Guitar Playing and Prayer???



A Rendition of My High School Days

At the end of 8th grade, I had major surgery on my leg to correct some issues caused by my bout with polio when I was two years old. The doctors warned my parents that I would be off my feet for about three months - or, as I saw it, the WHOLE summer! What a bummer! Back then, we had no computers, video games, cell phones, or many of the various other items available today to keep a kid somewhat occupied. I was in for one boring summer! I had been thinking for quite a while that I would like to learn to play the guitar. Now, you have to understand that I am a child of the 70's - a hippie-wanna-be! (Through my high school years, I had long, straight hair, lots of hippie beads, a curtain of beads at my bedroom door, and  wisps of incense burning in my room!) I thought playing the guitar and singing like Peter, Paul, and Mary or Simon and Garfunkel, or John Denver would be the bomb! My folks and I decided that I should put my energy toward that effort during my summer down-time. I had saved up some money, so I ordered a fairly nice guitar from the Sears catalogue. When it arrived, life, as I knew it, changed! I spent countless hours teaching myself several chords. I practiced so long that my finger tips developed blisters that eventually gave way to callouses.Then I worked on my rhythm and strumming techniques. By the end of the that summer, I was a guitar-playing fool! Over the next several years, that guitar brought me so much fun! I used it to teach Vacation Bible School and to lead the singing in my youth group and sometimes at Sunday night church. I didn't go many places without my guitar.

I am not an overly musical person. I love music, but I'm certainly not close to being "gifted" in that area. I had had a little musical training prior to my guitar years. My older sister was a very good pianist and taught me the basics of middle C, and I played clarinet in the 5th and 6th grade band - until I was "asked" not come back by the band director. (That's a story for another time!) But, for some reason, I ended up being pretty good on the guitar. No, it wasn't "for some reason;" it was because, for those three months, I devoted myself to learning to play. I'm talking hours at a time - practicing those chords and working on my rhythms and songs. I was truly devoted.

As I have read through Luke and half way through Acts, I see similar devotion played out in prayer. Jesus gave us several examples of devoted prayer in Luke and the other Gospels. As a side note, I am so glad God, in His infinite wisdom, sent Jesus to earth as a man! Not only did His coming provide our means of salvation, but He also showed us how to live a believer's life, how to experience abundant life, how to access God the Father, and how to interact with other people. Prior to beginning His formal ministry, Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness for forty days (Luke 4:1-13). The scripture is definite in that He was led there to be tempted by Satan. Just like us, Jesus had to go through a refining process. But the scripture is also definite in that while He was there, He fasted and prayed. Jesus walked this earth as a man - don't forget that! He was showing us how to live out our earthly life God's way. Without spending "devoted" time in prayer and in the Word, man-Jesus could very well have taken Satan up on his offer to rule the world. Satan was and is the prince of this world and could have given the keys over to Him. Or after going a month without food, man-Jesus could have easily turned the stones into bread when Satan suggested it. But Jesus drew on the strength He was given through his devotion to the Father and refuted Satan's temptations with the Word of God.

Before Jesus began making the all-important decision of choosing the twelve men whom He would teach, He prayed. Luke 6:12 - It was at that time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them... Again, he showed us how important serious prayer is to our lives. Later, Jesus was arrested as He is returning from the Garden where He had been praying. Luke 22:39-46 - And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives...and He withdrew from them...and knelt down and began to pray...Scripture says that He was praying so fervently, that He was sweating drops of blood! Did you notice the as was His custom part?

Devoted means to commit to something completely, wholly. Fervent means marked by great intensity of feeling, passionate. That's the kind of prayer life Jesus had - because He knew the Father and had encountered the Holy Spirit.

In the disciples, we see a different kind of prayer life. All through the four Gospels, these twelve walk side-by-side with Jesus for three years, yet, we do not see a devoted prayer life. In fact, as they are nearing the climax of their three year journey and they go with Jesus to the Garden, and Jesus tells them to watch and pray - they fall asleep! Oh, how I relate to that! How many times have I've been caught "napping" when fervent prayer was needed! At times, I've been so out-of-touch with God that Satan has whispered, "You can't pray for that person; why, you aren't worthy to approach the Father because you haven't talked to Him in days! And now, you want to take this big need before Him? Who do you think you are?" Yes, I've been caught napping too many times.

But, when we get to Acts, the disciples' prayer life is very different. After Jesus ascends into Heaven, they gather in the upper room for several days "...continually devoting themselves to prayer." (1:14) Those prayers were answered in tongues of fire as the Holy Spirit rained down on them. As the church began to grow in Jerusalem, they continued to "...continually devote themselves to...prayer..." (2:42) and hundreds were being saved. And after Peter was arrested and imprisoned for the third time, the believers prayed. "So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God." (12:5) The result? An angel walked Peter out of prison and right up to the door of the prayer meeting!

What changed the way the disciples prayed? They went from knowing the man-Jesus to encountering the God-Jesus through the touch of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The man-Jesus showed them that by committing His life completely to God, a man could endure any thing Satan can throw at him, even Crucifixion. He could continue in this life focused on the Father no matter what happened to Him. Their personal experience with the risen Jesus through the person of the Holy Spirit empowered them to devote themselves to that life.

All of this gives me pause to reflect on my own prayer life. I have not been as devoted to prayer as I was devoted to learn to play the guitar! I have not spent hours at a time pouring myself out and bringing needs before the Father. My knees do not have callouses from hours of practice. I've been napping - way too long. Prayer is a powerful tool to be used as we traverse this life. Prayer is our secure line to the God who breathed all of this into existence. Prayer is necessary for me to grow in my walk with the Lord. And scripture assures us that fervent prayer is effective prayer. "The fervent (effective) prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16

It's time to wake up! Let's not nap any longer - It's time to become the prayer warriors He desires us to be!