on preparing messages and prayer

I was told that last week when I spoke at "Pimp My Life", the campus student meeting, I delivered a great message. As a follow up to the complement, she asked "What did you do different to prepare?"

Now my pride was a little injured at that last question. I happen to believe that I gave great messages at our previous meetings as well. Apparently however, this opinion is not as widely held as I had believed.

As I began to prepare next week's message, I thought more about this and came to some conclusion. Maybe this will be useful to someone, or at least the principles behind it will be. When attempting to speak the Truth from the Scripture to others with the intent that it be applied, the preparation of the man is vastly more significant than the preparation of the message. The role of prayer should not be underestimated. The manner of prayer should not be taken for granted. Prayers to seek God's blessings to achieve my goals generate less peace than prayers to seek God's goals and His favor that I might perform them.

When I ask God's blessing, I assume that I know what He is willing to bless. This is unwarranted overconfidence at best. I've misunderstood and misapplied Scripture often enough to provide no basis for such assumptions.

On the other hand, seeking God's goals assumes that I may not be continually aware of what is on God's mind. This is more in accord with the reality of my relationship with my Father. Following that search with asking for His favor to perform, assumes that I may not be in a position where His favor may be received. This could be do to doubt, unbelief, or some other of the many sins to which I am prone. Again, this assumption is safer being more likely to accord with my actual experience.

As true as I've noticed this to be in general with prayer, it is just as true when praying about a message. This stands to reason since the idea behind delivering a message in practical terms is that the message originates with someone other than the messenger. Understanding the intentions, desires, and emotions of the sender will help the messenger to deliver the message as the sender intended. My Father makes these known more often when I ask Him what He wants me to say, what impression He wants to make, and how He feels about the people that I am to speak to.

Hope this will be as useful to you and your hearers as it was to me and mine.