God's Will VI

Pray without ceasing:  1 Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer is vitally important for the Christian, in fact, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”  But to pray without ceasing; have you ever tried that?  Man, is that ever hard.  On most days, I have the attention span of a red squirrel who’s spotted a shiny object (Hammy, if you’ve seen the movie Over the Hedge).  I’ve caught myself praying to God and soon I find myself thinking, “if ‘C’ is the happiest note, is F# a more serious note (seriously).”

I don’t think of prayer as a thing to do, but rather a lifestyle.  Rather than focusing on the problems around me and all of the negative news on TV (CNN on constantly on the TV by my desk), I try to turn my heart to God and let God have control over those things and I feel better.  But I don’t pray because I have to, but because I want to.  Were you ever forced into talking to somebody (like maybe that annual call to your mother)?  I be the conversation wasn’t the greatest.  But, have you ever had a conversation because you genuinely wanted to get to know someone?  I bet the conversations were different and had a deeper level and more fulfilling.

How about this, have you ever been around one of those people who constantly talk about themselves?  That’s pretty annoying, isn’t it.  Country singer Toby Keith wrote a funny song about that, the name of the song is I Wanna Talk About Me.  Part of the chorus goes like this:

“I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally I wanna talk about me.” 

The common view of prayer is one-sided, us talking to God.  God, of course is deeply interested in our lives, and we should ask Him and take everything in prayer (Philippians 4:6), but I believe He wants to tell us things as well.  Put it like this, if I only talked about myself when I first met the woman that would become my bride, I doubt that a true relationship would have ever happened.  A true relationship needs real communication and real communication requires both talking and listening skills.

Go ahead and tell God what’s on your mind, that’s part of faith.  I challenge you on this, take a moment to listen to what God has to say, maybe even be so bold as to ask Him what is on His mind and heart, you might be surprised at what God has to say to you.