and formulas. It’s all about what motivates…is it about growing our relationship with God in a way that also blesses others, or is it about what I want with little regard for what God might want to do?

I also just want to put this out there…dare I say sometimes my prayer times become a bit stale (I’m still human!) and at times like this changing the structure of the way I do my regular, daily prayer really helps. Of course, I also pray at other times during my day…I love to share the good and bad bits my life with God, and the Holy Spirit (who hasn’t been mentioned before in this post) often opens my ears and eyes to notice things that God wants me to pray about and helps me with what to say too ( including “making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans” when we have no words…Romans 8:26-28 MSG).

I also love the wording of the model prayer Jesus taught in the Message version…so fresh! I’ll close with it:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Encouragement and Opportunity…

Posted by David Ward on 19/11/2022
Posted in: Events, Personal thoughts, Prayer and liturgy. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

24-7 Prayer “The Gathering 2022”

For some time, I have felt a very real connection with the 24-7 Prayer movement. I have used their resources to teach on prayer and to enrich my own prayer times. A church in Manchester where I served on the staff set up one of the early Boiler Rooms (new monastic prayer community), although, sadly, I don’t think it had a very long lifespan.

During the Covid lockdowns I often spent time worshipping online with Emmaus Road church in Guildford, where Pete Greig (founder of 24-7 Prayer) is one of the leaders and I also discovered “The Gathering” online.

“The Gathering” provides a once-a-year opportunity for members of the 24-7 Prayer movement from all over the world to gather together, and due to lockdown restrictions, it has been broadcast online for a few years. This year, as well as having a live Gathering in Belfast, 24-7 Prayer continued to live stream the gathering. For a variety of reasons, I often can’t watch live, so I am very grateful for the catch-up facility.

I found this year’s Gathering a time of both great encouragement and opportunity, so I decided to write a brief summary of ‘my Gathering 2022’…maybe it will whet your appetite, in which case the Main Session recordings are still available at Main Sessions – The Gathering Online (24-7prayer.com) (you may have to register to access the site.

Briefly, these were the things that stood out to me:

1. Testimonies from various leaders of 24-7 Prayer in a whole variety of countries…Czech Republic, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Lebanon, Sweden, Peru, Iran, Ibiza, Switzerland and Germany, and also from Josh Green, 24-7s Youth Director. I had no idea about what God is doing in these places…deeply encouraged and challenged to widen my prayers.

2. Many prophetic messages for us to take away and weigh up…some of them delivered as part of reports or talks or just stand-alone messages from God. A picture of a field covered with weary souls as far as the eye could see spoke volumes to me, and I’m certain to others who are or have been engaged in church leadership. Words about encountering God in new ways, learning from the failure of the power and the people we’ve relied on in the West and learning to listen Elijah-like for the quiet voice of those on the margins (1 Kings 19: 12), as well as our need to adopt a “heart set on pilgrimage” Psalm 84: 5).

3. A real variety of speakers:

Pete Greig, who spoke from Joshua 4: 19-24 about our ‘Gilgal moment’, a time of Commemoration, Consecration and Commission

Tim Mackie, of The Bible Project, a self-confessed Bible nerd, who took us on a journey through scripture to discover that Paradise is a person, an antidote to our Western naturalistic and materialistic mindset that blinds us to the spiritual reality that’s all around us and within us and sometimes gives us problems when we pray.

Tyler Staton, from Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, who talked about breakthroughs and boredom, about discovering fidelity and choosing Jesus and what this has to do with prayer. Just as love needs a container to keep it faithful over the long haul… marriage…so prayer needs a container, and Tyler suggested that a daily rhythm of prayer, morning, midday and evening is a tried and tested container for our prayers.

The 24-7 Prayer “Inner Room” app has been rewritten to include a simple rhythm of prayer Inner Room – 24-7 Prayer International . I think this was the session that made the most impression on me at this time…watch out for a future blog article inspired by this.

Hannah Heather, of 24-7 Prayer and Emmaus Road Church, spoke about the connection between faith and hope. Her starting point was Luke 18: 8…”will he find faith”.  She pointed us to the make-up of one of the Hebrew words for faith (Emunah), where each character adds to the meaning of the whole word and the central character is the word for tent peg. Faith, she said, is about finding our tent peg and hammering it in so we can live faithfully under the tent of our convictions. We’re all holding on to something already to give meaning in life…we’d better be certain it’s Jesus (Hebrews 10:23)

The final speaker was Lungi Nyathi, a doctor and a board member of 24-7 Prayer International from South Africa. This was the session of The Gathering that I personally need time to digest. In it, God seemed to draw together the themes from the gathering as a whole and to carry them forward through the themes of prayer, mission and justice. Lungi took us on a journey to demonstrate how God is changing her outlook and understanding of prayer, mission and justice for today. She left us with the challenge to unashamedly take our place fully in the story of God, to allow God to stretch us as he has given us a role to play for the sake of this generation.

If any of this resonates with you, may I encourage you to watch the sessions and think about what God’s encouragement and opportunities may look like for you in your place at this time.