Making Room in Your Life for Prayer

Prayer has been the topic of discussion here for the past several weeks. So far in this series I have taken us through four different modes or styles of prayer. We began with prayer practice—talking to God. This focused on learning to pray by using scripted form prayers written by others. We looked at prayer patterns—talking with God. This explored how it is we open our hearts before God and bring our thoughts, feelings, and needs before God. We looked at prayer posture—listening to God. This began to stretch our understanding of prayer in some new directions as we considered what it looks to hear from God in our times of prayer. Last week we stretched even further to consider prayer presence—being with God. This kind of prayer presses our faith practice of prayer to a level of intimacy with God that simply embraces an awareness of God’s presence.

Practice — talking to God Pattern — talking with God posture — listening to God presence — being with God

These next two weeks I invite us to give further consideration of prayer from a different angle. We are not going to look at any more styles of prayer. Rather, let’s spend some time diving into some practical implications of prayer as it shows up in everyday life. Here’s the deal—I can talk all day long about different kinds of prayer and give you all kinds of information about prayer and how prayer works and why we pray in different ways, but what good does any of that do unless we actually move towards being prayerful people? We need to actually put all of this into practice.

So then, today we go back to a familiar image—a phrase we have begun using a lot this year: the idea of making room. Earlier this year I preached an entire series on the topic of making room. We talk about that vision in three ways. We make room in our lives to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit; we make room in our lives to cultivate meaningful relationships with other people; and we make room in our lives to nurture the wellbeing of our community. All three of these visionary ideas are woven together with prayer. Prayer is an essential faith practice that is necessary in order for us to be people who make room in our lives as we desire to see happen.

make room in my time for prayer make room in my heart for prayer

This means one of the things for which we make room in our lives is prayer. None of this discussion about prayer over the past several weeks makes any difference unless we are people who make room in our lives for prayer. Maybe for some that is a literal time issue—I don’t spend enough time in prayer and I need to make room in my life for prayer by setting aside more time to pray; I need to pray more. However, there is more to consider. Perhaps others among us already spend considerable time in prayer, and the issue is not one of praying more. Making room in our lives for prayer also applies to our hearts, our minds, our attitudes. Just as important as making room with time on the calendar for prayer is making room in my heart for prayer.

I want to illustrate that today with two different prayers from scripture. In fact these two prayers come from the same person—we find them both in the story of Jonah. We may popularly know of Jonah as the guy who ran away from God and was swallowed by a fish. It is quite a bit of reading for today, most of chapter 2 and all of chapter 4. And we will let these words of scripture be an illustration for us today. So, whereas in many sermons I tend to break down a passage and point out a number of details and nuances of the writing, today we will not be dissecting the words and phrases apart. Instead we will let these two prayers stand as contrasting examples. One prayer is an example of moving towards making room. The other prayer is an example of moving away from making room.

Jonah 2:1–9 (NIV)

Jonah 2:1–9 NIV

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”

Understandably, Jonah is in a place of complete desperation with this prayer. From inside the fish Jonah is entirely dependent upon God for salvation. And in this prayer Jonah arrives at a place of complete surrender to God. As the story goes, the fish spits out Jonah onto dry land, and Jonah goes on to fulfill the task he was given by God to go preach to the city of Nineveh—sort of. Technically Jonah does what God asked. In chapter 3 he goes through the city. But if you read through that chapter you will see that his message to Nineveh is not a message of repentance or forgiveness or grace. All Jonah says to the people of Nineveh is, “40 days and you all die.”

people of Nineveh who take it upon themselves to repent and turn to God

It is the people of Nineveh who take it upon themselves to repent and turn to God. The king of Nineveh says this to the people in chapter 3.

Jonah 3:9 (NIV)

Jonah 3:9 NIV

9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

Jonah did not extend the possibility of forgiveness to the people in his message. It is the people who take it upon themselves to plea to God for mercy, just like Jonah did from inside the fish. Jonah already knows how God will respond to the prayer of those people because Jonah knows how God responded to his own prayer back in chapter 2. Consequently, Nineveh is not destroyed. And that leads us to the second prayer we see in the story of Jonah.

