It is 2023. One of our strongest needs is to teach people how to pray. We need to lift them out of an immature posture toward God and into an adult Christian life.
Everyone will tell you that they believe in God. But always ask them if they believe in the God of Christianity or are they hanging on to the way they picture God? How they interpret God may be very comfortable and self-serving but not the real God?
In our roots (Biblical roots) God does not command that there be any holy places, but rather time is made holy. In making the Covenant with the Hebrew slaves God commands that the people take off every seventh day for prayer/worship and rest. Recognize how radical this actually was. These were people who knew about starvation and food shortages. They knew that they had to work very hard just to survive and have enough food to eat. And God commands them to stop work every seventh day! This was a big command of trust that God would provide for their survival.
A very immature approach to prayer is to pray when we are in trouble. There we are in the hospital emergency room and our teen-age son is between life and death. In desperation we will pray to God for help and deliverance. But if that is the only time we ever pray we have to say, ‘is this fire insurance or is this real prayer?’
Adult prayer is the living and breathing in the presence of God in every part of the day. Everything is blessing. We get up in the morning and recognize how wonderful the day already is. We thank God for the blessing. We are able to work and care for our family. We squeeze in time to take grandma grocery shopping. And all the while we are appreciative that we can live well and serve others. Our prayer at this point may not have too words but it has a lot of feelings of gratitude.
God’s presence fills every part of the earth. Not only is God everywhere but God’s Spirit Is active and working within us. Prayer is living and sharing in the life of God within us and in cooperating with the movements of God’s Spirit within our world.
Now, people need help to live with the dynamic and restless God. There are times when we are walking through some very dark paths of life. There we need to be rained to listen for the movements of God. Life with God is not always on easy street.
Adult prayer is listening and seeking the will of God in the daily blessings and joy of life and in seeking God in the storms and hardships of our life.
Prayer is a daily occupation. It is not an add-on to belief in God. Prayer is how we are living and moving with the Spirit of God.
Teaching everyone to pray as an adult is our basic and greatest need in the spiritual life.
No comments:
Post a Comment