The Heart of An Artist: The Necessity of Prayer

I just finished reading The Heart of An Artist. This is one of the few books that I will keep on reading and re-reading again. Other classics that I have are John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted, CS Lewis' Mere Christianity, Philips Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew, John Townsend and Henry Cloud's How People Grow and Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God.

The last chapter was on the spiritual disciplines of the artist. And one thing that I read was that the busier Jesus got, the more He prayed. As Martin Luther quipped, "I am too busy not to pray." Ah. And I'd been moping about the lack of time and busyness instead of running deeper to God in prayer.

But I'm so thankful to God that I broke through in my prayer and fasting today. :) The past week had been a rather dry time of prayer - because I wasn't too sure what else I could pray for. But remembered that our prayers also do arise from what our hearts desire. So I asked the Holy Spirit to break my heart for what breaks His, to help me pray.

And today, I prayed for only about ten minutes. But to my pleasant surprise, I found that I finally could pray with my heart and soul very much more engaged. I'm not sure why the difference, but perhaps it's because I asked God to help deepen my passive prayers the past few days. So am encouraged and learnt that when you're doing a long period of praying and fasting, if the first few days are hard, keep on praying! And ask God to help you pray as well. Like how an athlete has to run and struggle for the first few rounds, until he gets his 'second wind'.

=)

One thing I learnt from reading the chapter on the spiritual disciplines of the artist is that it's really important for us to pray and have close devotional times with God. We may be very busy, but that's no excuse. When we choose to set aside time with God to pray and seek Him, He is able to help us redeem our times. You remember Pastor Simon sharing about his 16-year-old son waking up at 6 am to spend quiet time and seek God in prayer? So good, right? Ps Simon felt so paiseh in a delighted kind of way - that his son is "beating" him in terms of devotion to God. Haha... but yeah, Ps Simon was so glad to see his son's devotion to God.

And also, I've been complaining about the lack of manpower and skilled servants - esp scriptwriters, actors and directors. But I realised that I do not have, because I did not ask. But the writer, Rory Noland, shared his testimony of how, when he first started out in creative ministry, saw that his team desperately needed musicians. So he prayed daily that "God would send us quality musicians."

Guess what? One of the sisters in his church brought in her brother, a really pro trumpet player! But... there was a problem. The trumpet player wasn't a Christian. In fact, he didn't know the Lord at all. So this brother prayed the next morning, he said, "Lord, maybe I need to be more specific. I've been praying for more musicians, and you sent me this pagan trumpet player." (I find his prayer very funny!) Then the Lord replied, "Yes, I know. I brought him here all the way from New York so he could find Me. Are you going to invest time in him or not?"

The brother, over several months, did his best to connect and befriend the "pagan trumpet player", even visiting him in jail at one time. Over time, the bro grew in love and compassion for his unbelieving friend. And guess what? His "pagan" friend eventually came to know Christi and "now has a wonderful music ministry in the southwestern part of the country."

Wow! :D I was so excited to read that testimony. But then the writer shared, it's not something that he could pat himself on the back for. 'Cos he said that his prayer was self-serving, asking for more musicians to come into his ministry, instead of praying for the lost to come to know Christ. But well, the "pagan"'s sister had been praying for him to come to know Christ.

=)

Hmm. You know, quiet time with God is so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so important. (And yes, I'm serious about all the 'so's I typed by hand. Each 'so' represents one special moment when God really ministered to me / I sought God in prayer / hungered after Him as I read His Word. And as I recall further back, I realise I still have so many more 'so's to write down. God really is so good. He really richly blesses all who call upon Him.)

But nowadays I sit down at Starbucks / surf net / tackle work and so on... I've started slicing away bits and pieces of seeking God in prayer. I suppose the shifting of my workplace had something to do with it as well. But all the more I must hunger and thirst for Him. Because apart from Him I really can do nothing. But if I abide in Him, I will bear much fruit, which will be for the Father's glory.

And oh dear, nowadays, I realise, I just jump straight into doing creative ministry / work without taking time to walk around and pray and wait upon God for His creative suggestions. What happened? Think maybe partly because people said that I can write scripts / do videos very well... so I started relying on my own strength more and more. But as a result, I started 'drying up' creatively. Hmm. Now I see.

As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longs for You, O God.