Come and See by Nathan Zacharias on 01/31/2012 at 12:22 PM

For most of my life, I don’t think I’ve had an accurate view of prayer. I’ve viewed it as a long-distance relationship with God. I make the call at night, talk about the hopes achieved or the struggles that remain; I thank God for making the day itself possible, and then I say goodnight.

I’m pretty sure that’s been the wrong approach.

My pastor here in Atlanta recently shared a powerful sermon on the story of Lazarus. It’s a subject most of us have heard, and he shared some familiar applications from the text. And those are always meaningful to hear. But he pointed out a new one that I hadn’t thought of before.

When Jesus asked where they placed Lazarus' body, they didn’t respond with a gesture motioning to some tomb down the road. They didn’t just say “over there” or tell him what the tomb was like. They said, “Come and see, Lord.”

They invited Jesus to see the very place where Lazarus was entombed. They invited Jesus to the very source of their pain. It was an action far more intimate than words alone could have accomplished.

And, of course, He followed.

What does that have to do with prayer? Hopefully this next quote will help explain what I mean. Henri Nouwen in his book Bread for the Journey has this entry on Jan. 15:

Prayer is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives...to pray is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells. Prayer is ‘soul work’ because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way.

Both the sermon mentioned earlier and the quote above have taught me that prayer is so much more than a long-distance relationship. It’s not a telephone call that offsets the distance. It’s a bridge that eliminates the distance.

It allows us to actually meet with God. It allows us to invite Him into the center of our pain and joy. When we do that, He will follow, and conversation becomes communion.

Come and See by Nathan Zacharias on 01/31/2012 at 12:22 PM

For most of my life, I don’t think I’ve had an accurate view of prayer. I’ve viewed it as a long-distance relationship with God. I make the call at night, talk about the hopes achieved or the struggles that remain; I thank God for making the day itself possible, and then I say goodnight.

I’m pretty sure that’s been the wrong approach.

My pastor here in Atlanta recently shared a powerful sermon on the story of Lazarus. It’s a subject most of us have heard, and he shared some familiar applications from the text. And those are always meaningful to hear. But he pointed out a new one that I hadn’t thought of before.

When Jesus asked where they placed Lazarus' body, they didn’t respond with a gesture motioning to some tomb down the road. They didn’t just say “over there” or tell him what the tomb was like. They said, “Come and see, Lord.”

They invited Jesus to see the very place where Lazarus was entombed. They invited Jesus to the very source of their pain. It was an action far more intimate than words alone could have accomplished.

And, of course, He followed.

What does that have to do with prayer? Hopefully this next quote will help explain what I mean. Henri Nouwen in his book Bread for the Journey has this entry on Jan. 15:

Prayer is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives...to pray is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells. Prayer is ‘soul work’ because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way.

Both the sermon mentioned earlier and the quote above have taught me that prayer is so much more than a long-distance relationship. It’s not a telephone call that offsets the distance. It’s a bridge that eliminates the distance.

It allows us to actually meet with God. It allows us to invite Him into the center of our pain and joy. When we do that, He will follow, and conversation becomes communion.

Comments

[1. zsazsa said the following at 1:31 PM on Jan 31:]

1

Bless you for sharing!

[2. Ryan said the following at 2:17 PM on Jan 31:]

2

1 Corinthians 2 verse 10-13

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

[3. Jen X said the following at 9:47 PM on Jan 31:]

3

Thank you, that was very enlightening and encouraging. Especially the analogy of the bridge eliminating distance.

[4. RG said the following at 1:04 AM on Feb 1:]

4

Can anyone explain to me the part of the quote where Nouwen writes, "...our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way."?

[5. A Sister in Christ said the following at 8:37 AM on Feb 2:]

5

Thank you for this post! I really needed to hear it today :)

[1. zsazsa said the following at 1:31 PM on Jan 31:]

1

Bless you for sharing!

[2. Ryan said the following at 2:17 PM on Jan 31:]

2

1 Corinthians 2 verse 10-13

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

[3. Jen X said the following at 9:47 PM on Jan 31:]

3

Thank you, that was very enlightening and encouraging. Especially the analogy of the bridge eliminating distance.

[4. RG said the following at 1:04 AM on Feb 1:]

4

Can anyone explain to me the part of the quote where Nouwen writes, "...our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way."?

[5. A Sister in Christ said the following at 8:37 AM on Feb 2:]

5

Thank you for this post! I really needed to hear it today :)