Deleted Scenes: Romans 8:26-30. Genuine Conversation

You have probably experienced what it’s like to have a conversation with someone who seemed to have very little interest in a real conversation. Technically, both parties were talking, but for the other person this was mainly a platform for them to establish their superiority over you. We’ll call this The Performance Conversationalist. Believe it or not, this occasionally happens at gatherings of pastors. Once, I was at a conference, and the first question this older pastor asked was how big my church was. When I gave my answer, he was profoundly unimpressed and launched into…I can’t remember what exactly, but I think it was about the greatness of his church. I’ve had other conversations where someone asked me a question but didn’t seem to care about what I said in response, because the question was just an opening for them to provide their own answer (which was of course inevitably better than mine). 

At a less sinister level, we’ve probably all had conversations with someone that didn’t feel real because the other person was determined to keep it surface level. They couldn’t look you in the eye and tell you what was really going on and instead deflected everything. Many of use have probably been on both sides of that situation at some point or another. We’ll call this The Shallow Conversationalist.

As I preached through Romans 8:26-27 on Sunday, I said that prayer is a conversation- we talk to God, God speaks to us, God the Spirit speaks to God the Father. All those same pitfalls that can derail a genuine conversation apply to prayer as well. When Jesus speaks about the very different prayers of a Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee is a lot like the Platform Conversationalist. Prayer is a way for him to display his superiority over others and to justify himself before God. On the other hand, when Jesus laments in Matthew 15:8 that “these people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”, we see the Shallow Conversationalist. This is the kind of prayer that says the right things but wants to keep things from getting too real or honest, because their hearts aren’t actually open to the one they’re speaking to.

On the other hand, real conversation (and real prayer) involves honesty about what’s going on inside of you. It also involves a genuine openness to hearing from the other person and an interest in what they have to say. This is not a platform to prove yourself, and it is not a ritual to get through unscathed. Prayer is genuine conversation with God.

I hope that you’re joining us in prayer in some way this week. I hope you’ll come, or have come, to one of the worship and prayer nights we’re doing. I hope you’ve signed up for a slot on the 24/7 document, or that you’re joining with others for prayer. Like I said on Sunday, I believe that the health and effectiveness of our church really boils down to our prayer. As we prepare for our Easter services and events this weekend, we deeply want to see people hear the good news and believe and become part of Christ’s body. We know that the only way this will happen is if the Lord brings it about, and so we want to be devoted to prayer. However, we can pray badly, just like we can do conversation badly.  This isn’t about saying the wrong words or having enough “thees” and “thous”. The main thing in prayer is our heart, it’s the way we approach God. Let us come to him with open hearts, honest about our struggles and failings and doubts and frustrations. But let us also come to him wanting to hear from Him, wanting to be led by Him, wanting Him to have His will be done. 

Join us in genuine prayer this week- join us in genuine conversation with God. Through that, may we grow in relationship with Him and the degree to which His will is done in and through us.