Quoteboard: Prayer is Not Occassional

"Prayer is not an occasional activity; it is a lifestyle."

     Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17).  This can be mistaken for a pious activity best left for the spiritual elite.  But he was not addressing a handful of all-stars in an esoteric class.  He was addressing a young, Gentile church in Roman Macedonia; not the clergy or the monastery.  Prayer is an act of faith.  In prayer, we use words to entrust every moment and circumstance to a God who has the ability to hear and to respond.  Obligatory mealtime and bedtime prayers are a start, but not the fulness. 

     If we believe in this God, when should we not pray?  How shall we sprinkle every hour with such words of trust?  Mumbled or screamed, whispered or cried, thought or muttered.  Intersperse the day's work with conversation that calls upon the Lord who holds every day. 

     Come, O Lord.  Break into the mundane routines of my day.  Let my work not be in vain, but make it your work.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.