CONSTANTLY

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.” — Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis in The Shadowlands

Luke 18:1-8
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Proverbs 3:5-6

What a toll modern technology takes on interaction. A new generation craves the next text message, and rarely writes a personal note on paper. And now we have video conferencing. Soon, we’ll have made face-to-face interaction fully obsolete.

Cell phones might possess some level of redemption. Yes, they represent inherent interruption. You speak with someone or meet with someone, and the phone inserts itself into the situation. Cellularity does offer us greater access to one another, though. This can be good. We become increasingly available. While some of the cell phone world deserves elimination, the fact that we can, if absolutely necessary, reach another person is cause for celebration.

The human desire to connect finds some empowerment in these technologies.

We’ve always had this connection, or the ability to connect, with the Lord. Yet we’ve relegated him to an hour a week, or maybe to token nods at meals or monologues we call prayer at night.

Yet Jesus’ life and teachings tell us God wants to communicate with us all the time. Like a kid who is enthralled by the novelty of his new toy, God wants to hear from us. Unlike the child, the novelty’s wonder never fades for him.

The lines are open. The Lord listens. The Lord speaks. What makes us think we should wait for a five-minute window before bed to present to him our thoughts, requests and concerns? Why should he have to wait until then to speak? Why should he have to wait until Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning to tell you what’s on his mind?

The engaging God urges us to speak and listen. He doesn’t have a to-do list of people to call each day; rather, he waits to speak to and hear from each individual.

The shocking nature of this reality should compel us to speak with him daily, even hourly. We should ask and look to receive; knock and wait for the door to open, seek and know we’ll find. Because he waits.

How often do you pray? Why not more often?
Do you marvel that God listens to you?
Is it possible to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Why or why not?

Adam