What is your Intention when Praying

"If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land" - 2 Chron 7:14

Two weeks ago  my kids' piano teacher taught them a new 'fancy' word:

INTENTION

You see, my kids are preparing to play an entire book from memory, in one sitting.  So they have been reviewing their songs during their weekly practice.

But instead of making each piece more beautiful with each practice, some pieces are sounding rather worse with each practice

That got us thinking:

• What is your intention when playing these review songs?
• What do you hope to focus on when reviewing them?
• What might be some of these intentions?
• After you played, do you think you reached your intention?

So for the next week, my son tried to pause before playing a review song.  He thought about his intention and wrote it down.  And then he played.  For most of the time, it made a difference.  The pieces were much more focused.

That got me thinking.  In this month where I am 'released' from a lot of church 'meetings' because of a pause to pray....what is my INTENTION?  We watched a movie last week called "The War Room" (highly recommended).  In the movie, they referred to the same thing as STRATEGY.

The point?  If we want to hear God's voice.  If we really REALLY want to experience God and have a conversation with Him.  If we really desire to know His will.  If we desire growth.  If we desire transformation....

What is my INTENTION before praying???

My kids and I had to brainstorm all the possible intentions there might be to review a piece.  After all, they knew all the notes of the music already.  We came up with these.  It might be his intention to:

- improve technique (e.g. crescendos and decrescendos, timing, rhythm, tonality, etc.). 

- review the notes

- enjoy and feel the music

- play it for an audience (like mom)

- etc.

The point being....it isn't enough to just know the notes (the how to).  It isn't enough to just read the music right.  If there is no intention, my kids just simply go through the motions and do not really engage WITH the music.

In the same way, I suppose many of us get stuck in reading the how-to's of prayer.  We pray because we know we 'should'.  We say we desire to engage WITH God.  We say we want to develop a habit of prayer.  We even try different techniques.  But, so often, we don't really have any intentions.

A big part of the intentions in prayer, I've found, is not in looking for God to answer our deepest problems of today....it is in hearing what He has to say about US today.  It involves SUBMISSION, REFLECTION, CONFESSION and OBEDIENCE.

1)  REFLECT

    I realized this week that part of developing a vital prayer life is to reflect on who we are.  2 Chronicles 7:14 starts with a reminder of my identity in Christ.  Not only am I God's...but He knows me by name.  Have I prayed with the sole INTENTION of hearing from God:

-Who am I?  Do I know who I am?  

- What defines who I am?  

- What defines what my church family is?  Do we know?

- What does God say to me about my identity?

- What does Satan say about me?  Do I know what he is saying?

- How have I responded to these questions in the past?  What is God asking me to do in response as I take a posture of prayer?

2)  RESPONSIBILITY

     2 Chronicles 7:14 continues with "...will humble themselves and pray and seek my face ..."

     Part of my INTENTIONALITY when praying is to simply know I ought to learn what being humble means.  I cannot come to the throne of grace with a self-righteous attitude.  I cannot come to Him with only a list of things I want Him to do.  

- As I "Seek God's Face" what "layer" is He showing me that reminds me I am a sinner and He is God?

- What causes me to humble myself further?

- Even when wrong has been done TO me, in what ways have I become an accomplice or involved in sin?

- Do I accept responsibility and does that cause me to take on a prayer posture and look out to Him for answers?

3)  REMORSE

"...turn from their wicked ways..."

What is the latest sin/stronghold God has revealed in me that needs to be confessed and redeemed? 

How can I 'turn from' my ways if I don't even see that it's sin?

To turn, I realized, DEMANDS that I...

a) identify/see the sin for what it is

b) name the sin

c) be convicted of the sin

d) feel the pain of having fallen far from God's standards

e) de-thone that sin and be stripped

In a way, if my INTENTION in prayer doesn't focus on identifying areas and layers in my life that needs repentance, how can I continue?  How can that prayer be a victorious and powerful one?  How can it be honoring and glorifying to God?

4)  RECEIVE

"I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin..."

What a wonderful promise....

The beauty of God peeling off our stinky onion-layers is that even though we get stinkier and stinkier as he peels it off, and even though the layers get thicker and thicker as we allow Him to dig deeper, the more grace, love and mercy we receive and the more joy, peace and love we experience.

If my INTENTION in prayer is solely to do it, and it is focused only on a list of things, mercy, love and grace aren't needed.  I am never stripped to a reality point where I see exactly who I am and I simply live in a fantasy world where I admit with my mouth I'm a sinner, but am never really convinced I am that bad.

Only when part of the INTENTION in prayer is to humble ourselves to the point of confession of sins that we will take on a Posture of SUBMISSION, SURRENDER and OBEDIENCE.  We admit our state in front of God, and we have assurance that He does listen and will forgive no matter how far we have fallen, no matter how stinky we get, and no matter how THICK our layers get.

And I think at some point, if we really pray with Intention, God places us in the position where we realize the confession will have to be done in public amongst His people.  If the intention is there, God will convict, and we will submit and obey.

5)  RESTORATION

"...will heal their land..."

God always heals and always restores.  Freedom reigns when confession happens amongst His people.  Prayer with Intention causes us to be back with God in good terms, to be vulnerable and raw in front of Him.  Confession makes us desire what is good and pleasing to God.  Identifying our sins, layer by layer, by name, develops in us an ability to claim victory layer by layer...to recognize when the enemy is nearby, to fight the battle, to claim victory, to flee from it if needed, and to live a victorious and fear-less life.

Practicing piano every day doesn't guarantee my kids the ability to enjoy the music, enjoy what the composers intended the music to be, or connect with the music.  It doesn't even improve the way they play the music.

The only guarantee is that they will rush through it, they will slowly forget what playing the piece was all about and might even learn to hate the 'same old thing' over and over again.  They will do it if I, their mom, force them to do it, every day.  They will do it if their teacher checks their daily log.  But that, is done out of guilt.

Prayer can be the same.  Just praying doesn't guarantee us we will hear God.  It doesn't guarantee us the ability to grow spiritually. And it doesn't guarantee us joy and peace.

Because when we have no INTENTION, when our sole intention is to just 'get it done', to mark a 'check' in our roster, to simply say 'we did it', then all we do is guarantee a dull prayer life.  Prayer because a hassle, something demanded of us.  There is no 'music' in it.  No connection.

All we do is to go through the motions of prayer.  All we care about is to 'do it the right way'.

Let's really start praying, not because it is required of us, but because it is the way to really bring about restoration...daily.  But the posture we take in prayer, our intentions, determine whether our prayers are really what they are....are they simply 'notes on page', a 'to-do list', and a formula we follow?  Or is it something that humbles us, empowers us, draws us close to Him and satisfies us?  Does it revive us, bring meaning to our lives, peels us and heals our stink and frees us from the deepest, most hidden rooms in our hearts?