MESSAGE FROM THE PASTOR -- Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:16-19 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:1-2a As we continue to think about prayer, I want to explore what may well be one of the most important principles regarding prayer. Paul taught us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessa-lonians 5:17). What does that mean? Some have taken it to mean that a believer ought always be in an attitude of prayer. I am not convinced that this is the point. First, I am not sure I know what an attitude of prayer is. I know what an attitude of faith or dependence on God might be. I understand the concept of humble submission to the will of God. I do believe the Bible calls us to live each moment with the awareness of God’s presence. Yet none of this is the same as praying. Clearly Jesus was in constant communion with the Father. The Father’s will was his will. Perfect faith, humility, and submission were hallmarks of His earthly life. Yet Jesus sought special time alone to pray. There were times when he was praying and times when he wasn’t. I don’t see how anyone can pray all the time, without ever stopping. The only way that can happen is to redefine prayer so that it no longer means “talking to God”. One can’t even think about talking to God without ceasing, much less actually talk to God without ceasing. I am convinced that real, serious prayer requires focus and concentration. If we understand “praying without ceasing” to mean “non-stop praying”, we run the danger of never actually praying at all. If we think we have never stopped praying, we probably have never actually started praying. I think the call to pray without ceasing is closer to what Jesus taught his disciples when he told them “to pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). This does not mean praying 24-7. But it is tenacious. It keeps coming back to the Father again and again with the same concern as long as that concern seems unresolved. The opposite is to pray and quit. Remember Jesus’ parable about the widow who came to the judge to hear her case. She just keeps going back and back until finally he hears her case. Jesus said, “And won’t God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? (Luke 18:2-7) A quest for instant gratification will always be in conflict with prayer. Asking once, for-getting about it, and going on to something else is not Jesus’ idea of prayer. For a very good reason. Our goal in praying may be to get what we want. God’s goal is to get us - to get us to know Him better, to trust Him more, to obey Him more completely, to love Him more deeply. Prayer is not about what we want and how to get God to give it to us. Prayer is about knowing the God who already knows our needs, discovering His will, and aligning ourselves with that. I hope that everyone is using the Weekly Prayer Schedules that Vicar Paul is preparing. But please understand, these prayers are not supposed to be the entirety of your prayer life. Rather they are intended as reminders to help you to remember, and to encourage you, to pray every day. As the Argentinean Evangelist, Luis Palau, so rightly reminds us: “You can read all the manuals on prayer and listen to other people pray, but until you begin to pray yourself you will never understand prayer. It’s like riding a bicycle or swimming: You learn by doing.” Yours in Christ, Pastor Edwards
Posted on: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:29:15 +0000
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