FROM THE PULPIT: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T PRAY

When we encounter difficult problems, the natural inclination is to pray and seek God's help. Yet prayer seems to be the last resort rather than our first option. Because we fail to pray, we miss out on many blessings in life.

As for myself, I fall under the temptation of "too much to do." There always seems to be too much work to do to start my day with a time of prayer and reflection. I delude myself into believing I have to get to the "real" work that lies ahead.

One of the great saints of Reformation (either Martin Luther or John Calvin) used to start his day with an hour of prayer. On particularly busy days he would say, "I have so much more work to do, I better pray two hours today."

From my experience, I have found that my work goes by quicker, I get more done and I'm less frustrated if I just take a little bit of time to pray, read a portion of Scripture and reflect upon the scheduled appointments that lie before me that day. When I rush into the "real" work, it becomes another day of constant loose ends.

John Killinger, now a retired pastor, wrote about the things we miss when we don't pray. Killinger notes that most of us don't have any idea what we are missing by not being people of prayer.

First, we miss the opportunity to relax in the presence of God. When you consider our rush-rush-rush world, suffering from speed, spontaneity, constant mobility, we're like a speed boat flying along on a lake in a thick fog. We can't see any landmarks and we don't know what's ahead.

To pray is to take time out from our harried, chaotic schedules and experience the peace that Christ promises. To pray is to remind ourselves that God remains in control.

Second, when we don't pray we miss the day-to-day validation of our belief in God. Killinger notes that many years ago, our city's skylines were decorated by church buildings, steeples and cathedral domes that soared into the heavens. Today, the banks and insurance companies dominate the skyline. The very architecture of our society speaks the secularization of society, and in whom we place our trust.

To pray is to affirm and validate our belief in God, that God is not blotted out into the shadows of the technological and economical.

Third, Killinger notes that if we do not pray, we miss the sense of the Holy Spirit whose power is able to sweep us out of our self-importance and into the work that God is doing in our world.

God wants us to be somewhere doing something, and only when we pray, exposing ourselves to the open-minded possibilities of the God with whom nothing is impossible, do we get carried away and discover our place and mission. Without prayer, we miss it, and settle for second-best.

Five years ago I faced a great dilemma: three churches were competing to hire me as pastor. I had three job offers and a hard decision to make. Through prayer, I came to find a great peace about accepting the position in Jackson.

One of the other churches, upon learning of my bias toward Jackson, offered more money, but money wasn't the issue. Prayer helped me to put my full trust in a faithful God. Prayer also taught me where my heart belongs and what is vitally important in life.