Prayer is our Sweet Spot:So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Luke 11:2, NKJV)
Just how much the devil seeks to discolor our prayer stance, all in the name of religion. He disabuses our minds to come only to God as a last resort. More like the popular catchphrase, “If every other thing fails, then pray.” Really? How so wrong and off the chart this is. Prayer is not our last resort. It is our only resort. It is not our spare wheel. It is our only wheel. It is our life - the very air that we breathe.
© 2014 Akin Akinbodunse.
"Many people pray as if God were a big aspirin pill, they come only when they hurt." ― B. Graham Dienert.
Prayer is where we find our being. It is what makes us complete. For, it is a time of fellowship with Him, who is our life. We are to pray in season and out of season. We are called to pray without ceasing. [1 Thessalonians 5:17] Prayer is heeding to God's call, "To come and let us reason together." [Isaiah 1:18] Prayer is a relationship. Prayer is fellowship. Prayer is a breath of fresh, heavenly air. Prayer is hearing from home.
"When prayer has become secondary, or incidental, it has lost its power. Those who are conspicuously men of prayer are those who use prayer as they use food, or air, or light, or money." ― M.E. Andross.Religion is Anti-Prayer:
Another discoloration religion brings to our prayer stance is the sin consciousness. It does not fail to amaze me how the first thing, in most prayer meetings, is the confession of sins. Really? So, if there were no prayer meetings or times of devotion, what are we expected to do with sin? Keep our sins intact until the next prayer meeting? Is that how the master taught us to pray? Is that how His prayer model starts?
"Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness." ― G.I. Gurdjieff.
Where did we get this false notion? How come we have allowed ourselves to be robbed of the truth? Who bewitched us? We have given place to false, emotional piety and traditions of men. These are clueless about the person and nature of God, nor the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Having a form of religion, they deny the power thereof. [2 Timothy 3:5-7]
"The man who has nothing more than a kind of Sunday religion – whose Christianity is like his Sunday clothes put on once a week, and then laid aside – such a man cannot, of course, be expected to care about growth in grace." ― J. C. Ryle.They are imprisoned by their own lust. Paul's admonition is that we turn away from such. We are not called to religion. We are called to Power! We are called to God! We are called to be living witnesses of Christ. We are called to a life that shows forth God in an authentic and personal way. We are not called to passivity. If you don't hear his voice, you got something else other than Christianity. Time to wake up and live.
© 2014 Akin Akinbodunse.
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