Read Psalm 51:10-12
Psalms is the prayer book of the faithful. And there is no more meaningful prayer in the Psalms than what is recorded in Psalm 51. These words are often on my lips and in my prayer life: “Create in me a clean heart…Restore to me the joy of your salvation….”
Prayer is a spiritual communication that I don’t always understand, but I know it works. Wesley understood prayer to be a means of grace. Not only does it place one in relationship with God; God uses prayer as a direct channel to the one praying.
As you read this, the Thursday Bible Study group is studying Luke. We have seen that at significant times in Jesus’ ministry Jesus would be found in prayer by the disciples. They began to understand prayer was connected to Jesus’ ability to heal, preach, and teach and it was actually the source of his power. They discovered Jesus was fortified for his mission through prayer to God. They asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he gives them the fortifying “Lord’s Prayer” that we pray every Sunday in worship and many pray daily as part of their prayer lives.
Tom Albin, who leads our Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, said he used to think prayer originated in the one praying. He now knows prayer begins in the heart of God. He said, “prayer begins in God, comes to us, and then we pray it back to God.” Tom challenged those who were present to understand that powerful preaching, teaching and pastoring comes out of a Bible/prayer life. When he said that, I thought immediately how Jesus used Scripture in prayer to frame his personal prayers to God. And then I thought of my often-times-use of the words “Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new and right spirit within me….Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”
One form of prayer is the breath prayer. When you pray a breath prayer, you inhale the energy of God and then you exhale all that would separate you from God and neighbor—hatred, anger, jealousy, mistrust, evil thoughts, and on and on. The breath prayer could be called a cleansing prayer.
May these Forty Days be a time of prayer and cleansing for our church as we each and together pray for the creation of clean hearts and the restoration of joy.
Dr. Jim Porter
Prayer: O God, cleanse and restore our lives this Lenten Season. Amen.
