Step Five: Connect to God in Prayer

November 21, 2017 By Melissa and Brian O'Reilly

Melissa and Brian O’Reilly, leaders of this year’s Count on Me pledge campaign, shared the following message in worship on Sunday, November 19.

Good morning, I’m Brian O’Reilly and this is my wife Melissa. We welcome you this morning to the final Sunday of our pledge campaign, “Count on Me”.

We are honored and privileged to serve as chairs this year and also hope that many of you have been able to participate in the One Faithful Promise small group studies and hear the previous four weeks’ sermons.

As a reminder, John Wesley’s covenant renewal is comprised of five steps. The first two describe the preparations for covenant renewal: Confiding in God by confessing one’s sins and Composing one’s Spirit. In step three, we are called to Claim the Covenant for ourselves, and in step four, Choose Faithfulness, we are reminded that covenant renewal isn’t a singular moment but a daily choice. Today, we’re here to share the fifth and final step: Connect to God in Prayer.

One of the questions John Wesley considered important to be asked and answered was, “Do you enjoy prayer?”

I found that to be a profound question that I had never contemplated. Do I enjoy prayer? To be honest, many times in my life the answer to that question has been “I guess so” or even “no”. How many times do we begin and end our prayer asking God for something—treating him as an on-demand delivery app?

If my marriage with Melissa was always take, take, take, neither of us would enjoy that relationship. Fortunately, we recognize marriage requires a committed effort, centered in intimate communication from both of us to continually strengthen the covenant we made. Similarly, prayer connects us to the wisdom and power of God, and is our primary means of spiritual growth.

While the Christian is supposed to be praying constantly, Wesley is clear that we should also be intentional—setting a time and place to pray. Jesus gave us this example over and over during his earthly ministry. He took time to be alone with the Father. In fact, right after Jesus chose the twelve disciples, he took them aside for a “new member orientation” of sorts. It was during this sermon on the mount that he taught them how to pray by giving them the model we now call the Lord’s Prayer.

“Prayer connects us to the wisdom and power of God, and is our primary means of spiritual growth.”

In One Faithful Promise, the author gives clear meaning to each phrase in this prayer. With each statement, we came to realize that prayer is a re-centering of who we are, and a reminder of who God is.

Much more than treating God as a cosmic vending machine, The Lord’s Prayer is more than lifting up concerns for myself and others. It’s an openness that might even allow God to shift the way I think and act and believe. Imagine this prayer, this connection to God, this openness. We can likely agree that the answer to whether we enjoy THIS prayer is a resounding yes.

Brian and Melissa O’Reilly, with their son Evan and daughter Josie

Our giving story begins with prayer.

After years of visiting other churches, Tarrytown United Methodist Church was the first church we joined as adults. We didn’t pledge at first. We gave inconsistently. If we made it to a service and had our checkbook or some cash, we’d place some random amount in the collection plate. If we weren’t there, we didn’t give. Not exactly what a church needs from its members to create a budget plan. We did other charitable giving here and there too, but frankly, God expected better from us.

Brian felt confident about the decision to pledge, but to be honest, I really struggled with that choice, and it all came from a place of fear. We have a mortgage, student loans, and two little kids for whom we’re saving up for college. What if we didn’t have enough? As much as I had grown to love our church and the friends who have become our family here in Austin, this still felt like a huge leap of faith. After a lot of tears and panic on my part, we decided to try praying about it and trust that God would meet our needs. And God definitely has.

That experience taught us that prayer not only honors God, it is the way our needs are met and it gets us involved in God’s work.

Melissa is exactly right. God has always met our needs. Our needs—not our greeds. Philippians 4:19 says: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

Often our greatest needs are not material, and our need might not match our desire. We desire all kinds of things—getting into that school, having a relationship with that person, getting that job offer, belonging to that group. We don’t always get our desires. God knows better. As Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

But we still need to ask. We still need to pray. And we should take comfort in knowing God is listening to our every plea and working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul was speaking to people who are partners in his ministry. Today we too are speaking to our partners in ministry here at TUMC. All of us are blessed by the ministries this church offers and can contribute our tithes and offerings to pass it on. We are truly a community of Christians sharing the Christian journey together.

What is God’s will for us?

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, we read: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

These verses clearly state that this is God’s will. Rejoice. Pray. Give thanks. Today, we offer God our hands and hearts by saying he can count on us. It’s time to yield to God in one faithful promise.

Melissa and Brian O’Reilly

Step Four: Choose Faithfulness

November 14, 2017 By David Gilliam

This article is part of a church-wide study of the book “One Faithful Promise” by Magrey deVega. Learn more >

Claiming the covenant is not a Finish Line.

