Tuesday Prayer Room – 9am
“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. Luke 24:28-29
PRAYER GUIDE
The disciples wanted Jesus’ presence. Their hearts were consoled and encouraged by his exposition of the Scriptures. But after hearing Jesus teach the scriptures, they longed for something more…they longed for his presence.
This is why the text says “they urged him strongly,” to stay with them. It wasn’t merely out of a sense of duty to show hospitality to a stranger, it is because they were drawn to this man and wanted to spend time with him. There was something about his presence that comforted them and caused their hearts to burn with rekindled hope.
Many of our initial interactions with God come through his word, shared, preached, studied. But at some point, information about God, content about God is not enough. We must long for his presence. And for more of his presence.
The disciples have spent two to three hours on the road with Jesus, but when it comes time for them to part ways, they can’t pull themselves to do it. They don’t want the time to end…as with an enchanted dinner with friends, or on a date when you’re falling in love. You just don’t want the end to come. You don’t want to part ways. You want to linger in the presence of the other.
As Americans in an age of hurry, one of the primary obstacles to revival may be our inability to linger in a God moment. What if these disciples had been anxiously checking their inboxes, or twitter feeds, or calendars. If they had had a raft of pressing engagements or work or appointments, when it came time to part ways with Jesus? Would they have asked him to linger? Would they have sat down with him at the table? Broken the bread? And had their theophany?
But for revival, we must recover the art of lingering in God’s presence. When that initial chapel service didn’t end at Asbury last year, the worship leader made a fateful decision: “I’m not going to stop worshiping until the last person leaves the auditorium. I’m going to linger in God’s presence.” The last person did not leave for over three weeks, until after tens of thousands came from all around the world to linger in the presence of Jesus. But it all began with one decision. Let’s not end this encounter with Jesus. Not yet at least. Let’s stay here until the Lord is done working in our hearts. That’s what the disciples at Emmaus did. They stayed with Jesus until he ended the meeting. And then they ran back to Jerusalem, declaring, “We have seen the Lord!”
PRAYER PROMPTS
- How much do you long for God’s presence? Are you content with ideas about God or do you have a hunger for God Himself?
- Ask God to increase our longing for him. To increase the longing of his people to be with him.
- Ask for an openness to God’s kairos time to invade our chronos time. To linger in God moments until Jesus is done.
- Ask for the church in New England to begin a new habit of lingering in God’s presence until our hearts burn and we race away with the gospel on our lips.
- Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past. Be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in the scriptures and the breaking of the bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
In Our Time 