AS WE HAVE SEEN IN OUR CURRENT GENESIS SERMON SERIES, ‘OUR BEGINNING’ WAS QUITE EVENTFUL AND ASTOUNDING. JAW DROPPING, TO BE SURE. I CAN SURELY SAY, MY FAITH HAS BEEN CAPTIVATED AFRESH BY GOD’S WORD. I CAN ALSO SAY THAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED A RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM THIS BOOK OF OUR BEGINNING.
NOW, WHILE THIS BOOK OF OUR BEGINNING GIVES US ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE OF HOW THE UNIVERSE CAME TO BE, ALONG WITH HOW MAN AND WOMAN WERE FORMED IN THE BEGINNING. . . ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE, ALONG WITH MANKIND’S PURPOSE ON EARTH IN THE BEGINNING. . .ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ORIGIN OF SOCIETY AND ETHNICITY IN THE BEGINNING. . .GENESIS ALSO GIVES US ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE OF PRAYER. THAT’S RIGHT, PRAYER. PRAYER WAS THERE IN THE BEGINNING!
PRAYER IN THE BEGINNING??? BUT, THE WORD PRAYER IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, IN THE BEGINNING? AT LEAST, PRAYING TO GOD ISN’T ACTUALLY FOUND – OR RECORDED – UNTIL GENESIS 20.
SO, WHAT WAS PRAYER THEN, IN THE BEGINNING?
FIRSTLY, PRAYER WAS SOMETHING CONVERSATIONAL IN THE BEGINNING. WHILE THE WORD FOR PRAYER ISN’T EMPLOYED TO DESCRIBE COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND (MALE AND FEMALE) UNTIL GENESIS 20, WE DO FIND COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND. THESE COMMUNICATIONS, AS WE DISCOVER, WERE PERSONAL CONVERSATIONS.
RIGHT AWAY IN THE BIBLE’S OPENING CHAPTER – FOLLOWING THE CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN – WE FIND THAT “GOD SAID TO THEM” (1:28,29). PRAYER INVOLVES GOD SAYING THINGS TO US, AS WITH “THEM” IN THE BEGINNING. PRAYER INVOLVES HEARING THE CONVERSATIONAL COMMANDS, WORDS AND PROMISES GOD IS “SAYING” FOR US TO HEAR AND FOLLOW (2:16-17). PRAYER, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, IS GOD BEING CONVERSATIONAL WITH US THROUGH HIS PERSONAL WORD/S TO US. OF COURSE, HIS PERSONAL WORD TO US NOW, IS HIS PERSONALLY REVEALED WORD, THE BIBLE.
THIS ALSO MEANS, THAT WE ARE BEING CONVERSATIONAL WITH GOD, THROUGH HIS REVEALED WORD. BEING PRAYERFUL INVOLVES US READING THE WORD OF GOD AND HEARING BY WAY OF ‘RECEIVING’ AND ‘OBEYING’ WHAT HE HAS “SAID” AND CONTINUES “SAYING” THROUGH HIS REVEALED WORD. BEING CONVERSATIONAL WITH GOD’S REVEALED WORD ENTAILS DISCOVERING WHAT HE HAS “SAID” (1:28,29, 3:9,11,13,16,17; 4:6,9; 7:1; 8:15 ETC), AND “COMMANDED AND PROMISED” (2:16-17, 3:3). AND, IN SO DOING, ASKING OURSELVES HOW AND WHERE OUR LIVES NEED TO BE IMPACTED. HERE ARE A FEW CONVERSATIONAL QUESTIONS THAT YOU CAN ASK GOD PRAYERFULLY AS YOU CONVERSE WITH HIS WORD : HOW AM I TO BE LIVING?. . .HOW AM I ACTING?. . .HOW MUCH DOES GOD LOVE ME?. . .WHAT AM I VALUING AND WORSHIPPING?. . .WHAT AND HOW AM I LOVING?. . .HOW DOES THE LORD BLESS ME? . . .HOW ARE HIS PROMISES NURTURING MY SOUL? . . . HOW DO I NEED TO TRUST MY LORD MORE? . . . AND SO ON.
