I am delighted to be preaching at Christchurch, Freemantle with Millbrook this week. The people of Christchurch have been exploring prayer and I have been invited to be a part of their journey. Back in April I led a Petite Retreat for their PCC (Parochial Church Council), and now I am spending the morning with the whole congregation.

What a delight to be with you on this beautiful sunny day. This morning I woke in my own bed, free to pray and praise God. I jumped straight in my car and sang my heart out to Jesus. And you know what? nobody cared! I mean a lot of people were still asleep, it being a Sunday, or they were just happily minding their own business. I might have encountered a raised eyebrow if my windows had been down, as it was no-one disrupted what I was doing. I was free to pray!

The good news is that we are all free to pray. In the UK we are free to pray on our own, in groups, in our hearts, or with our voices. We are free. Alleluia! And yet, how many of us find that freedom daunting? We want to pray, we know we should pray, it would be a good thing to pray more often, but how…. or, we just forget, or feel we’re not good enough. Some people just seem to have the gift of prayer, they are the ones who sign up to the intercessions rota, and we admire them for being able to put our own thoughts into prayer, but we couldn’t do it ourselves.

So today, I want us to spend time with Paul. Paul just couldn’t stop himself from praying! Let’s look at the lectionary passage from Acts (the 5th gospel!), and see just how Paul prays.

The first thing to remember is that Paul is a professional pray-er. Paul has trained as a Pharisees, he would have been educated to the highest degree and known his Scriptures inside out and back to front. He would have been able to recite all the set prayers. However, this does not mean that his relationship with God was any better than anyone else’s. In fact it could be said that it was worse than some of the most humble of Jesus’ followers. He knew all the rules and regulations and liturgies, but until he actually met Jesus, his prayers were empty. He may have sounded good, but he wasn’t hitting the mark. Most of us aren’t professional pray-ers and that is a good thing!

If you want to read today’s passage in full (Acts 16:16-34) click here.

One day, as we were going to a place of prayer…

Acts 16:16

So, Paul, Silas, and I assume Luke as he wrote this sequel to the gospel, are going to a place of prayer. Their intention is to pray publicly, Luke doesn’t say that they are going to a church or synagogue or temple, just a place known for praying. They could be heading for the shade of a tree, a town square, someone’s home; all we know is that there will be other people and they will be praying. The place in which we pray isn’t important, it is the prayer which matters, and in this case, the other people they will be praying with. They are praying with other people. How that prayer will take place, we don’t know, because Paul and his crew never get that far. Perhaps one person will be leading the prayers just as in church when someone leads the intercessions, or it could be more like a home group or fellowship group where everyone is encouraged to pray for each other, where some people feel more comfortable than others. You may know the type of group, where some people are so passionate in their prayers that they just can’t keep quiet, and others are more timid in speaking out loud, but when they do it is such a pearl of wisdom everyone can’t help themselves but respond with a whole hearted Amen. Yet others will stay silent the whole time, praying in the only way that they feel confident. Paul was heading to a place of prayer.

From this we know that prayer was already happening in that place. Amazing things are about to unfold, and it isn’t just that Paul and his super-pray-ers have arrived on the scene: the local faithful have been praying and setting the scene in advance. In today’s passage we first encounter public prayer.

But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”

Acts 16:18

Our second encounter with prayer is very much more personal. I love this passage, it is of course a wonderful healing for the slave girl who had a (unholy) spirit of divination, but Paul doesn’t pray for her healing, or to cease the false prophecy of the spirit, he prays because he is annoyed! Everywhere Paul goes this girl follows him and the spirit causes her to speak out. Like a parent who finally snaps at a toddler who keeps asking ‘why’, Paul prays for the girl’s exorcism. We could say that it is a selfish prayer, and shouldn’t we only pray for the world and for others? The mantra ‘Jesus first, others second, self last’ comes to mind, but here, Paul puts himself first and good things happen for the girl. Praying for ourselves isn’t selfish. Jesus delights in an intimacy with us.

