God Speaking

“Pray continually”

(1 Thessalonians 5:17)

I read a beautiful story recently about an old Christian lady whose health had forced her to live in a Care Home for seniors. She had been an active servant for Christ, constantly involved in all the activities of her church and working in the community with various groups helping the needy, the poor and the disadvantaged. One of the members of her church came to visit her and asked her if she was missing not being involved working for the Lord and how did she now fill her days. Her answer totally surprised the questioner.

“Oh no,” she said. “I am busier than I have ever been for the Lord. I now have lots of time to use my gift that never ends, prayer. My friends and visitors keep me busy with their prayer requests. My days are spent in communion with him.”

What a good reminder that prayer is really a gift from God. When Moses is talking to the children of Israel, he tells them of the incredible privilege they have of being close to God when they pray.

“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” (Deuteronomy 4: 7)

James also tells us what happens when we use that gift.

“Come near to God and he will come near to you…” (James 4: 8)

Being near to God constantly, means we can hear his voice all through our day. We won’t be blindly turning down the wrong path because our companion, The Holy Spirit, will be close by to remind us not to make any decisions in life without first consulting him.

Unfortunately, life, in our present age has become more and more frantic, activities, work, exercise, social events, even Sunday is no longer considered a day of rest, so talking to the Lord gets pushed down the priority list of things to do and sometimes the loud voices of the world block out the sound of our Saviour’s voice.

But, like all habits, if we start by making prayer a habit, it slowly becomes something we do every day and we begin to look forward to that special relationship we develop and the benefits we reap can change our whole lives and the lives of others.

Sometimes a quick prayer is needed before we answer a question, Nehemiah was in just that quandary when he was the cup bearer to King Artaxerxes and was asked a question and the answer would mean restoration for his people, but because he was already a man of prayer, he had a quick prayer to God before answering;

“The king said to me, “What is it you want?” “Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king.” (Nehemiah 2: 4 – 5)

Nehemiah’s answer covered by prayer, pleased the king and Nehemiah was able to go back to Judah to help his people with the king’s blessing.

Our answers to questions don’t always carry the responsibility of Nehemiah’s, but we can thank God for his gift, when we remember a quick prayer before we answer those difficult questions, can prevent a lot of heartache for us.