I had the privilege of being a chaperone for the 3rd through 5th grade classes at MHA for their field trip to the Colorado Symphony this last Wednesday. If you were to see us get on the bus you would most likely ask yourself, “Why are they all dressed up?” If you are familiar with the symphony you would know that it is common practice to dress up. As we got into the concert hall and found our seats the room was bustling with the noise of hundreds of elementary students from all over the Denver area. When the musicians began to find their places and the conductor came in you could tell this crowd was going to be different, all etiquette was out the window. You could chalk it up to their age, general excitement or lack of exposure to the highclass world of symphonic orchestras but whatever the reason the crowd was electric (not something you expect at the symphony). This experience gave me an opportunity to reflect on how often we have an expectation of how we should talk to God. How we have to show up a certain way and say a certain thing. Yes there is an etiquette but have you ever thought that maybe we are putting boundaries up at times to keep our composure when God simply wants us to be, for lack of a better term, electric? 

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

Okay maybe electric isn’t the word but it got you to keep reading didn’t it? Truly I believe that God is seeking a genuine expression from us. Like the roar of 3rd-5th grade kids at the symphony he wants us to express what we feel in the heart. This is what God tells the Prophet Jeremiah in chapter 29. God is letting His people know that if they are true in their seeking of Him they will find Him. To seek God with all your heart is to be vulnerable, to be real with what’s going on inside and to being open to God seeing that. That’s not so easy is it? 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 

I know we don’t always have great things in our heart. But here is the greatest news of all. When we open our hearts to God, He is willing and able to change those hearts. Another one of God’s prophets had to learn this too. He was given a message to tell to God’s people. In this message he called the children of Israel’s heart’s stone. In the western world we actually say something this often. We talk about people being stone cold when they don’t have emotions. THe Hebrew idiom is very similar. They are lacking feelings and emotions and desires for God. But amazingly these stone cold people are promised a heart of flesh, a beating heart of flesh and blood. We say something like this too, and it warms my heart to know God is willing to warm my heart from stone to flesh. 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 

So how do we do this? Well Paul tells us that it is through the intersection of the Holy Spirit that we are able to do the will of God. In Romans chapter 8 we see that sometimes we do not know the proper etiquette. Sometimes we don’t have the right words, or we feel as if we are not enough to be in the great halls of the Master. But this is where things get good. God is not asking you to say the right words, or wear the right clothes, He is asking us to allow our hearts to be searched and through the wordless groans the Holy Spirit is working. 

So how about it? Will you try it out? Prayer that is not hindered by the “right” words, prayer that is not stopped because you don’t know if it's “right”? God is seeking a genuine experience with you. 

As I sat in the concert hall with all those kids I found that I enjoyed their enthusiasm just as much as the music. It was joy they were feeling. That’s what it was all about. We were not there to teach them about the appropriate times to clap or to talk. We were their to experience moments of joy. Jesus is seeking moments with you, will you meet Him in prayer?