Jonah 4:1–11 (NIV)

Jonah 4:1–11 NIV

1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

even though Jonah is praying, he is not making room in his heart for prayer

“The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” —Julian of Norwich

Okay, on the one hand Jonah is making room in his life for prayer. I mean, he is talking with God in this chapter. But on the other hand Jonah is no longer making room in his life for prayer because his heart is most definitely not aligned with God’s heart. Making room is about more than making space on the calendar. It is also about making room in your heart, making room in your mind, making room in your spirit. And Jonah seems unwilling to do that. Jonah’s prayer in chapter 4 illustrates a lesson for us today. Even though Jonah is technically praying, he most certainly is not making room in his life for prayer. Remember the quote I have been using at the beginning of all the previous messages in this series about prayer. Julian of Norwich says, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” Jonah is obviously missing that in chapter 4.

take a step forward in prayer

Today I want to give us an opportunity to take a step forward in prayer. Today I invite each one of us to consider in our own lives what it looks like to make room in your life for prayer. As I said earlier, for some of us that may be a time issue—we simply need to prioritize some time during the day for prayer. But the larger take away for us today is not about the time—it is not about praying more. We not only need to make room in our time for prayer. It is also essential that we make room in our hearts for prayer, that we make room in our attitudes for prayer, that we make room in our spirits for prayer. The thing we need to make room in our lives for is what Julian of Norwich identifies for us as prayer which unites us “into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.”

our prayers remain united into the vision and contemplation of God when our prayers are grounded upon the grace we have received from God through Christ

We do see this in Jonah in that first prayer back in chapter 2. Our hearts are united with God’s heart through the salvation we have in God. It is Christ who has united himself to us by taking our sins at the cross and exchanging his perfect righteousness upon us in its place. It is Jesus who unites us to himself. Our prayers remain united into the vision and contemplation of God when our prayers are grounded upon the grace we have received from God through Christ.

make room for accepting God’s grace into my life make room for accepting God’s grace into the lives of others

Jonah’s prayers went off the rails at the moment in which we was unwilling to extend that same grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation towards others. Jonah was okay making room in his life for God’s grace to come into his own life. But Jonah refused to make room in his life for accepting God’s grace within the lives of others—the people of Nineveh. The entire story of Jonah ends there. The question that God asks Jonah at the end of chapter 4 is the end of the story. We never know what Jonah’s answer is—will Jonah make room in his heart for the people of Nineveh or not? Of course, the author of this book in the Bible does not really mean for that to be a question for Jonah, it is meant as a question for us, the readers. How do we respond to the idea of God being gracious and loving towards people we do not like?

I will pray for someone with whom I experience tension

Let me wrap up today with one suggestion which helps move us towards being people who make room in our lives for prayer. This is a prayer which lifts up before God the needs of people from whom we feel very disconnected. I don’t mean this in a generic way. Be specific in your prayers to name an individual or a household or whatever that may be. This may be a person or household with whom you experience great tension and disagreement. It may be a broken relationship that is marked more by division than friendliness, more by bitterness than kindness. It could be a family member, or a coworker, or a neighbor, or another student at school. It is a person or household about whom—like Jonah—you would rather get on a boat and go to Tarshish than be in the same place as them.

I will pray that this person may they experience the grace of God in their life regardless of anything else

And here is how that prayer for them needs to go. May they experience the extravagant love and grace of God in their lives regardless of anything else. It is not a prayer that hangs on any conditions for them to be more like you, or to change their opinions or interests to match yours, or to become more like the “right” kind of people (whatever you happen to think the “right” kind of people should be). Even if none of that changes and those people continue to hold opinions and preferences you don’t like, even if those people continue to do things and act in ways that annoy you, even if they keep holding cultural habits and customs which you simply do not understand, I will commit to pray that they will experience the extravagant love and grace of God in their lives. It is a prayer that moves in a very particular direction. It is making room in my life for prayer by also making room in my life for other people.

making room in my life for other people becomes something which also makes room in my life for prayer—for the kind of prayer which connects to the heart of God

By receiving other people in love and grace I am able to pray for other people in love and grace. Making room in my life for other people becomes something which also makes room in my life for prayer—for the kind of prayer which connects to the heart of God. Who is that person in your life for whom you will pray like that? God was able to change an entire city using the message of Jonah. It is too bad that Jonah himself seemed unwilling to be changed as well. May you life of prayer not only seek the love and grace of God for others, may that same love and grace of God make room in your own heart to experience spiritual renewal as a disciple of Christ.

making room in my heart for prayer means I make room for God to change my heart through prayer