There is no faith without prayer – Gary Thomas
Prayer is to the spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of the breath are to the life of the body. – John Henry Newman
As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray. – Martin Luther
Prayer is a work to which we must commit ourselves if we are to make sense of life in light of eternity. – Terry Glaspey
Pray without ceasing – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
I love the quotes above and they will be guide for us in this blog as we think about prayer.
What I derive from these quotes and from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is that we are to be defined by prayer in two different but complementary ways.
Take John Henry Newman’s quote for example. I am a living human being. Therefore it is assumed that I am breathing. I am a Christian, a Christ follower. As such, it should be assumed that I pray. Just as human beings breathe, Christians pray. Just as human beings need breath for life, Christians need prayer for life. It is a defining feature of our new nature…or at least it should be.
We are also defined by prayer in the same sense that a tailor is known for making clothes. It’s a work and a discipline. A defining work and disciple. Like the disciples, when Christ steps into our lives, everything else in our lives should be reoriented to Him. Everything in our lives should be redefined at His arrival. No longer were and are the disciples known mainly by their careers (fishermen, lawyers, tax collectors and such). No longer were and are the disciples mainly known by their families. Jesus called them to leave their families. No, a disciple is known mainly for the fact that he or she is in relationship to Jesus. We should mainly be known for the fact that we know and are known by Jesus. One of our great identifying works as Christians is prayer. Just as tailors make clothes, Christians pray.
What I’m personally learning and relearning is that prayer is about living every moment with God. Talking to Him. Letting Him participate in everything. Every thought, every decision, every worry, every joy, every celebration, every victory, every failure, every relationship…everything. Considering He is sovereign, He doesn’t need me to let Him in. He is already in everything. Prayer is really for my own good, my own awareness. It’s about acknowledging that I have the privilege to walk every moment with Him. It’s about humbling myself continually under His authority and being strengthened by remembering that I am constantly yoked in His companionship.
Prayer is a gift that we often neglect. May we not neglect it just as we wouldn’t neglect breathing. May we strive to be identified by it just as we are identified by our careers or our families. May we learn and grown in how to pray without ceasing.