Starting a “Journey in Prayer”
The following is an interview between City to City’s Director of Content, Brandon J. O'Brien, and John Smed, founder of Prayer Current and author of the book Journey in Prayer.
John’s Story
Brandon J. O’Brien:
You begin the book Journey in Prayer talking about an experience where you felt what you described as an “inner knot,” a sort of anxiety and guilt that you were carrying around with you, and I think that's a feeling that a lot of readers will resonate with. Could you begin by describing that experience and what it was you felt like you were carrying around with you? Then we'll talk in a minute about where you found relief from that.
John Smed:
Well, in my early teenage years, I lived a life of self-indulgence and partying and trying everything. It was near the end of the hippie era. So you were trying all kinds of herbal treatments and drinking and whatnot. And what happened is my life dragged slowly to a halt. I had this sense that there was no purpose to existence. I just reasoned that we were all going to die one day, so what's the purpose of living? I also began to have a relentless guilt, inner accusation, and loneliness. I would talk to people about how I felt and they couldn't relate even if they wanted to. I felt really alone in the world. I thought this problem was very self-evident; everyone should be feeling what I was feeling. I mean, how can you live in this world and not feel it's absurd and crazy?
I tried working with the family furniture business and focusing on that, but it didn't satisfy any of my questions. Then I got tired of partying. What was I to do? It wasn't fun to party. It wasn't fun to work. I was really trapped, and that trap became a physiological reality in my gut: a knot. I just carried it with me all the time and I felt like crying.
One day, I was at a monastery installing furniture. In the afternoon, I went up to the monastery garden, and I just started to feel peace within me. After work, I decided to go back up there and hang out for a while. It's like I'd stepped into a different universe, and I felt safe. And I just knew I was being addressed by God. At some point, I just collapsed on my knees and I said, "God, I'm ruined. I'm broken. You fix me—I'm yours. I'll spend my life helping others find their way, like you helped me find my way." And at that moment, literally, that knot dissolved. It just completely evaporated. And I felt in its place this all-encompassing immersion in peace, a fullness.
“I believe that prayer is available to anyone,”
I don't know how long I was in that garden. I don't know how long it took, but it was my entrance into experiencing God through prayer. And it was a simple prayer. I believe that prayer is available to anyone, and one of the wonderful things we’ve found with Journey in Prayer is that many people have had the very same kind of experience: reading about Jesus, reading about prayer, praying themselves, and encountering God. We've been able to baptize people, and we've been able to usher people into the Kingdom and watch their lives change as they simply offer prayer to God.
How The Lord’s Prayer is a pattern for all of our prayers
JS:
After a period of time though, I couldn't just keep saying the same prayer. I mean, it's a good one—"I'm ruined, fix me"—but it's a little repetitious. Over a period of time, I learned more about how to pray. One of the passages I studied early on was the Lord's Prayer. And over the years, the Lord's Prayer has become more and more significant to me. It's not a polite appendage onto Jesus' teaching. It's not a ritual that we should repeat in some mantra. It is Jesus' gift to the church, the DNA of what the life of the Kingdom is all about. It's what brings us into community, brings us into relationship with Christ, and brings us into the world.
BJO:
Yeah. A lot of people may have experienced the Lord's Prayer as part of a church liturgies, like for communion. It can begin to feel like a bit of the furniture of faith rather than something that's an active paradigm that we can participate in. How would you describe the value of that prayer for those of us praying today?
JS:
I have friends who are missionaries in London, and one of their favorite ways to interact with the large Muslim community they live near is to talk to them about prayer. Of course, that would be very easy to do. If you want to have a conversation with people of world religions, ask them about their prayer life. They're not embarrassed. They're going to tell you, and they're going to be excited that you asked them. And then, you can tell them about your prayer life.
And I know that these friends of ours that are missionaries in London use explanations of Jesus' prayer. They're very happy to learn about Jesus' prayer, what it means, and why to pray it. One of the most enjoyable experiences is when we heard our many Catholic friends—who have been praying that prayer their whole life—say, "I had no idea prayer could be so meaningful and so much fun." And they unpack it and say, "Here's what Jesus meant by it. Here's how it fits life. Here's how it actually is, in one sense, the prayer that comprehends all prayer."
