Reversing the Information Flow in Prayer
​ If indeed the mission of God is more about relationship than task, that should change the way we pray. Specifically, it means that we should likely spend far more time listening in prayer than talking. Many of us come from church backgrounds where prayer is usually a one-way conversation, either mumbled under one's breath, stated in a bored monotone, or shouted at the ceiling! But our relational God calls us to a conversational intimacy with him that impacts how we partner with him in his mission. Our prayer and intercession must be rooted in what we are discerning from God about his heart for a given person, situation, house church, people group, etc. In John 17, Jesus says "Father... I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." It should catch our attention that Jesus glorified God by completing the work the Father gave him to do. Elsewhere, Jesus speaks of doing only what he saw the Father doing, or speaking only what the Father gave him to speak (John 5:19, 12:49). Perhaps as a model for us, Jesus the Son lived his earthly life in absolute dependence on the Father, and under the absolute leadership of the Father. Should we expect or want to do any different?
​ We live in a world of near-limitless possibilities and near-limitless demands on our time and attention. It is easy to be consumed by tasks - even good tasks; but the only way to avoid the trap of endless work leading to burnout is to do only the work that God himself entrusts to us. And of course the only way to do only the work that God entrusts to us is to be in regular conversation with him, keeping our ears open to his leading in Scripture, prayer, and the shared wisdom of our own Christian communities. Hence the desperate need for listening prayer to take center stage in our lives and missional work.
​ Too often we focus our prayer on a given problem or troubling situation; but prayer should always be centered first and foremost on God himself. We don't need to micromanage God in prayer; he knows what is happening in our situation far better than we do! We often tend to see prayer as follows: We see a problem, pray about it (as if to inform God), and ask God to do something. God, presumably much relieved at being brought into the loop, hopefully takes action. Obviously that is not how prayer actually works.
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​ Instead, we should approach God in prayer asking him what problems are on his heart, then listen and hear from him, then pray those things back to him, asking him to act. In this way, listening prayer in conjunction with God's Word form the foundation of all intercession. Of course listening and waiting is, in some ways, harder for us than running ahead and doing. But how do we know what is actually best to do unless we've first listened and received guidance from God? What we're proposing is certainly a messier, perhaps less well-defined path for intercession, but we believe it is the one God calls us to. We are not suggesting that planning for prayer and mission has no place, merely that planning should be built upon listening to the Lord in prayer. Imagine if we genuinely made listening prayer the starting and ending point of every ministry activity? What pitfalls and painful detours might we avoid? What unexpected adventures might we experience with God?
​ This way of being with God in his world connects to the prior notion of this being God's mission that he invites us into, rather than it being our mission to accomplish as best we can. If this is his mission, wouldn't that necessarily mean that our best way forward in partnership with him is to listen to him, interacting and responding relationally? We further believe that this listening-guided ministry philosophy is not something to be practiced alone or in isolation, but rather with a larger community of disciples - either a team, or fellow intercessors, or perhaps a house church. Practicing listening prayer in the context of community tends to balance out our misperceptions and erroneous ideas. We need to prioritize the presence and power of God over management principles and strategic planning; or rather we need our management principles and strategic planning to be rooted in and guided by our relational interactions with God - and that, as with all relationships, takes time. Are we OK with a seemingly less efficient way, a less manageable and predictable way, a messier way?
​ This foundation in listening prayer is why we have chosen to begin and end each section of this resource with a list of questions: questions to ask yourself and your team, and questions to pray through with the Lord. These lists are not exhaustive, but are given as a reminder of our priorities in prayer and planning, and also a starting point to help you create your own questions for listening prayer specific to whatever situation in which you find yourself. Following is a list of general open questions (as opposed to closed questions which can be answered "yes" or "no") for listening prayer that apply to any stage of a movement work or ministry.
Lord, what should we be asking?
What's foremost in Your heart right now, Lord?
What should our priorities be in this season, Lord?
What do we need to start doing, Father?
What do we need to stop doing, Lord?
What do we need to be doing more of, Lord?
What do we need to be doing less of, Lord?
What's most needed to see movement begin and grow in our region?
What's now hindering all that You want to do?
What needs to change?
What's our role in all that You want to do?
What limits or boundaries do we need to create? Related to time, activities, etc.
What levers have You given us so that we can affect the situation as it is now?
What have You already spoken to us or entrusted to us that we have forgotten or neglected?