Free to Be Restive

“A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.” — Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry.

Tyrants fear poets because poets will sing in the dark. They will teach people to imagine another world. Paul writes that God is making a “poem” of every Spirit-filled follower's life: 

“For we are his workmanship (ποίημα, poiēma), created in Christ Jesus for good works…” — Ephesians 2:10

If all of that is true, then prayer deserves artful, holy imagination, the longings of a poet. Think about it. The prayer book that shaped our Savior, who “...grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke2:52),” was full of the world’s finest poetry.

Jesus is a poet. While on earth, Jesus prayed like a poet because He could see the Kingdom as clear as the dawn. He knew it was ultimately unstoppable and wholly good. 

He also knew that His Kingdom had an Enemy, a tyrant who hated poetry. So Jesus’ prayers were restive, a word I didn't understand until I read the following encouragement from Pastor Bo. Please take the time to digest this and let it put some wind under your wings:

"I ran into a sentence in a book I'm reading this morning that talked about being "restive." That's not a term I've used before, so I looked it up, and it means this: 

Restive = "Unable to keep still under control, restraint, or delay. Impatient. Impatient or fidgety: Feeling nervous or anxious while waiting for something to change."  

That's a loaded definition. At first glance, it seems the same as "restless". However, there's an essential difference: Restless simply means unable to stay still or relax. Restive means impatient under control, stubborn, or resistant to authority.  

Now, I get it: We're good Christians who have been embedded with the "submit to authority" code. So restive, at the surface, looks suspicious.

But restive, in the place of prayer and regarding authorities or circumstances that are bent on death or destruction, is EXACTLY what and who we want to be.  

I don't want to get comfortable with anything that is intent on stealing, killing, or destroying. Or distracting. Or discouraging. I want to be impatient and fidgety and downright UNABLE to keep still. I want to pray creatively and insistently into the chaotic reality of our world. Here's a line that came to me, that I'm building on today: 

“Restive prayer is a threat to the way things are. “

So restive prayer begins with the understanding: Something ISN'T okay. And I'm not going to pretend it IS okay. I am going to pray into the darkness. I'm going to join with “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not." (Ro. 4:17) I'm going to get a little fidgety and downright balky about anything that pushes me, or my family, or B4Church, toward a reality that is not aligned with the will of God. And here's the thing: When we accept a misaligned reality without resisting, we become restless - unable to relax, to settle in, to experience peace, and restlessness by itself is not super helpful. It makes us get critical of dumb things and critical of each other. Restlessness is not only not productive, but it can easily become destructive. Restive, however, is what we can do with restlessness. It's when we harness our frustration with the way things are and begin to pray, "Not on my watch."  

Restive prayers submit to God, but do not conform to the pattern of the world (Rom. 12:2).  

Today is a good day to unpack some creative language as you consider the things that are disorienting or destructive. Begin to speak holy resistance to any patterns that are pulling you away from His dream for your life or our church. Awaken the faith to envision a future that is fruitful, beautiful, healthy, strong, and whole.  

This is the time to get a little antsy about the way things have been.  

Praying for you today,
Bo"

Friends, this lit me up when I read it! So let’s get restive! Let’s begin to write a poiēma in prayer that includes healings, deliverance, a revival that leads to 1000s of salvations, and a hearty embrace of God’s “...good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2).

Love ya!

 Pastor Steve