Thursday, April 20, 2006

No time to pray?

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6, ESV)


A few years ago I read a series by A. W, Pink on the Lord's Prayer. Of all the things that he insightfully brought out in his article one remains ever in my thinking: A prayerless Christian is no Christian at all. Prayerlessness implies disbelief in God. To speak of a prayerless Christian is tantamount to an oxymoron.

As I have given it some thought, if you discover that you are too busy to pray, then your priorities are misaligned. Prayer for the Christian is as natural as the imulse for drinking water. Granted, Christian believers do have periods of neglect in prayer just as some folks neglect an adequate daily amount of water. And, prayer, our talking with God, reflecting back what we have learned of Him in his Word (which presumes we read and study his Word), and bringing to bear the issues of our lives in His presence (with the illustrative examples replete throughout the Bible), develops as we learn more about God and the manner in which we may approach Him. So, prayerlessness need not mean altogether no prayer marked in our lives. For indeed, such a state would be oxymoronic. non-Christians simply do not pray, or if they do, it is not unto the God revealed in the Bible. You simply cannot dictate to the God of the Bible the terms and conditions on which you will recognize him. Anything less than the God of the Bible, as he presents himself there, is, from a biblical point of view, idolatry. But I digress . . .

The point I am seeking to arrive at is that the importance of prayer in the life of the believer and its lacking in the believer all lead to a question about God: What do you believe about God? In the most basic sense, prayer reveals what we believe about God, what we believe regarding what He says about Himself. If we believe that He is the sovereign over all creation, and this includes the varieties of the warp and woof of our lives, then our perspective of day to day activities take on a whole new meaning. It is not just hustle and bustle to get from point A to point B so we can accomplish this or that in order to acquire something to bring us to whatever we are looking for in life. We are involved in what God is doing, a real part of the purposeful direction to which he moves history, to which we are aware of (because he has made and is ever making us to be so) and to which His glory is central, and our greatest longings find fulfillment.

Thus, when you wake up in the morning, what do you do first? If you simply jump out of bed, into the shower, down a cup of coffee and some Cheerio's, followed by a dash for the car and off to "make a living," can you say that you have acknowledged that the day really does not belong to you, but rather to the Lord? If you think that I am hinting at posture, you are correct. How we approach each day, and how we go through the day, can be very revealing. Yes, it is the question about what we believe about God and this world we live in.

Let me bring this home a little more closely. Say that you have a financial situation in your life that is daunting. You seem to work and work but never get ahead. You may even find yourself going backwards in resolving the matter. But think about how you approach each day as it begins. Do you stop to listen to what God reveals of Himself in his Word? Do you praise and thank him for all he is and all that he has done and does for you? Do you then ask Him to bless the day before you, that the work of your hands will be done to honor him and that it will be productive, and that you will hold fast your faith in him no matter what twists and turns you face? And, do you lay the matter of your financial concerns before him?

My intention here is not to lay out a detailed list for prayer as much as it is to point toward the posture we take as we begin each day. And, for those who might misunderstand me, I am not suggesting some magical formula to a successful life and financial freedom. There are many charlatans out there preaching such nonsense that has nothing to do with what God says in his Word. Rather, my intent here is to call attention to the way we approach life in accordance with our profession of faith.

God may or may not wonderfully resolve financial problems in our lives. He may even call us to work as a means to reslove them. But what we say each day in the presence of God regarding such matters reveals what we believe about him. Afterall, a consistent profession of faith includes manifestations of faith, real evidence that we believe that life is not altogether what we make it when we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Every aspect of our daily life is dependent upon God. We do not even breathe one breath without Him, much less do a morning run through the neighborhood. If we approach the day by neglecting to reaquaint ourselves with such foundational truth as this, then we might go through the day with the idea that we've just got to work harder and it will all come together. It has to, because that's what hard work yields. Then again, maybe not. It's the "maybe not" that God often uses to get his people's attention.

3 Comments:

At 4:16 PM, Blogger DMinx2010 said...

BTW, for all interested parties, feel free to comment on anything that shows up here. My posts will often appear in the form of an essay, but this does not mean the matter is settled and no discussion is desired. Bring it on, by all means!

 
At 4:31 AM, Blogger Greg Cross said...

Hey Dave,

Looks good thus far. Will check back often, but so far my often has not unearthed any new thoughts from thou. Smile.

Blessings brother and grace and mercy to your life this day.

Greg

 
At 8:09 PM, Blogger DMinx2010 said...

Hi, Greg,

Thanks! It might be a week or so before I post anything else. Just too busy with the end of school coming on. But I will bump you a heads up when I start cranking out some thoughts.

Dave

 

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