Prayer, the Breath of Life
October 4, 2024
Prayer
The Breath of Life
The following contains parts from another article, plus some additional content. This will likely be copied into a future article in the Conflicted section.
What percent of our day should God be on our mind?
(Act 12:5 NKJV) Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
(Jos 1:8 NRSV) This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, … For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.
(1Th 5:17 NRSV) pray without ceasing,
Perhaps the verses above are not for everyday life but for special occasions, such as an incarcerated missionary.
In the early ’90s, I realized-God can teach us to pray in ways we had not known. Abridged account, God says to pray for everyone in a long line at an amusement park. With an estimated two hundred people in the line, I knew I had no natural ability to do that except in a general sense of praying for the group (interpret “God said” as a thought, I believed God inspired). Then God said, no, pray for each person, personally. After some quick calculations, I responded that there was no practical way. Again, pray for each person individually. My thoughts, I can’t do that but I will try. Have you ever had a sense of God’s presence? [I have and sometimes accompanied by evidence of that as reality is manifested.] It was like that but with each person individually and God.
Regardless of how we might explain my experience, I believed it to be an authentic experience; my heart intended to obey God. I was sincere; I was praying in truth and spirit. Therefore, I think to this day that prayer was an effective act of obedience to God.
But I have never been able to use that for complying with “pray without ceasing.” Furthermore, I have never been able to maintain a continuous sense of God’s presence while doing my best for an employer. Perhaps God gifts some people with that ability, but I have not witnessed it.
On December 15, 2022, a local pastor told me the Christian experience is an ebb and flow. I thanked him for the advice and said I would think about it. At the time, it meant nothing to me. But a couple of days later, it meant the world to me, providing a practical solution to a problem I had never been able to resolve.
So, let us consider one more step toward praying without ceasing. To pray without ceasing can be possible during spiritual retreats. If you have never gone on a private spiritual retreat, see if you can find a way to do that secretly, perhaps for an hour, an afternoon, etc.
(Deu 4:7 NRSV) For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?
The verse above is about a nation. But do you think it could also apply to the Christian today? I do. So perhaps for now, I live life knowing God is so near that the instant our thought is directed toward Him, He knows, He hears. God is so close to you and me right now (right beside us, or closer) that there is no need to know His name because He is intimately near.