Holy Habits founder Andrew Roberts writes the first of three articles on prayer, as we mark this year’s Thy Kingdom Come global prayer initiative, which begins on Ascension Day on 9 May and runs until Pentecost on 19 May.
5 May 2024
‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom?’
I’ve noticed something about my daily prayer times recently. They seem to have got quieter. Not shorter, but quieter, with a greater proportion of the time being spent in silence waiting upon, and listening for, God. I’ve noticed in this a sense in which I am then allowing the Spirit to form whatever forms of prayers I need to offer that day.
I am not, of course, the first person to discover the value of silence in prayer, the value of curating a space in which the Spirit of God can breathe prayer into us. In his illuminating biography of Rowan Williams, Andrew Goddard shares an insight given to him by Sarah Rowland Jones into the way in which Rowan allowed himself to be formed in prayer during his time at Lambeth:
Those who have eyes to see can tell [prayer] is the bedrock of his life, even if they have not seen how each day begins with him semi-prostrate in the floor of the Lambeth Palace crypt chapel for some time, prior to the arrival of staff for the daily Eucharist. And it is the quality and attitude of this prayer: the true humility of laying himself open to whatever God’s purposes are, they are better than anything else can be.
The value of silence in prayer is in curating a space in which the Spirit of God can breathe prayer into us.
Thy Kingdom Come
As once again we approach the season of Thy Kingdom Come, the inspirational global prayer initiative, I have become increasingly mindful of the need to enter into the stillness and silence in which we fully allow God to be God. In Acts 1, we encounter the apostles meeting with the risen Jesus one last time before he ascends to heaven. Unsurprisingly they are keen to see things happen and quickly. Big things. Kingdom things. So, they ask Jesus a question that has echoed down the ages and maybe on our lips as we prepare for Thy Kingdom Come:
‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom?’
To which Jesus replies:
‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.’
There is a clear sense here of the need to wait, to let God be God. Things that the incarnate Jesus himself did when he dwelt among us on this earth as he sought to fulfil his Father’s will. And then comes the promise:
‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.’
I love that little word ‘but’. So often it reminds us that something really important is about to follow. Here Jesus is making it clear once again that if the apostles are going to be effective in their roles as kingdom agents, then they will need the power of the Holy Spirit within them. Having reminded them of that need, Jesus then commissions them to action saying:
‘You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
Acts 1:6–8 (NRSV)
Jesus is making it clear that if the apostles are going to be effective in their roles as kingdom agents, they will need the power of the Holy Spirit within them.
Prepared for action
So, waiting in prayer is not a licence to perpetual passivity, but rather one of the ways in which we are prepared for action. Nor does it always have to involve physical stillness or the absence of noise. Eric Liddell, the Olympian and missionary whose story is celebrated in the film Chariots of Fire, spoke to his sister of how he felt God’s pleasure as he ran.
However we dwell with God, things can soon get very noisy. In my book Holy Habits I share a story from the time when I served as a president of the Christian Union at York University. It was at the beginning of that time of service, which was to shape me in a profound way, not only for that season but in all the seasons that have followed.
One evening we met as a leadership team with the leaders of many of the churches from across the city. We met in an upper room and began to pray. As we prayed I experienced a real Acts 2:1–2 Pentecost moment. The room was so full of energy, it seemed to be shaking. It was really noisy too. I opened my eyes at one point to check that the room wasn’t falling apart. I suddenly felt a great warmth going through my body – as if I had drunk a big glass of red wine in one go (I hadn’t!). The Holy Spirit filled us in that moment in a way that I had never known before. Sometimes prayer can be like that.
Waiting in prayer is not a licence to perpetual passivity, but rather one of the ways in which we are prepared for action.
Let God be God
Whatever you are planning to be and do during Thy Kingdom Come this year, may I encourage you to curate those times and spaces of stillness and silence, to wait upon God, let God be God and to let the Spirit form prayer in you. And don’t be too surprised if it then all gets a bit noisy.
