No 29: To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin

Those who have been following my blog will know that I part company with John Piper over his picture of relations between God and  mankind in general.  He knits together a theology which seems to exclude any relationship outside the fold of Christianity and turns God into an enemy to whom an appeasing ransom must be paid before he lifts his condemnation over our whole race.  The best corrective to this point of view is to cultivate an open gaze at the whole sweep of Scripture and see how much of it simply does not fit Piper's ideas.  This isn't as easy as it sounds, because we all have organising minds which prefer to pay most attention to the things which are familiar - the things which fit the organising framework we already have. 

This is why prayer is so vital, and a particular way of praying which some call 'contemplative'.  In essence, this is giving myself a lot of time with God, time in which I am not thinking what He is like, or petitioning Him about mine or others' needs , or fretting over my sins.  It is a place of open gaze, open mind, and above all, open heart.  Nor is this as easy as it sounds: have a go, and you will immediately experience how strongly your mind objects to being 'stood down', and how self-obsessed your heart is.  But there is a wealth of practical advice out there, disciplines developed over centuries which gradually re-train us to become fully present before the Ultimate Reality of God, and therefore fully "transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2), and fully able to "love one another, for love comes from God" (1 John 4:7).

This morning, as I lay worshipping before rising, the Spirit repeated to me these words of Jesus: "Watch and pray" (Matthew 26:41); and then began teaching me more about what He meant.  I had always separated this into two things: that we should keep watch and we should pray.  Keeping watch meant staying informed about what's happening around me; and praying about those things.  And that is good, and necessary - Jesus was amazed at how the nation's leaders could miss what was obvious: "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times" (Matthew 16:3). 

But what I saw this morning was that in the words "Watch and pray", Jesus is giving us a glimpse into what prayer is like for Him. Jesus always watched as He prayed.  What - or Whom - was He watching?  His heavenly Father.  So Jesus was able to say: "I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence" (John 8:38); "It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (John 14:10); "I speak nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (John 8:28).

Before God speaks or acts, He has prepared the way (cf John 14:2).  This morning's revelation was also a huge encouragement to me, because I also recognised that this is how the Spirit has been schooling me these past 5 years, without my realising.  And this was also what happened in 1980 before my baptism in the Holy Spirit, a key moment in my life.  At that time, I was filled with such an inarticulate longing and dissatisfaction inside that I carved out some time each morning before our two young sons woke up, to try and pray.  Often still half asleep, all I could do was just be with God, with no idea what to say or ask for, and no awareness of anything happening.  Without realising it then, I now believe I had stumbled into the open field where God can do everything - and He did.