SECONDLY, PRAYER WAS SOMETHING VERY PERSONAL IN THE BEGINNING. APART FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED ON HOW THE LORD GOD CONVERSATIONALLY “SAID”, “COMMANDED AND PROMISED” – IN THE IMMEDIATE COMPANY OF ADAM, EVE, CAIN, NOAH AND HIS SONS, ABRAM – WE FIND LANGUAGE OF HOW PERSONALLY THE LORD GOD CONVERSED WITH MAN AND WOMAN. HE IS DESCRIBED AS PERSONALLY ‘WALKING IN THE GARDEN’ (3:8) IN THE COMPANY OF ADAM AND EVE. IT IS FURTHER DESCRIBED AS HIS PERSONAL “PRESENCE” (3:8) THAT PERSONALLY “CALLED” OUT TO MAN (3:9) AND PERSONALLY “SAID TO THE WOMAN” (3:13).
THINK UPON THIS FOR A MOMENT. MAYBE A LOOONG MOMENT! CREATOR GOD, PERSONALLY SPEAKS TO MAN AND WOMAN!! THIS IS HUGE. HE SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO ADAM AND EVE. . .IN PERSON, AS IT WERE. WHAT THIS LOOKED LIKE AND ENTAILED, THEN, IS BEYOND OUR ABILITY TO FULLY COMPREHEND NOW THAT SIN HAS DISRUPTED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BEING PERSONALLY CONVERSATIONAL WITH OUR GOD AS THEY WERE IN EDEN.
HOWEVER, IT IS CLEAR, IN THE BEGINNING, THAT PRAYER WAS ORIGINALLY AN INTIMATELY PERSONAL CONVERSATION. HOW PERSONAL? WELL, WE ARE ABLE TO GRASP JUST HOW INTIMATELY PERSONAL BEING PRAYERFUL WITH OUR GOD IS, BY LOOKING TO JESUS CHRIST. EVEN WITH SIN DISRUPTING OUR BEING ABLE TO PERSONALLY CONVERSE WITH GOD, THE LORD GOD PERSONALLY COMES TO BE CONVERSATIONAL WITH US IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. JESUS, GOD HIMSELF IN THE FLESH, MAKES VISIBLE GOD’S VERY PERSONAL PRESENCE AMONG MANKIND. THE GOSPEL OF JOHN REMINDS US THAT WHILE, “NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN GOD (PERSONALLY); THE ONLY GOD (JESUS), WHO IS AT THE FATHER’S SIDE, HE (JESUS) HAS (PERSONALLY) MADE HIM KNOWN (JOHN 1:18). HOW DO WE FIND JESUS DOING SO? BY PERSONALLY TALKING WITH PEOPLE. IN PERSONALLY LIVING WITH PEOPLE. THROUGH PERSONAL DISCUSSIONS WITH PEOPLE. HE DID SO AS HE TAUGHT, REBUKED AND BLESSED PEOPLE, IN PERSON. HE ALSO DID SO WHEN SOCIALIZING WITH FOLK IN THEIR HOMES AND EATING WITH PEOPLE AS WELL.
PAUSE FOR A MOMENT AND PONDER THIS. GOD MOVES BEYOND THE CONVERSATIONAL BARRIER OF OUR SIN, TO PERSONALLY ENGAGE US IN CONVERSATION PRAYERFULLY. SO MUCH SO, THAT HE ACTUALLY AND PERSONALLY REMOVES THAT BARRIER OF OUR SIN, THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON. AND HE DOES SO, IN ORDER TO RENEW OUR PERSONAL CONVERSATION WITH HIM (1 JOHN 1:1-4). ISN’T THIS WHY WE FIND JESUS, THE PERSONAL WORD OF GOD, INSTRUCTING THE DISCIPLES – AND US – ABOUT HOW TO BE PRAYERFUL WITH THE VERY PERSONAL TONE OF, “OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. . .” (MATTHEW 6:8-15)?
FINALLY, BEING PRAYERFUL WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS ORIGINAL IN THE BEGINNING. IT WAS GOD’S ORIGINAL INTENT, IN CREATING MANKIND, TO BE IN A CONVERSATIONAL AND RELATIONAL POSITION WITH MALE AND FEMALE. BEING CONVERSATIONAL AND PERSONAL WITH GOD WASN’T AN AFTERTHOUGHT OF CREATION. IT WAS A FORETHOUGHT OF CREATION!
