I volunteered to make a chart for the prayer vigil at camp this year. The prayer vigil covered from 9 PM til 7 AM. A teenage boy signed up for 5 AM and asked me a very honest question, "How do you wake up to pray at five in the morning?" I told him my understanding of the invitation we have to come into God's presence.
"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son." Matthew 22:2 When I consider the invitations I find in scripture to come into God's presence through prayer I see myself invited to come into the presence of God to participate in a feast He has prepared. "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock ad the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9)
In the parable Jesus told that those who were invited to the feast were unwilling to come. I see a similar problem concerning prayer, "You do not have because you so not ask." (James 4:2) In both cases the lack of desire for communion with God seems to be because the invitation is viewed more like an obligation, an unwanted obligation that interrupts plans that have already been made.
"How do you wake up at five in the morning?" Sometimes I am awaken by the words of the Song of Solomon, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me." I wake while it is still dark with a since of anticipation. I have been invited to have communion the lover of my soul, my Redeemer,Savior, High Priest and friend.
Lord Jesus, thank You for inviting me to be Your guest at the banquet table.
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