How often do you pray? Many Christians do one of two things.
They have a regemented prayer time because their day is planned out that way. They say if they miss that one-on-one time with God, their day becomes a chaotic. Maybe it is when their feet first hit the ground, or maybe it is as they fall to sleep praying that their soul He keeps. It might be as they sit in their car chomping on their lunch in those precious moments away from the din of work drumming in their brains, or curled up in their favorite chair with a cup of coffee after the kids are out the door for school. It’s their covetred “me and God time”.
Others are more spontaneous-minded. They shoot arrow prayers towards Heaven. Their prayers are splattered throughout their hustle and bustle daily life. They talk to God sitting in traffic. The say a prayer when something goes awry like their computer screen suddenly going black, or when they learn of bad news on the TV, radio, texted by a friend, or posted on Facebook. They throw whatever it is at God’s feet, then go about their day. They roll their eyes and whine, “When could I ever squeeze in “God and me time”?
Which are you? I personally don’t think God wants us to be either one or the other. He wants each beat of our heart to be “God and me time”. Yes, regulated time to be still and know He is God is very important. So are the quickly whispered prayers throughout the day. However, we need to also listen and not do all the talking all the time. We need to stop in order to see Him acting in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we pray.
Paul warns the church in Thessalonica to never stop praying. (1 Thes. 5:17) Prayer must be more than just giving God a daily laundry list. We cannot treat the Ominpotent Almighty like the new smart phones. You’ve seen the commercials where they speak into the phones and the phone acts as their virtual personal assistant reminding them of appointments, looking up stuff they need, etc. If we treat God in that manner, we are missing out on so many blessings, so many lessons, so much comfort.
Prayer is taking time to listen, to study, to learn, and to absorb His presence. It is yielding to His will instead of giving Him your agenda to fix. Prayer is a relationship beyond conversation. It is being His hands and feet, studying His word, confessing our sins – i.e, living life with God beside us at all times. To pray without ceasing is to always have the line open and full bars on our heart’s phone, ready to receive as well speak. God is, after all, always on the end of the line.
For more about the different aspects of prayer, consider PRAYING: Bringing Power and Purpose to Your Prayers for your next Bible study.
