rel="nofollow" href="#u3c4a5f2d-be1b-5a08-b57c-efa3e1b3bf3e">36. Pray relentlessly
Foreword
When Peter begins a story I am never sure where it is leading. Having worked together on the leadership team of Emmanuel Church, South Croydon, I have heard plenty of them! Sometimes they lead towards a roar of laughter. Sometimes they lead towards an insight into the ways of God that is a complete surprise. But his best stories lead towards both.
Ahead of you there are 40 days and 40 stories. I have no doubt at all that at the end of them you will feel your Christian life is in better health. But, typically of Peter, you won’t just have thought about your religious life – the way you pray or worship or serve God. Instead you will be thinking about how God can shape and fulfil every part of your life – the way you work, make friends, or relax. It is how to be a Christian from Monday to Saturday that fascinates Peter; Sunday has always been a bonus!
I am setting out on this detox at the same time as you. It is quite possible that God will have changed me a lot in 40 days’ time. But whatever happens, I know it will be an entertaining journey.
Rupert Higgins
Formerly vicar of Emmanuel Church, South Croydon
Introduction
How are you?
I presume that, like me, you have asked that question a thousand times. And I presume that, like me, you are always dreading that the person might actually tell you! Someone telling you the truth about how they feel can trap you in a corner for 40 minutes. And that would be an edited version – the whole truth might take 40 hours!
Fortunately, when you use this book it is not me to whom you will talk about your life. It is God. He has infinite patience to listen to you as you reflect on the state of your health – physical, emotional and, above all, spiritual. So take a risk and be honest with him about everything that would be too dull, difficult or dangerous to tell anyone else. And do it for 40 days!
The period of 40 days has often been seen by Christians as a suitable length of time for serious thought. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert preparing for the part of his life about which we read in the Gospels. After his resurrection he appeared to his disciples for 40 days, preparing them for the moment that would turn his mission from a little, local movement into worldwide good news. So choose 40 consecutive days and treat them as a preparation for a new turning on the path that you and God are treading side by side.
You might choose Lent, the period leading up to Easter, which Christians have traditionally used for this purpose. Alternatively, it is more or less 40 days between Christmas and the end of January – always a good time to resolve to make changes. Or the daily chapters are short and light enough to make this a summertime read instead.
The book follows the pattern of a detox. This is a technique that uses a combination of eating simple and nutritious food, exercising and relaxing in order to clean and rejuvenate the body. It gives the body a chance, over a short or long period, to expel some of the toxins that we ingest and inhale because we live in an industrialized society in the twenty-first century. Detoxing is a rigorous pursuit, but it leaves people feeling less stressed, more alert and more alive.
This detox is similar, but it will take you into areas of your life that the scores of secular books on the subject dare not explore. It will give you a chance to clean and rehabilitate your relationship with God in every way – not just your body, but your soul and spirit too. I hope that you can get rid of the spiritual toxins – unwanted habits, memories, temptations and distractions – that pollute your enjoyment of living as a follower of God. I am planning to go into rehab with you for the next few weeks, so you can compare your experiences with mine. And we will be accompanied by the writers of the Bible and inspiring Christians from history, who will be sharing their timeless wisdom with us. There will be practical ideas and prayers as well, so the detox will be thorough and will hopefully develop some lifelong healthy habits. I am praying that together we will be liberated to enjoy the life that Jesus came to give us in all its fullness.
So get ready to be restored and revitalized in your Christian life. I will ask, ‘How are you?’ again at the end of this 40-day detox. I do hope the answer will be, ‘Overflowing with energy to praise God!’
Detox your body
Day 1 Eat well
| They said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus answered, ‘Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.’ Luke 5.33–35 |
Last autumn I found myself in conversation with a friend who is a Muslim. We were sharing a train journey during Ramadan, the month during which Muslims observe a strict fast between sunrise and sunset. Half way to our destination the train came to a standstill, so the journey was longer than we expected. I was fidgety, hungry and longing for a cup of coffee; she was completely tranquil. There are some questions one can only ask in circumstances such as these, so I found out some things I had always wanted to know. During Ramadan do young children go without food as well as adults? Is the day paced differently to compensate? Are the rules in the northern hemisphere (where days are getting shorter) different from those in the south? Do people who live in areas where the community is already poor and hungry resent an additional burden?
It was the answer to the last question that took me most by surprise. ‘It is those who have least who value Ramadan most,’ my friend told me, ‘because during the fast rich people know what it feels like to be poor.’
Suddenly I saw Ramadan in a new light. There are discoveries to be made during it that seem too good to be owned by Islam alone. I heard myself saying, ‘Christians don’t have anything which compares with that.’ But I suppose we do!
Traditionally Christians have marked the weeks before Easter with fasting, self-discipline, and denying oneself casual luxuries. Lent lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), the same length of time Jesus spent fasting in the desert that is now southern Israel in preparation for the most significant phase of the work God had called him to do.
I have to confess that I have grown up with the attitude that this kind of self-denial is unnecessary – or at least that a particular period of the year for a disciplined way of life is not needed, because that kind of behaviour should be a feature of Christian life every day. In fact, to my shame, I remember lecturing a school friend who had given up chocolate for Lent about how unhelpful such superstitions were. I don’t plan to make that mistake again!
| Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31 |
In fact, Lent as we know it is not as ancient as it seems. In the years immediately after the resurrection of Jesus, his followers used to observe a strict fast, without food or drink of any kind, from Good Friday until dawn on Easter Sunday. They were recalling the words of Jesus who, when accused of feasting when he should have been fasting, told his followers, ‘The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from you; in those days you will fast.’ Time went by, those who had known Jesus personally died, and Christians became more relaxed about the fervour with which they observed holy days. In the fifth century, church leaders were keen to establish a more