Praying Continually

Spirituality Column #136
June 16, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Praying Continually
By Bob Walters

If “praying continually” isn’t something that seems practical or doable given life’s demands, responsibilities and temptations, is it more likely the Bible is wrong, or that our priorities and practices are wrong?

1 Thessalonians 5:17, like the rest of the Bible, is not passive in its language. “Pray continually,” (NIV), “Pray without ceasing,” (KJV) and “Pray all the time” (MSG), three versions of this same verse, leave no wiggle room.

So … shall we all become silent monks and nuns?

There is a place for that, certainly, but not for most of us. God gave us our lives and He gave us free will … and He is eternal so He already knows how everything is going to turn out.

No matter how much we debate predestination vs. free will, we can’t surprise God or create a truth God doesn’t already know. But we can surprise ourselves by how close we can truly be to God 24/7 if we learn to think about God first and ourselves second.

Prayer doesn’t have to be complex. It’s easy to say or think the words, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” If you mean it, that’s a prayer.

The wonderful Orthodox “Prayer of the Heart” or “Jesus Prayer” is similarly spare but powerful:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

This simple prayer lands an enormous theological punch. In 12 words it identifies Christ as Lord, God as His Father, me as a sinner and requests my most urgent, perpetual and all encompassing need: God’s mercy.

Effective prayers can be unspoken and even unformed by words. A prayer can be a momentary awareness or mental image of God. See Christ on the Cross and use that image to battle Satan’s constant incursions into our inner peace and outer well-being. Invoke the Holy Spirit; ask how to pray.

If we desperately fear sin – and we all should – praying to Jesus Christ as Lord should be an all-day, all-night, all-encompassing attitude, not just an early-morning activity. Satan never sleeps. Thankfully, neither does God.

Sure, find time in your day to focus on God on your knees in private. Read a devotional. Read scripture. Participate in a Bible Study. Serve others. Go to church. Worship. Volunteer at church. Give to the church and the needy.

But learn to glimpse God without ceasing.

You will find yourself praying continually.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has discovered praying for money is less effective than praying to know and follow God’s will.

Lent: Give Up or Give More?

Spirituality Column #120
February 24, 2009
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Lent: Give Up or Give More?
By Bob Walters

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is next week. Thus begins a 46-day run-up to Easter, the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection signifying the fulfillment of God’s promise of everlasting life.

I like Lent. It’s not in the Bible but it’s a tradition that goes back to the fourth century A.D., before the great schisms of the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) churches.

When Luther and the subsequent Protestants rebelled in the 1500s, their re-formed Christian but non-Catholic churches largely followed the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical, or church, calendar and traditions.

As a young boy in the 1960s Episcopal Church, to me Lent meant much the same functionally as it did to the Catholics. Ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, and you “gave up” something for Lent. It was a symbol of sacrifice, what the monks would consider ascetic (harsh discipline) self-denial.

To “give up” something for Lent was a big deal. It seemed, well, pious … in a good way. It had to be something you liked and was available; no fair giving up, say, watermelon, because it wasn’t in season. But you learned to be strategic. One year I gave up “candy.” Big mistake. The next year, I gave up Reese Cups. I liked Reese Cups, but did just fine with a Clark bar.

I am now an active member of a Bible-based, Jesus-believing independent Christian mega-church – East 91st Street Christian – that does not observe the ecclesiastical calendar outside of Easter Sunday and Christmas (also not in the Bible … in fact, the New Testament doesn’t specify any holy days or even the Sabbath because – Biblically – Christ is to be honored all the time).

Still, Lent is sort of the 800-pound gorilla in the resurrection room that Christian believers of the non-ecclesial persuasion have a hard time ignoring.

We start counting down “shopping days until Christmas” on November 1. Without an observation of Lent, all of a sudden it’s Holy Week and then Easter and then it’s over. Hence, Churches not observing Lent often plan a community prayer regimen or purposeful reading program during the 40-day season.

If you don’t “give up” something for Lent, you can never go wrong “giving more” during Lent, whether it is money, time helping others, or time worshipping God. Giving is love, and love is why Jesus died for us.

Here’s wishing you a well-spent Lent.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows Lent is 40 days but said “46 days” above: you don’t count the six Sundays.