2 Timothy 1:4 – Six Connections Between Fervent Prayer and the Face-To-Face Encounter
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you…
Charles Dickens celebrates in A Christmas Carol,"“It is no small thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.”
Before Dickens wrote it, Paul lived out that kind of exothermic, expansive fission by the grace of God. In 2 Timothy 1:3 and 4, he wanted Timothy to feel on the printed page that he had a fierce, praying advocate in Paul. Paul wasn't satisfied with that, however. As we continue in verse four, Paul wants Timothy to feel that love, to be bolstered by that support in a face-to-face encounter.
In a culture in which face-to-face encounters are much less arduous to accomplish and yet seemingly are dismissed or disparaged in favor of technological drive-bys, I was wondering what some of the connections between fervent prayer and insisting on the face-to-face at the core of relationships might be.
1. Persevering prayer accustomed us to a conversational style.
My friend Kevin was convinced enough of the priority of the face-to-face encounter that he came to see me after job changes and disability limitations have left me partially homebound. This is timely Truth applied for because he says John MacArthur's book on the Lord's prayer is teaching him a conversational style of prayer focusing on shorter and more frequent interaction with the Lord.
In saying that he prays for Timothy day and night, Paul may have had the same thing in mind, as he has other responsibilities besides having his hands folded and eyes closed. Kevin suspects that as we accustom ourselves to a conversational style with God, we become more accustomed to gradual revelation and vulnerability with people.
2. Persevering prayer roots us in deep time.
Especially for Paul who in the run up to these verses has been meditating and writing on God's ability to impart righteousness across generations, the impediments, distractions, and frustrations of face-to-face conversation of God to be less daunting. God owns time. God has time. So do I.
If I don't drop the phrase that immediately opened eyes, so what? If I don't get to drop any phrase at all because the person I'm talking to face-to-face has so much overflowing from his or her heart, I wash my hands of my flesh-driven sense of urgency. God Who pledges He can melt mountains usually demonstrate the same sovereign power through deceptively ordinary forces like wind and rain.
3. We realize the power of undivided and freely given attention.
David digs in here when he questions gratefully the God Who has been listening to him, what is man that You are mindful of him? As we come to this place, as we realize that God's attention to us is imparted purely by grace, this transforms us. Coming from an Audience so freely given, even CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape realizes it is difficult to make the attention we are called to pay to our brothers and sisters seem daunting.
4. Each check-in, by faith, is an opportunity to see prayer work.
In his memoir The Cross and the Switchblade, pastor to the middle class David Wilkerson has enough faith to follow the haunted eyes in a magazine photo into a ministry opportunities amid urban blight. When he does, however, express surprise that one of his prayers has been answered, his wife is blunt. "People who don't believe in miracles," she says, "shouldn't pray for them."
Each check-in we purpose and prioritize, then, is an opportunity to see prayers work. As Spurgeon says in Morning and Evening that the more spiritual and exercise is, the more quickly we tire of it, building in pre-planned encounters with those we are praying for is the right kind of making provision for the flesh. My observation of God's incremental work in the Timothy I have been praying for will fuel my further prayer.
5. We understand from experience that habit begets fluency.
Paul's response to Christ on the Damascus Road, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" is humbling and inspiring. It is also short. Even this epitome of persevering, apostolic discipline did not begin his communication with Christ praying day and night. As he develops that discipline and discernment, however, 2 Timothy 1:3 shows the prayers get longer.
This cannot but have an impact on our face-to-face relationship. As we persevering prayer, our attentional muscles are strengthened in ways our culture moving from one thrill to the next will not challenge. Prayer warriors begin to understand that silence does not equate to inactivity, and they begin to treasure, even insist on, wait time in conversations.
6. We are in proximity when needs arise.
Working alone from home, I managed to run over a power supply with my wheelchair and unplug it. I reached out to a neighbor, the geographical rather than the metaphorical kind with assurances that this was not an emergency but that I could use her help. She was at my door so soon I didn't manage to hang up the phone first.
We are beset by needs and justifiable wants others can meet more easily and gracefully than we can ourselves. Accustomed to living in our own little spheres, we can set an artificially high threshold for when something becomes serious enough to ask for help. We will complain about something. We will allow it to distract us.
But we won't ask someone else to interrupt their routine because we so quickly allow our own to become sacrosanct. If other people are already in our lives and pretty regularly in our living rooms, we can more quickly let go of our sense of self-sufficiency. Likewise, we can be close enough to them to find needs our arms can reach.