The other thing to note is that Paul prays in the name of Jesus. How often do we, particularly evangelicals, conclude our prayers with those same words, ‘In Jesus’ name, Amen’? It can feel like the magic phrase, if we pray in Jesus’ name our prayers will be answered, our wish come true. That isn’t what happens here. When we pray in the name of Jesus, when we speak in the name of anyone, we are speaking their truth. So when we pray ‘In Jesus name’ what we are really saying, is ‘if this prayer matches your purpose let it be so.’ There is a humility to it as well as a power.

Paul calls upon the power of Jesus’ name which even demons recognise and fear, but he also prays that his selfish desire for the girl to please shut up, will meet with Jesus’ desire for the girl’s healing. In the heat of the moment he may not realise what he is doing, but he is. Paul’s prayer is personal but also powerful. What it isn’t, is planned! Paul hasn’t sat down and pondered on the best way to craft his words to create a worthy prayer, he simply and spontaneously prays from his heart. What is on your heart?

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Acts 16: 25

Paul prayed for the girl to be quiet and she was, but not without consequences, and Paul and Silas end up in prison. Now it is their turn to make some noise. The two men have been flogged, thrown into the deepest, darkest part of the prison and had their feet locked in stocks, and yet they sing and pray out loud all through the night. There are other prisoners present who are listening in, who have no choice but to listen to them. Perhaps they are prayers of protest, or perhaps they are just doing what is natural to them: these men lead a life of prayer, and imprisonment and torture are not going to make them abandon their practice. It is an interesting turn of events, a mirror reflection of the girl empowered by a false spirit who couldn’t keep quiet.

What we see next is miraculous. There is freedom for everyone in that jail. Chains come off, and hearts are set free. The power of a prayerful life spilling out from Paul and Silas. These two men set out to meet with other Christians in a place of prayer and end up baptising the jailor and his whole family. When we pray, who knows what will happen?

Perhaps we are listening to this feeling inspired, or maybe we are feeling despondent. How can we ever pray like Paul? The answer is we can’t, we can only pray like ourselves. And Jesus wouldn’t want it any other way. There are as many different ways of prayer as there are Christians. So how do you find the right way to pray for you?

A good place to start is by considering your own gifts and talents, what brings you joy? Love to read? Then perhaps books of prayer are they key for you. Love to be creative? Then maybe art journaling will open up a whole new spiritual world for you. Need to be active? Then a prayer walk, or run, or swim. You don’t even need to be formulating words as you do, just set aside the time and offer it to God as you move. What comes to surface for you? Too much of an introvert to declare anything out loud especially in public, then perhaps silent meditation is your way of connecting with God. Struggle on your own? Find a friend or two to meet together regularly to pray for each other. Some people need a regular sense of pattern and ritual, others need to keep trying new things. You are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ as the psalmist tells us. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t.

Some tools you might find helpful:

For those who love words: There are so many books of daily prayer from the traditional Prayer Book of 1662 to more creative Celtic prayer such as Tess Ward’s The Celtic Wheel of the Year Or perhaps try writing your own prayers with a Heartworks journal (soon to be available in my online shop – DM me if you would like to order one now).

For those who need silence: Meditation candles which burn for a specific amount of time. I haven’t tried these, and of course I can’t find the ones a friend recommended which have shorter and longer candles so you can build up your meditation stamina.

For those who are creative: Jenna Burne has a free Art Journaling retreat starting on the 2nd June. You can sign up here. I have signed up again this year as I was amazed at how deep I was able to go with God during last year’s retreat. I have also begun to create blank art journals for sale using recycled and re-purposed materials. Again, DM me if interested.

For those who are seeking more guidance, how about a Retreat in a Box, with guided meditations, suggestions for reflection, a journal, and other goodies. I have a variety for sale, and perhaps the Seashells: Listening to God themed box might be a good place to start. Boxes cost £25 including postage.