Morning Vespers - Steve Hawthorne

Dag Hammarskjold: When you climb to the top of the mountain, you don’t see how high the mountain is. You see how low the valley is.

Today is a “what could be” day.

Steve Hawthorne works with Waymakers.

The organization helps people to become primary prayer givers. Helping the rank and file of God’s people to understand how their placed by God in their community in order to have prayed for those people. The vision is that the priesthood of all believers would pray not only in church but everywhere.

No checking email please.

A prayed for community. That kind of vision is going to have underneath it some “why to” philosophy. People operate out of a philosophy and theology of prayer. They may try it out of obligation but the burden will eventually exhaust them. They are swimming in a sea of “catch up” in prayer.

People may come to a prayer gathering but they flash and they crash because they don’t have the “why to’s” to sustain prayer.

Many have a prayer room and a short list of intercessors. Prayer is not for everyone and it’s sectored away from what they are doing, instead of the core of what they are doing.

What I see coming forth is an adventure with God, being in the moment with God. WE didn’t think about the fact that we were praying, because it was working with God. If prayer is self conscious then it becomes exhausting.

How can we pray in this different kind of way? The local churches are the mainstay to accomplish the vision. The prayed for city will look back on walking with God, journeying him and seeing what God accomplished.

By pursuing God’s purpose by prayer; that’s the hallmark of prayer. We know where he is going and what he wants to do in our community. We share that with others. We can say transformation but it will remain a buzzword unless we define what that means.

You can’t just say, “Less crime”. You must define the peace, joy and love of Christ that you want to see manifest in our cities. If the deeds of the flesh are manifest in our cities, what are the fruits of the Spirit that you desire to see in your city.

You can’t enforce a law about the fruit of the spirit. You can bust people for disturbing the peace, but you can’t bust them for not bringing people: “against such things there is know law.” The fruition of light is what we are looking for.

People are driving with their rear view mirror. They are clear on where we used to be but not sure where we should be going. But a vision of the future is what will unite and provide motivation for prayer. This is the “why to” of prayer.

Part of what you do is to somehow encourage and bring forth the leadership of a sustained prayer endeavor.

It’s not just more prayer, we need different prayer. It’s purpose pursuant. It’s how we see ourselves laying hold of what God has promised.

This is praying in hope. Faith, hope and love are things that you do. Hope is not a feeling of optimism. It is something you do to lay hold of what God has promise.

Only in the Hebraic, biblical world view would you hope. Only in the biblical world view is their a God who has promised a future and a hope.

Love without hope sours into pity. Maybe you have worked with prostitutes or others who are “hopeless”. It often dissolves into the disrespect of pity. There’s no sense of anticipation of what they could be. There’s no sense of “this person could be a great dad”, “this person could be a great worship leader”.

People can smell when you have hope in them. You have more vision for them than their momma did.

It’s in the moment of frustration at the copier when is the close moment. That’s when if they have been prayed for; when the person might be open to what God has for them. Better to have prayed for them than offering them prayer right there.

There are twilight moments where they choose to go into darkness or go into light. But if you have prayed for that person, you can help people through these twilight moments. What they are not saying is how their pastor can really pray. They are praying.

They are ready to serve, ready to engage.

These kinds of things will come as we are focused on hope. The courage of hope is the backdrop for what we are doing.

Now I’ll give you how “to’s”.

Remember I said the propensity of that they will generally tend. You want to honor everyone’s understanding but move them forward as well. You can trust pastors. Some pastors have “the method”. Most don’t have “the” method. They will unite. You can never get 3 people to agree about what our problems are. What we can agree on who will bring transforming grace, and this unites people in prayer.

We tend to have mediating elite in prayer. Don’t’ try to disband it. But enable everyone to participate in prayer.

The mediatorial elite will generally have the assumption that prayer will only work if properly performed. It’s basically Shamanism: Doing something in “the natural” that effects “the supernatural” and than comes back the “the natural”. This is Hellenistic dualism and not biblical Heaven and Earth thinking.

People want someone else to do their praying for them. God summoned everyone to the mountain but the people wanted Moses to God.

What we need to have a priesthood of all believers.

If prayer cards are segmenting away to experts, it is flawed. But if the prayer requests are distributed to the people, then

I almost always refuse to pray “for” people. I’d rather pray “with” people.

My friend’s son got into trouble and he wanted me to pray to make the situation better. I asked, “what do you want God to do?”. He said, “I want God to help my son learn is calling.” Finally we settled on asking God to bring to pass the calling that God has for his son. I always pray shorter simpler with more vernacular. Modeling friendship prayer with God.

