Last time, we considered the first and essential step to a fruitful prayer life: planning to pray.
Today, we will look at Flavel's second word of advice to Christians who are seeking to guard their hearts unto prayer: putting away distractions.
If we really think about it, this could really be seen as a subset, or even a logical application, of what it looks like to plan for prayer.
Not only must we plan to pray. We must also plan to make sure our times of prayer are as distraction-free as possible.
If we set aside half hour to pray, but are constantly distracted by incoming text messages or emails or kids who want to play or music playing in the adjacent room, we will probably not really spend half an hour in true prayer.
One of my pet peeves in our day and age is trying to talk with people who incessantly fondle their phone throughout the conversation. Though they're "umm-hmmming" and nodding their heads here and there, we're not really having a conversation (and especially not an intimate one).
The truth is, we can convey more in 2 minutes of distraction-free talk than in 10 minutes of us trying to talk to them while they're texting, responding to an email, or checking their Facebook.
The same is just as true for us when it comes to prayer: we will get more "accomplished" in 10 minutes of uninterrupted prayer than we will in an hour of mind-wandering pseudo-prayer.
Here are a couple of [obvious] distractions we can plan to remove during our times of planned prayer:
- Put your cell phone in a different room. It's not enough to put it on vibrate: once it buzzes, your mind will likely begin to wonder who it is that just texted you or updated their FB status. At that moment, you have lost your train of thought, and will likely have to spend the next 10 minutes trying to get back to where you were.
- Pray somewhere where you have no technology. My mind never stops. And so, in prayer, I may remember I need to email someone, or update the church's website. Sometimes I will tell myself that I need to send the email or update the site. At best, this inevitably causes my mind to wander even more (I start planning my day, etc.). At worst, I may be tempted to check Twitter or YouTube (even to watch something godly), which basically terminates any further prayer at that time.
- Pray somewhere quiet. I have four young kids. It's hard to pray once they're up and running. They knock on the door, talk under the door, loudly ask me to come and play with them through the door. My most effective times of prayer are before they wake up, or when I go on a long walk outside.
- Avoid reading or watching material that "gets you going." After watching football highlights is not a good time for me to pray, as my mind will inevitably begin replaying some of the more memorable ones. Pray before you watch that movie with your spouse. Pray before you have that difficult conversation with a family member or friend. This is why it is often wisest to plan to pray first thing in the morning.
I am sure there are many more distractions we can remove. I simply list these as a sample collection to be built upon.
1 Peter 4:7 says, "The end of all things is near; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers" (ESV).
Being self-controlled and sober-minded "unto prayers" means removing distractions that seek to high-jack our devoted times of prayer.
Jesus' words are as true today for us as believers as they were when He first uttered them to His disciples 2000 years ago: "The spirit is willing [to pray], but the flesh is weak."
May God therefore give us the grace to plan not only to pray, but also to intentionally plan to remove any and all distractions. Let us never forget that self-control is an essential fruit that the Spirit of Christ gives His people to live in a manner worthy of the gospel!
In Christ, and for His glory to the ends of the earth,
pastor ryan
John Flavel's little book "Keeping the Heart" is a true Puritanical gem.
As a faithful under-shepherd, Flavel guides the Christian through the variegated "seasons" he or she will experience in this life, and how they are to specifically "guard their hearts" (cf. Proverbs 4:23) in each of these seasons.
The sixth "season" he walks us through is what he calls the "season of duty." For us today, we might simply call it the season of prayer.
As we saw in the last blog post, prayer is the most important weapon the Christian has in these last days (cf. 1 Peter 4:7).
And so Flavel asks the question, "How may the heart be kept from distractions by vain thoughts in time of duty [i.e. prayer]?"
He then goes on to give 10 (extremely) practical ways the Christian ought to keep their hearts unto prayer, some of which I will either omit or conflate together, as there is often much overlap.
His first prescription is almost so obvious it doesn't need to be mentioned.
And yet as a Christian, as well as a pastor, I know all too well how often we as Christians fail to do this very thing, which is simply this: plan to pray. He writes,
[First], sequester yourself from all earthly employments, and set apart some time for solemn preparation to meet God in duty. You cannot come directly from the world into God's presence without finding a savour of the world in your duties. It is with the heart (a few minutes since plunged in the world, now in the presence of God) as it is with the sea after a storm, which still continues working, muddy and disquiet, though the wind be laid and the storm be over. Your heart must have time to settle.
In other words, says Flavel, we can't expect to have profitable, intimate times of prayer in God's presence if we don't set apart substantial blocks of intentional time to meet with God.
Anyone who is married knows that the deepest times of relational growth come when a husband and wife "get away" to be alone without distractions (especially if you have kids). I need to communicate with my wife throughout the day. But the times we really grow in our knowledge of each other comes when we put the kids to bed, put our phones away, make sure the computer is not on, and just talk.
It's the same with our relation with God.
In a world that bombards us with trivial distractions (I literally just checked to make sure my phone was in my back pocket), we as Christians need to guard our hearts by guarding our time, especially our prayer time.
So this morning, before I even decided to "pen" this blog (thanks Todoist for reminding me!), I determined to go to bed earlier, that I may get up earlier, so that I may spend time on my knees (literally) crying out to God first thing in the morning. Wifey and the kids won't mind (they're still sleeping), and I have a sneaking suspicion God will honor this desire to draw near to Him (cf. James 4:8).
Ironically, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is one I regularly fail to implement in my own life (I confess, I do spend time praying in my head immediately when I wake up, but I don't have a specific amount of time allocated to active prayer):
O LORD, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I set [my sacrifice of prayer] before You and wait expectantly." (Psalm 5:4, my translation)
Reader, I don't know your schedule. But I do know mine, and how little time I intentionally (in the words of Flavel) "sequester" for intentional prayer.
Flavel goes on to write,
Few musicians can take an instrument and play upon it without some time and labour to tune it. When you go to God in duty, take your heart aside and say, 'Oh my soul, I am now engaged in the greatest work that a creature was ever employed about; I am going into the awful presence of God upon business of everlasting moment. Oh my soul, leave trifling now; be composed, be watchful, be serious; this is no common work, it is soul work; it is work for eternity; it is work that will bring forth fruit to life or death in the world to come.' Pause awhile and consider your sins, your wants, your troubles. David first mused, and then spake with his tongue.
May God help us not only to make resolutions to set apart time for prayer, but to also keep our deceitful hearts in check, that we may be able to keep our "appointments" with God.
Maybe take some time right now to ask God to help you guard your heart unto prayer by intentionally setting apart time for prayer and communion with God. As D.A. Carson says, we rarely fall into holiness, and so we must be diligent in our pursuit of God in Christ.
In Christ, and for His great glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan
