I had an intriguing conversation this past week but not with a person. Well, I mean not with a real person. This person was in my dream and we were discussing many subjects pertaining to the Bible. I was being asked questions such as:
1. Why does God let a baby be born with a disease?
2. Why can't a man marry more than one woman to quench his sexual drive? People in the Old Testament did.
3. How did Noah not only fit 2 of each kind but fed of every animal on an ark, and how did he clean up their ___? (his word left out).
4. How can you prove God flooded the earth? It's a myth.
I could tell by the questions the man in my dream was asking he was once a Christian or had been brought up around scriptures. Especially so because his last question fired at me which was: "The Bible said we are to pray without stopping. What kind of nonsense is that? How can a person constantly pray? While chewing? Having sex? Studying for a test? In front of an interviewer for a job? You have no answer for that one, do you?" It's why I think Christianity is a farce. God is unreasonable to require such nonsense!" His questions and approach was jarring. I awoke quite disturbed. I sat up in my bed (it was 3:02 a.m.) and began telling myself why we are to "pray without ceasing" according to Thessalonians 5:17. Paul's words can be confusing to an outsider or an unlearned person of faith, I admit. Obviously, "pray without ceasing" cannot mean we are to be in a head-bowed, eyes-closed posture all day long. Paul is not referring to non-stop talking, but rather an attitude of God-consciousness and God-surrender that we carry with us all the time. Every waking moment is to be lived in an awareness that God is with us and that He is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions. I picture Him PRESENT. That He's with me. With that mind-set, I talk to Him as a friend who would walk with me all day. I do "talk" to Him. I ask for advice and guidance. I discuss humanity, our failures, and I pray for people, government, the sick when I learn someone is ill or lost to the world.
If, for example, my thoughts turn to worry, fear, discouragement, and anger, (which it sure can in this unstable world) I consciously and quickly turn every thought into prayer and every prayer into thanksgiving. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul commands us to stop being anxious and instead, “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). When I or any believer does this it's following the WORD in obedience. It's for our own good because it strengthens us when we need encouragement or assurance. Paul taught the believers at Colossae to devote themselves “to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). Paul exhorted the Ephesian believers to see prayer as a weapon to use in fighting spiritual battles (Ephesians 6:18). As we go through the day, prayer should be our first response to every fearful situation, every anxious thought, and every undesired task that God commands. A lack of prayer will cause us to depend on ourselves instead of depending on God’s grace. Unceasing prayer is, in essence, continual dependence upon and communion with the Father. As I said, like a best friend walking alongside you that listens, upholds, strengthens, and encourages you in your weakest moments of doubt, fear, indecision, confusion.
For Christians, prayer should be like breathing. You do not have to think to breathe because the atmosphere exerts pressure on your lungs and essentially forces you to breathe. That is why it is more difficult to hold your breath than it is to breathe. Similarly, when we are born into the family of God, we enter into a spiritual atmosphere where God’s presence and grace exert pressure, or influence, on our lives. Prayer is the normal response to that pressure. As believers, we have all entered the divine atmosphere to breathe the air of prayer. Unfortunately, many believers hold their “spiritual breath” for long periods, thinking brief moments with God are sufficient to allow them to survive. But such restricting of their spiritual intake is caused by sinful desires. The fact is that every believer must be continually in the presence of God, constantly breathing in His truths, to be fully functional.
Continual, persistent, incessant prayer with thanksgiving is an essential part of Christian living and flows out of humility and dependence on God. I am dependant on God for everything, down to my next breath which He can recall by His power at any moment since He, and He alone is the author of life AND DEATH. I am literally breathing because of Him. The number of days I have on this earth is His doing regardless of anything I do be it exercise, eating healthy, etc. Those things do add "quality" to your life, but they will not add one day longer to your life beyond what God has destined for you. I've known of athletes who died in their teens, 20's and 30's whose bodies were fined tuned and presumably healthy. "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" 1 Timothy 4:8. It’s easy to get tired, to give in to despair, and give up. Don’t abandon the God of hope and say, ‘There’s no use praying.’ Jesus reminds us in Luke 18, as He encouraged the disciples, to “pray and not lose heart." So pray. Talk to Him. From sunrise to sunset. Make Him a part of your life.
Until He Comes Again,
-Pat-
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