Pre-believers often have a better sense of what they want God to do. One woman said, “I just want to be healed.” I showed her Psalm 30 and helped her to pray friendship prayers with God. I didn’t make her admit how she’s wrong about everything

Prayer request cards are often an attempt to make the problem go away.

By leaving people with scripture, they will pray with scripture.

Honor intercessors but we’ve made them our Shamans. Many have become burned out. Many have ego challenges, because they want the anointing but they aren’t sure if they have it.

Those who try to prescribe formulas of prayer that are guaranteed to work will be met with resistance from city pastor’s.

Door hangers for prayer walking things. One of them was particularly bad. The card size was not big enough and the prayer requests of people were sent back to them.

Jesus teaches, instead of praying for what you need. Your father knows what you need, but pray for the things you need.

What does God ask us to pray first, “hallowed be thy name”. This is a clear request to “make your name holy”. We think name is on his name tag. No “name” is his reputation, renown. He wants his name to be revealed and distinguished from every other God and every other ism.

How many people struggle with God because he’s not like my dad. We can pray that God would distinguish himself so that God’s name is different from these other things.

How does God want to be know throughout a community.

Kingdom come, will be done: this is where God is actually followed. This is where the King himself is actually presiding in the lives of his followers. It’s not just a value package.

Big league names. Someone hands me a card and he lists himself as an activist. God is active. Activist can sometimes mean that God is absent. Prayer becomes propaganda to make God feel good and make others feel good. Beaming warm thoughts to people, not asking God to work.

The purpose of God: that he would be known, famous and followed.

One of the hallmark features of post-modern thinking is a distrust of a over arching story. The suspicion is that no one is worthy of the glory of the one story.

The last story of Star Wars is about the anti-hero. The one who is supposed to restore balance and harmony: messianic hope. But he did it by going to the dark side.

We believe there must be a one, but he doesn’t believe it. He’s not intrinsically the one but others make him the one.

The biblical framework: famous and followed is what Christ wants. The biblical story as it unfolds: blessing and glory. Blessing is a biblical way to say transformation. Transformation is not in the bible. Blessing is what this means.

Worship is the other part of the framework. Followed by many.

It’s certain. Paid for by blood.

The practicalities of this are such that… Common Questions? I feel strongly about this. If we can fix ourselves on this we will stay motivated.

Prayer walking is a subversive activity. Prayer walking is enabling everyone to be out where the kingdom is really coming. Pastors are suspicious about this because it’s not happening in their building.

Booklet: The Lord is their Shepherd.

If you can teach people to pray scripture, they will pray purpose and pray together. Baptists and Lutherans can pray the scriptures together.

Usually people pray out of the library of their prayers but they have a small library. By teaching them to pray scripture, they increase the library of their prayers.

Choose a city to pray for. What would you pray for if all you could pray was from these points? Don’t discuss what it means. Just come up with sample prayers for the city from these scriptures.

Don’t pray, but come up with sample prayers.

I always say something positive because people are scared that they can’t pray.

Sample prayers: That the President of Penn State would have his soul restored to his maker.

As you pray this you will start looking for God to do this in his life.

Sample: that the families of San Salvador would have the relationships of fathers and daughters restored.

We shrink our prayers by putting a date on our prayers. Specific prayers are good. But when can you check of the completion of father/daughter relationship restoration.

We don’t obey God beyond what we pray. When we pray to fix things, we can’t obey God for something that has never happened. Pursuing something beautiful that has never happened. But when you pray this you start to notice what your problems really are. We may be asking God to fix the wrong problems. By praying for a new future.

Sample: We will pray for God to produce green pastures in Mexico City. Also quiet waters so that people can experience peace in a violent city.

If you can get people praying on this they will sustain prayer. A new city park established.

Sample Prayer: Praying that city leaders would fear no evil. Begin praying that God would take away fear to allow us to work with city leaders. God reveal your presence to these leaders so they don’t fear us or evil.

By praying this, in a broken moment, you may tell a leader this and God may use it to show that leader that God is with them.

Lead me in paths of righteousness. Pray that God would give leaders wisdom to make choices that would make his name famous.

Lord we want you to be Lord of our cities. Enable us to do what you have assigned us to do.

Ask yourselves two questions:

What did we hear? We heard audible words by Steve but also a second track about what God wants to do in the city.

Group 2: First purpose of prayer, that’s God’s name be famous and followed. Pre meditated prayer.

Jesus asked Bartimaeus, What do you want me to do for you?” Don’t pray for people. Pray with people.

Group 3: Simplicity and power of praying the scripture. Easy to teach. Praying toward purpose.

What did it mean?

Group 3: we’re not sure that it’s easier to agree on the purpose, than agreeing on the problems. Axel shared in Berlin they have seen the power of praying for purpose. Dan shared the redemptive purpose of cities from “Taking our Cities for God”.