AS I ADUMBRATED ABOVE, GOD WAS ORIGINALLY AND REGULARLY INVOLVED SAYING THINGS TO MANKIND, IN THE BEGINNING. WHAT IS MORE, WE FIND HIM PERSONALLY MAKING HIS WAY TO BE CONVERSATIONAL WITH ADAM AND EVE IN A VERY UNIQUE WAY IN GENESIS 3:8-10. THE LORD GOD IS ACTUALLY DESCRIBED AS PERSONALLY ‘WALKING IN THE GARDEN (HOME OF ADAM AND EVE) IN THE COOL OF THE DAY’. HE THEN BECOMES CONVERSATIONAL WITH THEM (V.9-13).
THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTION OF THESE VERSES IS THAT, BEING PERSONALLY CONVERSATIONAL WITH GOD, WAS AN ORIGINALLY ORDINARY PART OF DAILY LIFE WITH GOD, PRIOR TO SIN’S PRAYERFUL DISRUPTION.
IN OTHER WORDS, IT WASN’T INTENDED TO BE AN EXCEPTIONAL EXERCISE, BUT A USUAL EXERCISE. THIS IS NOTEWORTHY. ESPECIALLY, WHEN KEEPING IN MIND THAT TODAY’S CONCEPTIONS OF PRAYER SO OFTEN CONSTRUE BEING PRAYERFUL TO BE SOME SUPRA-SPIRITUAL EXERCISE THAT ONLY EXCEPTIONAL PERSONS ARE GIVEN TO. ESPECIALLY, WHEN KEEPING IN MIND THAT TODAY’S PERCEPTIONS OF THOSE GIVEN TO PRAYER SO OFTEN PORTRAY THOSE PRAYING TO BE GIVEN TO SOME EXTRA-ORDINARY DISCIPLINE THAT EXCEPTIONAL CHRISTIANS ARE COMMITTED TO.
THE PRACTICE AND DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER HAS EFFECTIVELY BEEN RENDERED SO EXTRA-ORDINARY, THAT IT IS NO LONGER CONSISTENTLY UNDERSTOOD IN DAILY TERMS. IT HAS BECOME SO SUPRA-SPIRITUAL, THAT IT IS NO LONGER THOUGHT OF IN TERMS OF BEING SOMETHING ‘ORDINARY’ PEOPLE ARE GIVEN TO.
BUT, WHEN WE LOOK TO JESUS, WE’RE REMINDED THAT HE WAS MORE PERSONALLY CONVERSATIONAL WITH ORDINARY PEOPLE WITH DAILY REGULARITY. CONSIDER HIS CLOSEST CIRCLE OF DISCIPLES AND FRIENDS, HIS DISCIPLES (MARK 3:13-21) AND THE LADIES ACCOMPANYING HIM (LUKE 8:1-3). THESE GUYS AND GALS WEREN’T ELITIST, EXRA-ORDINARY OR SUPRA-SPIRITUAL. THEY WERE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, RECOVERING SINNERS, BUSINESS MANAGERS, COUNTRY FOLK, CITY FOLK, HUSBANDS, DAUGHTERS, SONS, MOTHERS, BROTHERS ETC. THIS WAS WHO JESUS WAS ORIGINALLY AND DAILY WITH WHEN HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY COMMENCED.
WHILE BEING PRAYERFUL WAS CONVERSATIONAL, PERSONAL AND ORIGINAL (USUAL OR DAILY) IN THE BEGINNING OF CREATION, IT CONTINUES TO BE SO FROM THE BEGINNING OF OUR SALVATION. IN THE WORDS OF THE ORDINARY APOSTLE JOHN, “THAT WHICH WAS FROM THE BEGINNING. . .CONCERNING THE WORD OF LIFE (AKA THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST). . .WE PROCLAIM TO YOU (US)”. WHY? “SO THAT YOU (WE) TOO MAY HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH US; AND INDEED OUR FELLOWSHIP IS WITH THE FATHER AND WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST” (1 JOHN 1:1-4). THIS WORD FELLOWSHIP SPEAKS TO BEING CONVERSATIONAL AND PERSONAL, WHILE ENJOYING ORIGINAL OR ORDINARY RAPPORT WITH GOD, HIMSELF.
OUR SALVATION MARKS THE ORIGIN OF A RENEWED PRAYERFUL PRIVILEGE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN/WOMAN. WHAT WAS TRUE, PRAYERFULLY, IN THE BEGINNING OF CREATION IS EQUALLY TRUE, PRAYERFULLY, FROM THE BEGINNING OF OUR SALVATION.
SGC Pastor's Blog 