Charles Dickens celebrates in A Christmas Carol,"“It is no small thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.”
Before Dickens wrote it, Paul lived out that kind of exothermic, expansive fission by the grace of God. In 2 Timothy 1:3 and 4, he wanted Timothy to feel on the printed page that he had a fierce, praying advocate in Paul. Paul wasn't satisfied with that, however. As we continue in verse four, Paul wants Timothy to feel that love, to be bolstered by that support in a face-to-face encounter.
In a culture in which face-to-face encounters are much less arduous to accomplish and yet seemingly are dismissed or disparaged in favor of technological drive-bys, I was wondering what some of the connections between fervent prayer and insisting on the face-to-face at the core of relationships might be.
1. Persevering prayer accustomed us to a conversational style.
My friend Kevin was convinced enough of the priority of the face-to-face encounter that he came to see me after job changes and disability limitations have left me partially homebound. This is timely Truth applied for because he says John MacArthur's book on the Lord's prayer is teaching him a conversational style of prayer focusing on shorter and more frequent interaction with the Lord.
In saying that he prays for Timothy day and night, Paul may have had the same thing in mind, as he has other responsibilities besides having his hands folded and eyes closed. Kevin suspects that as we accustom ourselves to a conversational style with God, we become more accustomed to gradual revelation and vulnerability with people.
2. Persevering prayer roots us in deep time.
Especially for Paul who in the run up to these verses has been meditating and writing on God's ability to impart righteousness across generations, the impediments, distractions, and frustrations of face-to-face conversation of God to be less daunting. God owns time. God has time. So do I.
If I don't drop the phrase that immediately opened eyes, so what? If I don't get to drop any phrase at all because the person I'm talking to face-to-face has so much overflowing from his or her heart, I wash my hands of my flesh-driven sense of urgency. God Who pledges He can melt mountains usually demonstrate the same sovereign power through deceptively ordinary forces like wind and rain.
3. We realize the power of undivided and freely given attention.
David digs in here when he questions gratefully the God Who has been listening to him, what is man that You are mindful of him? As we come to this place, as we realize that God's attention to us is imparted purely by grace, this transforms us. Coming from an Audience so freely given, even CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape realizes it is difficult to make the attention we are called to pay to our brothers and sisters seem daunting.
4. Each check-in, by faith, is an opportunity to see prayer work.
In his memoir The Cross and the Switchblade, pastor to the middle class David Wilkerson has enough faith to follow the haunted eyes in a magazine photo into a ministry opportunities amid urban blight. When he does, however, express surprise that one of his prayers has been answered, his wife is blunt. "People who don't believe in miracles," she says, "shouldn't pray for them."
Each check-in we purpose and prioritize, then, is an opportunity to see prayers work. As Spurgeon says in Morning and Evening that the more spiritual and exercise is, the more quickly we tire of it, building in pre-planned encounters with those we are praying for is the right kind of making provision for the flesh. My observation of God's incremental work in the Timothy I have been praying for will fuel my further prayer.
5. We understand from experience that habit begets fluency.
Paul's response to Christ on the Damascus Road, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" is humbling and inspiring. It is also short. Even this epitome of persevering, apostolic discipline did not begin his communication with Christ praying day and night. As he develops that discipline and discernment, however, 2 Timothy 1:3 shows the prayers get longer.
This cannot but have an impact on our face-to-face relationship. As we persevering prayer, our attentional muscles are strengthened in ways our culture moving from one thrill to the next will not challenge. Prayer warriors begin to understand that silence does not equate to inactivity, and they begin to treasure, even insist on, wait time in conversations.
6. We are in proximity when needs arise.
Working alone from home, I managed to run over a power supply with my wheelchair and unplug it. I reached out to a neighbor, the geographical rather than the metaphorical kind with assurances that this was not an emergency but that I could use her help. She was at my door so soon I didn't manage to hang up the phone first.
We are beset by needs and justifiable wants others can meet more easily and gracefully than we can ourselves. Accustomed to living in our own little spheres, we can set an artificially high threshold for when something becomes serious enough to ask for help. We will complain about something. We will allow it to distract us.
But we won't ask someone else to interrupt their routine because we so quickly allow our own to become sacrosanct. If other people are already in our lives and pretty regularly in our living rooms, we can more quickly let go of our sense of self-sufficiency. Likewise, we can be close enough to them to find needs our arms can reach.
Comments
Post a Comment