Praying
Which is most important to spiritual life: Prayer, Bible Study, Spirit, Faith, Fellowship, Witness? Which is most important to physical life: Air, Food, Water, Shelter, Community, Purpose? Remove any one from either account and you have withering, illness, death. An old saying goes, “Seven days without prayer and Bible study makes one weak.” You could replace those with any from the above list, but I will say prayer tops the list.
The Word of God may be like food to the saint – “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jer. 15:16) — but prayer is the believer’s life breath! God breathed life into man, and He has needed to breathe ever since! In fact each breath we take is a gift of God, just ask any person with emphysema, COPD, or some other breathing ailment. We do not deserve to live, yet by His grace God grants it. Prayer, like air, is essential with all regularity. “Pray without ceasing,” Paul urges (1 Thess. 5:17). “Abide in Me,” demands Christ (John 15:4).
Though not widely practiced anymore it was customary that a doctor would slap or poke an unbreathing newborn causing it to cry and thus gulp its first breath. This was done almost immediately on birth because the time window to save the child was brief. This is also true of our good and loving God Who may cause us to cry simply to provoke us to pray.
You can survive weeks without food, a few days without water, but only minutes without air. What is true of us physically ought to inform us as to what is true of us spiritually.
To pray, and continue. This is God’s will and way for His people to live. The lesson Jesus taught His disciples in parable was designed “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1).
Do you need to pray more? Does “Pray without ceasing” seem an impossible goal? It should not. Already you can worry without ceasing. It is simply a matter of establishing a new habit. Give yourself a slap on the butt… cry to our Father… take a deep breath…. Breathe!
Press on…
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