Dangerous Prayers…

“…Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit…” John 20:21-22

What exactly is a “dangerous prayer?” Does it have a fuse and a countdown clock? Will it spontaneously ignite the bed I am currently kneeling next to?

No, dangerous prayers are not like any of that imagery, instead, dangerous prayers have the power to transform our lives and assist us in aligning our motives with the Author of everything – God himself.

What is a Dangerous Prayer?
First, let’s explore our everyday, ordinary prayer. A lot of the time it goes something like this, “Dear Lord, I pray for my day and my job, I also pray for my coworkers. Lord, be with my kids in school and protect all of us as we travel from home to school and work and back again. In Your name, I pray all of these things. -Amen.” Now, don’t get me wrong, these are great prayers to pray. We want to have good days at work and school, and of course, we want our kids to be safe and everyone back under one roof at the end of the day. But is this the only kind of prayer that we pray? Do we actually invite Jesus along with us in our day? Do we converse with Him within each hour of our day?

What would it look like if you were to begin to practice an intimate and ancient type of prayer life as an act of a spiritual discipline of practicing the presence of Christ? I am sure that it would be hard to do at first. We often get busy and distracted during our chores and duties of work and leisure. How drastically would our prayer life change if praying began to become less of a scheduled time beside our bed and a continual conversation with Jesus throughout every moment of the day?

Why is it Dangerous?

There are spaces in our lives that we like to keep separate from our “Spiritual” lives. We can create these divisions intentionally or unintentionally and they separate “daily living” from “church behavior.” Dare I say that it is not that we put on masks to cover up the image of Christ in us, but rather we subconsciously create these divided spaces. Essentially what we are saying when we do this is, “Jesus you can have my life and all that I am when I come to you on Sundays and maybe Wednesdays, but when I’m at work or out on my leisure time I wish to exclude you from these behaviors, thoughts, and practices.”

But what if instead of maintaining these divided spaces, we tore them down and invited Jesus to journey with us during every moment of that day? What if we treated prayer like a continual conversation with an Omniscient and omnipresent God? He already knows me, so why do I fail to include Him in the majority of the hours of my day?

Prayer becomes dangerous when we begin to pray to a friend rather than an all-powerful deity.
Prayer becomes dangerous when we begin to treat prayer like the very breath in our lungs instead of a genie in a bottle doling out wishes and granting us “good days”.

If you feel called out, get in line – so do I.
I feel convicted by this notion.
I feel as if I have attempted to live this life with a drained battery and a reduced amount of power.
Is it no wonder that we often feel defeated and powerless as the world seems to crush our dreams and deprive of us joy? It isn’t because our prayers went unanswered it’s because our conversation with God has been sporadic and devoid of relationship. Relationships require work, and Jesus has done all of the heavy lifting, but at some point, we have to meet Him halfway. There must come a point at which within this relationship we have to mature in our faith and get serious about talking to Him.

From Dangerous Prayer to Living by Faith

I write these words fully recognizing that I have not, nor am I even close to reaching entire sanctification nor full maturity in my faith. Perhaps you are further on that road than I am, or perhaps you are just beginning. Regardless of your mile marker, it is not too late to begin to practice dangerous prayers in your life. It is not too late to tear down the divides that separate “Spiritual life” for “real life”…it’s all “Life”, or it really should be.

How Do I Start?
It might sound overly simplistic, but here’s how you start: First, invite Jesus along for your daily commute to work, then invite Him into your office or workspace and attempt that continual conversation. It will take some serious discipline but do not give up, keep at it. Also, there is one caveat: talk to Jesus, but also listen and do what He says.

For the Road:

This is just a primer to a much deeper pondering on this topic of continual conversations with God that turns ordinary prayer habits into a dangerous prayer relationship. The key is that last word: relationship. God is near. He isn’t some distant God imparting knowledge from afar but rather desires access to our hearts and experiences moment by moment. The real questions isn’t “Will He show up?”, the real question is, “Am I willing to pray dangerous prayers and begin such a life-changing discipline of prayer?”

So, what do you think?
Is this just some fantasy thought or will you take up the challenge?

-Something more to ponder, until next time!