“I think the more we pray the Lord's prayer, the more it expands. Take your time to understand it. You'll see it expand to fit your life and your world too.”
I mean, all of the confessions and catechisms of the church throughout history point out how there's nothing missing in this prayer. All prayer can be understood as fitting within Jesus' words. He gave us a comprehensive pattern of prayer, which is so important today. "What should I ask God for?" is a very common question. It's a confusing world. But we also ask, "Is that all I'm supposed to pray?" I think the more we pray the Lord's prayer, the more it expands. Take your time to understand it. You'll see it expand to fit your life and your world too.
How can we pray and have a two-way conversation with God?
BJO:
In Journey in Prayer, you talk about understanding prayer as a two-way communication. And that's a form of communication that can break down in a number of ways. One is that many Christians don't pray. That's one party that's not communicating. Another way that communication can feel like it breaks down is if we don't feel like we're hearing from God. The book and your ministry Prayer Current address the first problem by explaining the urgency of human prayer. Could you talk about the second problem, when people feel like they’re just talking into the air and don't know whether God is listening?
JS:
Yeah. The simplest thing to do is I tell people, "Don't read the Bible," which they think is an interesting comment for a minister to make. But then I say, "Let the Bible read you and listen to what it has to say." Did you know that when you listen to what the Bible says, you're actually listening to God? He's speaking to you when you read it.
What is he saying? Well, many different messages. It's not like you're actually David in the wilderness of Engedi, but you have experiences that are like David’s. It's not like you’re at the foot of the cross with John while Jesus is being crucified, but you understand suffering and Jesus understands your suffering. Let the Bible begin to read you and realize that that's half the conversation. The primary way he speaks to us is through his word. (It's not the only way. He speaks through people, events, and other ways.)
Prayer is a dialogue of interacting with the word. Not only let the Bible read you, but prayer-read the Bible. In other words, when you read Psalm 39, pray Psalm 39. It's a prayer. Why wouldn't you pray it? Pray the scriptures of the Bible. Use the word as fuel for your prayers. You don’t have to just jump into prayer by wondering, "What should I say to God today?" We've got a large volume of literature to help us pray.
One other thing about conversational prayer is this: don't wait until you feel right or good or clean. Let's suppose you feel beset by your sins, and you're not just imagining it. Suppose you're captive by some vice or some addiction, and you say, "Well, I can't pray to God because I'm in this." I just say, "Jesus, to help me confess this sin, please fill me with your Holy Spirit. Please give me the words to say that I need to speak to you." Don't wait until you feel you're in good shape to talk to God. He'll help you talk to him where you're at. He'll lead you home from where you are. He's not a bystander to your sin and your suffering. Now, he takes it seriously, but if you truly want to find your way out, take him by the hand in prayer and let him walk you out.
Who is Journey in Prayer for?
BJO:
There are a lot of helpful resources out there on the Lord's Prayer, so what would you say to someone who's wondering, "Why this particular book? Why is this a helpful resource?"
JS:
I would say that we wrote Journey in Prayer to help introduce seekers, international students, and new believers to the Lord's Prayer. People who are interested, people who are learning the language, and people who are learning the Christian faith. And something that's interesting is my informal survey of hundreds of people, which indicates that non-Christians are just as interested in learning about prayer as Christians—sometimes more. And they're very open to it, and we've written the book as an interactive study where they can put their own notes in, their own ideas. They can interact with the materials. They can write their own prayers. We've done a lot of work to make it interactive. And we've found a tremendous response.
We had a young man who was just recovering from heroin addiction read the book and come up and ask to be baptized afterwards because he said, "I finally get it." Every chapter includes a clear gospel presentation. Not in some canned way, but emerging from the Prayer itself. So we see it as a bridge—it's helpful for believers, for sure. But we've also had people that they read it and say, "I'm going to give this to my kids who aren't going to church." So we find that they intuit this as a book to give to their non-Christian friends or relatives or children.
About the Author
John Smed is the Founding Director of Prayer Current, an organization that helps leaders multiply disciples through prayer and evangelism. Since 2000, John and his team have developed prayer training materials, conferences, and coaching for church leaders and networks worldwide.
With his wife Caron, John has planted two thriving urban churches in Canada, directed church planting for Mission to North America for seven years, and helped start Grace Network Canada.