A vibrant prayer life almost without fail moves you toward a life of simplicity. I am finding that the more I pray, the more focused I become on who Jesus is and what He has done. The next logical step for me to consider is what Jesus calls me too. When I boil it down I am confronted with the truth that I am here to love God and to love my neighbor. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of all the nations… When you think about the simplicity of what we are called to it is amazing how complicated life becomes. We worry about our credit as we lose our houses, we worry about gas prices, we are concerned with having just the right job to advance our dreams, we want to be skinnier, we want to look nicer, we want to dress more trendy, we are constantly looking to the grass on the other side… I find that my focus turns from Jesus to asking “what can I do to make life better for me.”

Paul rejoices in hardships, why? Not because he loves going through the trials, but because of the opportunity for God to use circumstances for His glory.

How are we to live a life of simplicity in this culture? Does it mean we sell all our worldly possessions? Does it mean we give up our computers, iphones, corporate jobs or life of abundance? As I read Scripture I’m not so sure it’s any of those things that Jesus would address. I think Jesus would say keep the main thing the main thing, otherwise what are we doing?

“My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” -Paul in Philippians 1:23-24

Paul is not concerned about his life here on earth, he is concerned with his mission. I have to ask myself how simplicity plays into life. I think it happens when we let our worries and concerns fall on Christ and we do his work. We engage with the barista at the local coffee shop to share Christ, we love the homeless guy on the side of the street for the sake of Christ, we are bold in sharing our faith with our co-workers for the sake of the Gospel.

How much simpler would life be if we all realized we only have one mission, one purpose, one goal? We love God and we love others. Now, I’m not a complete idealist, I understand the complexity of doing these things, but if it is our mindset to love Jesus and love others everything we deal with gets more simplistic. We know how to respond, we know how to react, we are encouraged by his grace rather than discouraged by our struggles, we grow and we know that in the end we will spend eternity with the Father in Heaven.

So simplicity for me is so much more than unplugging for a day and enjoying the outdoors. It’s so much more than giving up something for Lent. It is so much more than spending less money, and not competing with the Joneses. It is about recognizing our ultimate purpose and mission in life, to love God, love others and make disciples of all the nations.

Early this week I had an email from an administrator in our church planting network. She was asking me if I would like to contribute anything to my new Health Savings Account. Our organization was switching to a high deductible Insurance which meant that we were going to be spending a lot of pocket cash in the next few months as I recover from a recent foot surgery. I e-mailed back and said go ahead and take $500 out of this months income to fund it. This was a hard decision as we need every penny right now but I decided to do it. Then I spent some time praying that God would fill the whole this month. Less than 12 hours later I received an e-mail from someone explaining that they had just donated $500 to us through Paypal to cover any medical expenses we might have this year! Coincidence? I think not! God is at work in our lives and there truly is power in prayer!

Now let’s be honest, I have asked for things before and been disappointed with the outcome. Why God answers some prayer one way and others another I’ll not dare to answer that question… but I know we must pray.

“You ask and you do not recieve, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:3) According to Richard Foster “To ask rightly involves transformed passions. In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills. Progressively, we are taught to see things from his point of view.”

Prayer was of the utmost importance to Jesus, the disciples, the church fathers, and all great men of the faith. It seems only natural that prayer should become a cornerstone of our faith and an integral part of our daily living.

For me and Foster prayer is a learning experience and something that we grow in over time. I have specifically asked certain people to help me grow in my prayer life as I strive to improve in my relationship with God. I know people that pray for everything allowing God to be part of their everyday life. They are an example of when Paul calls us to “Pray without ceasing.”

Perhaps prayer can be sighted as the most important of the disciplines. After all, if we are genuinely going to be in relationship with our savior, then we better talk to him. Carrie and I were watching the movie “The Devil wear Prada” last night when a line struck me. The main character was answering the phone to talk to her boss in the midst of a major heart to heart conversation with her long time boyfriend. His response was to say… “whoever you answer your phone for, thats who your in a relationship with.”

Carrie and I were driving on I-95 the other day enjoying an infrequent break in heavy traffic. It was dusk, and as we approached a pickup from the rear we could see a movie being played on one of those LCD screens that clips to the visor. We thought nothing of this until we pulled up beside the pickup and realized there was no passenger in the truck. In fact, the driver was the one watching the movie! After momentary shock and a quick maneuver to get us further from this vehicle I reflected on how this often illustrates my Christian walk. I get pointed in the right direction, I keep up with others around me, and I put on cruise control and sit back for the ride. At some point I get bored and begin looking in other directions for something different until finally I wreck.

To be honest my first thought of Meditation always brings up a picture of a eastern looking monk sitting with his legs crossed wearing a big orange dress and mumbling something I can’t hear, nor do I want to understand. I have always associated meditation with new age and eastern religion. The reality is that meditation is found throughout the Scriptures and all the “greats” of the faith meditated… Moses, David, Paul, and even Jesus. The psalms full of acts of meditation begin in chapter 1 by stating; “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

While things seem unbelievably busy, and while it seems easier to set cruise control and watch a movie, God call out to us and desires us to spend time alone in meditation. In other words God wants us to keep our focus on Him and gives us meditation as a means to do it. Foster defines Christian meditation for practical purposes as the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his word. He goes on to explain that meditation when done properly and regluarly builds a depth to our relationship with Christ. It help us take what can feel like a sterile relationship and bring intimacy and life to it. This in turn enables us to hear God more readily and it stokes our heart to listen.

There seem to be many ready made plans for meditation… 5 minutes a day to a better you, lying still for a full life… most of which my skeptism meter jumps dramatically. So here is my plan for what it’s worth. After spending time reading the Word and in prayer, I will just sit back and listen. To start it may only be 5 minutes- but I will begin to practice the art of listening to God and meditating on His words. If you were looking for something more tangible or complicated I am sorry to disapoint you. It’s simple but then so is my relationship with Jesus.