The past two weeks have been so difficult for me. First, some flu like virus, then a respiratory ailment causing me to hack constantly. I have been so weak physically, just wanting to crawl under the bed, which makes me mentally non existent. Sickness hits us fast and hard, and so do so many other things in life, those curve balls that throw you completely off track. With being 'under the weather', I haven't felt like doing.. well anything, including praying. The lack of communication with God has left me feeling so empty, worse than the sickness did.
Now that I am finally on the uphill, I still have this emptiness. The Spirit within me has let me know all too well that the emptiness I have is because I have not talked to 'Abba'. (Abba is a name for God that translates into more of the word 'Daddy'). Regardless of how I have felt, or what I have not felt like doing, I have still continued to communicate with my husband and my children, but my communication with My Heavenly Father not near as much as I need, or He desires.
Many times as believers we fall into this, whether it's under the weather, too busy. All too often we become satisfied with physical blessings and don't desire spiritual blessings. We can become too preoccupied with our physical resources that the spiritual resource is neglected. On the other hand, we can find ourselves in prayer simply to hurry up and get it over with, uttering it as routine or ritual. By doing this, we act like God isn't necessary.
Jesus spent a lot of his time on earth in prayer. He practiced unending communication with His Father.
In Luke 21:36 Jesus said "Keep on alert at all times praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place" Hmm.. maybe that is one reason my strength was down.
Paul encouraged the Ephesians in his letter to them (6:18) "pray at all times," and to the Colossians (4:2) "devote yourself to prayer." This doesn't mean to lock yourself in the closet and omit your life, unless that is what God leads you to do. It's living in continual conversation, bringing ourselves to think of Him, knowing His presence is there.
If you have a friend over to your house, wouldn't you make conversation with them? Wouldn't it be a bit awkward to sit in continual silence? All things that we see and experience should be our prayer. How much differently would our lives be if we were in continual conversation, handing every experience, emotion, thought over to God as it occurs? Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on the things above, not on the things on earth."
God created man for fellowship. The ultimate purpose of our salvation is to glorify God. To have an intimate relationship with God we much experience the depths of who He is and have fellowship with Him.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: "It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man's true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. Ultimately therefore, a man discovers the real condition of his spiritual life when he examines himself in private, when he is alone with God..And have we not all known what it is to find that, somehow, we have less to say to God when we are alone than when we are in the presence of others? It should not be so; but it often is. So that it is when we have left the realm of activities and outward dealings with other people, and are alone with God that we really know where we stand in a spiritual sense."
Examine your attitude toward your communication with God today. Maybe you hold prayer with respect but you feel something is lacking. Maybe you don't spend time with Him like you should, or maybe you just don't feel like you have anything to say. Acknowledge Him today. Fellowship with Him now!
Jeni Morelock