If you marry someone, you make a covenant vow; the wedding is not the finish line. Going forward you make daily choices to love and to cherish. Getting a driver’s license is not a finish line; going forward you follow the rules of the road, honoring your covenant with society.

The Bible is full of people who wanted to turn back. The Israelites wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt rather than face the hard work their freedom required. Jesus reprimanded disciples who wanted to turn back: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for God’s kingdom (Luke 9:62).” John Wesley understood temptation; he regularly confessed his own backsliding. “We must resolve, in God’s strength,” Wesley said, “never to go back.”

Choose Faithfulness is a really important step in renewing our covenant with God. In his classic sermon, The Duty of Constant Communion, Wesley confessed: temptation and sin come knocking at my door every day; I need God’s grace every day. Therefore, I need, we need, to receive Holy Communion as often as we can. Our Lord’s Supper heals and nourishes us, giving us strength to choose faithfulness and keep our covenant promise.

In addition to Holy Communion, Wesley calls us to take up two types of actions.

God calls us to do things that are pleasing, even pleasurable; like teaching children and youth, sharing our lives with loving friends, singing in the choir, working in the pumpkin patch, finding inspiration in Bible reading, finding peace and serenity in quiet prayer, and many more.
God calls us to do things that are hard, even costly. Forgive others. Pray for enemies. Turn the other cheek. Take up our cross.

In this category, many of us would include giving our money. Honestly, sometimes I look at the thousands of dollars I give to this church every year and I think, “wow, that would make for a really nice cruise around the islands. I work hard; I deserve it.” Truth is, God has blessed me greatly. I’m part of a loving family. I have a decent home. I enjoy good health and meaningful work. But I choose to put God first, to not to be ruled by money, like an Ebenezer Scrooge. Sacrificing a portion of my income every month, I invest in God’s work. Our children are grown; and yet, Bobbi Kaye and I still invest in ministries for children and youth. We invest in mission projects, worship music, and all manner of Christian ministries, many of which don’t serve us personally; they serve you, and the thousands of souls who come to TUMC. I’d be lying if I said this was always easy for me; but pledging and giving my money is one important way I choose faithfulness to God and God’s covenant community, right up there with prayers, presence, service, and witness. This week, I invite you to join me in saying, both in word and deed, Yes, Lord, I will follow you; you can count on it, because you can count on me.

PRAYER
Gracious God, thank you for calling us to a higher purpose and surrounding us with sojourners along the way. Grant us the ability to fulfill our duties, those that are comfortable and those that are challenging, with diligence, perseverance, and faithfulness. Amen.

Rev. David Gilliam

Continue to Step Five >

Want to know more?

Read John Wesley’s sermon, “The Duty of Constant Communion,” found online at the Wesley Center Online.

“It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls; And yet nothing is more common…”

Keep reading >

Step Three: Claim the Covenant

November 7, 2017 By David Gilliam

This article is part of a church-wide study of the book “One Faithful Promise” by Magrey deVega. Learn more >

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you. I will make of you a great nation. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”

—Genesis 12:1-3 (CEB)

In the Old and New Testaments, Abraham and Sarah were venerated as the founders of God’s people.

Why? It all goes back to Genesis 12. God said, “Go.” God didn’t say where, just “go.” They went. God followed up with that call with a promise, a covenant or testament: I will bless you and you will be a blessing. Abraham and Sarah trusted God and, so, claimed the covenant.

Ever seen circus acrobats fling through the air? On one side, a trapeze artist grabs the bar and launches herself from a platform high above the arena. On the other side, her partner launches an empty bar. At the very top of the arc, suddenly, she let’s go. How do we feel, seeing her there in mid-air? But here’s the key. She trusts her partner to launch the second bar at precisely the right moment. She flips around and there’s the bar, waiting to carry her safely to the other side.

To claim God’s covenant, we let go of our self-made security and trust God, who is always there to catch us and bring us home.

The testimony of scripture is loud and clear: we can trust God to save us, by faith alone. We count on God to keep God’s promises. Can God count on us?

In John Wesley’s five steps to spiritual renewal, this is Step Three: Claim the Covenant, grab ahold of God’s promise. Step One and Step Two prepare us. Steps Four and Five will empower us to keep the covenant. How do you claim the covenant? Wesley said:

Show God that God can count on you by committing yourself to God, regularly, in formal acts of worship. Claim the covenant in Baptism. Receive Holy Communion as often as you can. And, at least annually, participate in a service of covenant renewal. Wesley created a special worship service for this purpose. At TUMC we will share this on November 19.
Show God that God can count on you in the way you live, in the real, tangible, day-to-day aspects of your life.

The Lord said, “Go… and I will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.” Will you go? You can count on God. Can God count on you?

Rev. David Gilliam

Continue to Step Four >