Lord, Teach Us To Pray...

By Jack Hoskins

On February 9th, Pastor George announced at Sunday services that our Session had decided that Central would be participating in "40 Days of Purpose" this spring. A flash of recognition and excitement went through my mind. As a recipient of Saddleback Church's weekly newsletter, I was familiar with this campaign developed by Rick Warren and it's great impact in the fall of 2002. That Sunday night I e-mailed Pastor George to confirm Central's plans for 40 Days of Purpose and to volunteer to help in any way he deemed appropriate.

A couple days later I was invited to join the first 40 Days Team to get off the ground - the Prayer Team led by Mary Magan. Although I had attended many prayer meetings in the past, I didn't feel that corporate intercessory prayer was a discipline for which I was adequately prepared. I was convinced that prayers on my behalf had been frequently answered, especially during heart surgery last July, but I didn't completely understand what subjects were worthy of prayer and what words to use.

The first thing I did was to dig out my copy of Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline which I had received three years earlier as part of an adult discipleship class led by Mark Vaselkiv. I had become a Christian only two months prior to Mark's class and honestly hadn't read the chapter on prayer. I began praying and studying about prayer to train for joining this most important team. Even after my preparation, I was apprehensive enough to go to the sanctuary a half-hour before our first meeting to pray that I could fit in and be an active contributor. As I was leaving the sanctuary, I realized the need to put things in the proper prospective. I was simply about to join a small group of fellow Christians in prayer. Furthermore, Jesus knew my heart and was only concerned with my sincerity, not the eloquence of the words I would use to communicate with Him.

Twenty minutes into that first meeting, it was obvious to me that the Lord had led me to be a part of this Prayer Team. I was not there by accident. Under the leadership of Mary Magan, we have prayed weekly for everybody involved in "40 Days," from the team leadership to all the potential participants. We have prayed for the details - delivery of books, logistics and good weather for the simulcast. Watching the way the campaign has come together and the spirited response of the congregation, it is now obvious to me that the Lord loves to hear and answer ALL of our prayers. It is exciting to know that I have experienced such spiritual growth so early in the 40 Days and the best is yet to come!

We were created for God's pleasure and our continuing prayer is pleasing to Him.