Are you Neglecting To Pray?
Good Morning Friends,
Let’s face it, there is a central difficulty involved in grasping the nature of the soul and in caring for it. Logic of its deep empathy is at odds with our reasoning mind and the pathway of nurturing the soul through prayer is avoided by most. Still our soul’s desires exist and will not be repressed. Sometimes creative prayer, put to work, is a way of finding one’s passion in the shadows, for the experience can be filled with inspiring and exciting glimpses of God even in times of difficulty. Here we might realize that the soul can be nurtured with ideas and religious practices of worship, but none I think more than the peace of resting in continuous prayer. The thing is that what this life is all about the making our soul and if we are serious about that, as David was, we too need to turn worship into something that is continual and not just once a week. The soul of David is noteworthy in this regard for he was creative about worship and prayer as a way that sought God’s heart. Before David, I know of no one who sought after God with 24/7 prayer and 24/7 music. This was an innovation that was transformative as intercessory prayer as well a personal petition. What is interesting is that focus is not on sacrifice but love. Friends, if we hope to seek spiritual transcendence we must stop treating prayer as a sacrifice or we will be terribly frustrated by the limits of this human life. The goal is to feel and share a divine love. Are you Neglecting To Pray?
Scripture: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Psalm 42:1-11 (NRSV)
When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’
Acts 13:22 (NRSV)
Now these are the singers, the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites, living in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.
1 Chronicles. 9:33 (NRSV)
these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Isaiah 56:7 (NRSV)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh— my adversaries and foes— they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
Psalm 27 (NRSV)
Message: The psalms above give a poetic description of David’s soul longing for God’s presence. He asks why he is so depressed and anxious in one, and in another the issue is fear and then in both there is hope designed to encourage, instruct, teach and urge our souls to embrace the one thing that David discovered as the most important. It is as if David is a prayer pastor to his own soul and ours as well. He listens to its needs and desires and then points it toward God. David has become skilled in the art of caring for his soul and that friends is the nature of prayer.
The psalms are evidence that David was indeed human. They are therefore practical in giving us a little Biblical advice for dealing with how our senses and feelings are different from our spiritual state. When we have the challenges of David, sometimes we might need a doctor for the physical aspects of our situation but perhaps more importantly we need to learn what David did to nurture his soul. So press on into God with prayer. From a scientific perspective, these actions have a way of helping to increase our serotonin levels. From a spiritual perspective, they bring us closer to God. So, when faced with challenges accept it, get rest, and improve your diet and exercise. Acknowledge to yourself and to others that there is a problem. Actively seek support and counsel. Pray about it while in praise of God. The Lord works from the inside out while the world works for the outside in. The world would shape human behavior but Christ can change human behavior. Through hope, holiness, wisdom and love, God has given us the way to receive the power to change and the way to have victory.
Pray we have a deeper prayer life. Pray we develop an inner relationship with our soul. Pray that we are not so distracted by a pursuit of perfection and modern life that we lose the ability to feel and learn from a relationship with Jesus. Pray also we not ignore, deny, lied to, starve, medicate or neglect our soul. Pray we watch the Spirit. Pray we respond to the needs that we see then release our efforts to the Spirit always attempting to work together in love. Pray our actions bring Peace to our own lives as well as in the lives of others. Pray we have memories and habits that help us to survive the problems of life but also experience the joy that connects us and helps us accept who we are. Pray
we have passion, perspective and praise. Pray we thank God for helping us through the battles of life. Pray that because such a high price has been paid that we strive to make the declarations of freedom real. Pray we take greater responsibility for the health of our body, soul and spirit. Pray that when events press us down that we respond by pressing in to God. Pray we find strength in the Lord. Pray our souls are cultivated in the sacredness of the everyday. Pray the seed planted in us grow and produce fruit. Pray we realize that sometimes water we thirst for springs forth from where we might not expect it. Pray we learn to seek God in prayer. Pray we realize Isaiah’s prophecy of a time when God’s people worldwide would experience the unusual grace and authority of prayer. Pray we experience the joy of prayer that fills us with an exuberant, refreshing and invigorating experience. Pray we experience the beauty of God’s realm here in prayer.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 