04/30/2022
We can easily get in the habit of doing things for ourselves, and only praying about the others that we think we can’t do alone, but is that really what the Lord expects of us? There are many small pebbles in life that we should be able to easily step over, and yet they often trip us up, or cause us to slip and fall. Sadly, they could have been avoided, but once we are on the ground it is too late to step round them, and we are left to deal with the consequences of the tumble. So we should raise all things up to God in constant prayer, and seek His council while offering thanksgiving for everything in life… the large and small alike. There is no substitute for prayer in our lives.
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6 ESV
I was reading this morning and came across a wonderful quote by a pastor in the late 1800s, and early 1900s. His name was Samuel Dickey Gordon, and he was a prolific writer, but listen to these words regarding prayer, and how there is no substitute for it in our lives…
“The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; not those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray.” - Samuel Dickey Gordon
Is Pastor Gordon describing our prayer life, or to be more correct… our life of prayer? When we read Paul’s instruction to the Philippians regarding taking all our requests to God, and thanking Him, do we think is this as an abuse of our privilege of prayer? When we read his letter to the Thessalonians that instructs them, and us, to pray without ceasing, do we consider this to be impossible, or overly burdensome? When living a life of prayer we are being obedient to the will of God for us in Jesus Christ.
“pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 ESV
Our prayers are not a burden to God, nor should they be to us. There is not one second in our lives, or minuscule event in our day, that God doesn’t want to talk to us about it. Our prayers are like sweet perfume to Him, and placed in golden bowls; they rise up before him an offering carried by the smoke of incense. Do we wish to deny this offering to God?
“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”
Revelation 8:3-4 ESV
When I was a boy I loved to ride my bicycle. It was was my everyday mode of transportation, but as anyone who has ever ridden a bicycle, or motorcycle, can attest, small gravel can be dangerous, and hard to see… it is not your friend. If you are zipping around a corner and hit a patch of loose gravel the odds are very good that you are going to lay your bike over, and be picking rocks from beneath your skin as your blood mixes with the dirt. Without unceasing prayer for everything in life, we will miss seeing the fine sand, pebbles, and gravel of life too. Sin comes in all sizes, but the end result, whether we hit large stones, or tiny grains of sand, are both the same… we fall.
So how are we praying? Are we living a life of prayer, or simply employing prayer every now and then in our lives? Are we giving God a prayer offering every now and then, or do we offer him our entire life through our prayers?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for being with us always, and knowing our hearts; thank you for hearing our prayers, and wanting to receive our entire lives through them. Help us Lord to be like a baker who folds a few flavorful raisins into our prayer dough, and not a potager chef that only drops a stingy few dollops of dough into his soup of life. Father, help us to live out our prayers through our lives In Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who longs to hear our prayers, and has angels preparing them to be offered up to you. Praised be your name for every moment in our lives that we lift before you in prayer, and for your constant attentiveness to them. You are Merciful God, and guide us by your Holy Spirit through the obstacles in our lives. In our constant dialog of prayer you open our eyes to a righteous life, call us your children, your friends, and warn us against the raging lions, and the nearly invisible sand that wait to bring us down. You are our defender, our provider, and love us; help us to love you in our prayers, and praise you for your blessings that follow. Wash us clean of sin with the blood of Jesus, and find us worthy in Him as we stand before you in final judgement. Seat us at your table Father, and hear our prayers of thanksgiving as we offer them to you, all in all, offered in the name of Jesus Christ.
To say prayers in a decent, delicate way is not heavy work. But to pray really, to pray till hell feels the ponderous stroke, to pray till the iron gates of difficulty are opened, till the mountains of obstacles are removed, till the mists are exhaled and the clouds are lifted, and the sunshine of a cloudless day brightens — this is hard work, but it is God’s work and man’s best labor. - EM Bounds
Rich Forbes