“To fail to pray, then, is not to merely break some religious rule – it is a failure to treat God as God… we see prayer is simply a recognition of the greatness of God.” Tim Keller
Simple enough, but every time we turn towards God in prayer, we are reminding ourselves of who we are and who we are not. In prayer, as Tim Keller reminds us, prayer reorients our hearts and heads to acknowledge there is a God and it is not us. Maybe this is more for me today, but I need to be reminded of that reality. I need to preach and proclaim to myself throughout the day that I am not God. That is to say, I’m not in control. As much as I like to think I can handle what’s going to come across my path each and every day, I’m not as strong as I like to think I am.
And to be clear, I don’t actually say out loud or even think to myself that ‘I am God’… that’s not how it works. Rather what it looks like is much more subtle and sneaky than that. Maybe think about it like this… there are 1,140 minutes in a day. And assuming you sleep 480 of those minutes (that would be 8 hours), you’re working with 660 minutes each day. If you spend 10 of those minutes… maybe 15 or 20 of those minutes in prayer, what does that reveal? Well, for starters it reveals that I’m most likely depending more on myself to get through a day than I am the LORD.
What’s the magic number? Meaning, how many minutes a day would flip that script?
517
No… not 517 minutes, but 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - ‘Never stop praying.’ In other words, it’s ok to not say amen until you close your eyes for the day. Begin the day with prayer and continue the prayer throughout the day. Yes, it’s good to have set aside time for prayer… a quiet place to get with God free from distraction. But in not saying AMEN, it reminds us that God is not done talking with us… and in not saying AMEN, it reminds me that no matter where I am or who I’m with, I’m still in that place and posture of prayer.What I’m learning afresh in this season is that prayer is not what I thought it was… it’s so much more. Together, let’s keep growing in acknowledging who we are… dependent… and who He is… a gracious and generous and faithful Father.
Assuming you read this at noon… enjoy the next 720 minutes to be in a continuous place of prayer.
