"Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious activity." The sad fact is that far too many believers find prayer a religious activity rather than an encounter with Him. Some see it as a boring duty, but prayer is perhaps the greatest delight of being a follower of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite quotes regarding prayer is, "Prayer ceases to become prayer, when it stops coming from the heart."
Are you having trouble finding the desire to pray? Is it difficult for you to be quiet and still long enough to wait on Him? Are you a "go" person, one who needs to accomplish things and always be busy?
Try to begin viewing prayer as an appointment with God. Set a time, write it in your appointment book, allow plenty of time to speak, listen, wait and worship, and make sure that you keep your appointment with Him daily. Your life will change. Remember...life and ministry are empty and void apart from your remaining in Christ (John 15:5).
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Passive Christianity
The owner of my company puts quotes on our intranet page, and this was today's quote:
"A decision delayed until it is too late is not a decision; it's an evasion." ~ Anonymous
This quote made me think of something a gal from our small group discussion said and I wanted to share it with you all. We were discussing a topic from Unit 5, Day 1 around our habit of praying for open doors of opportunity and asking for God to close doors if we are doing something wrong and/or moving down the wrong path. We need to be active and respond to God's work, not merely praying and expecting Him to do the work, whether it's His opening doors or His closing doors. This point hits home with me as I too often ask God to close doors if I'm going in the wrong direction (when in fact, I've ignored his directive to stop and adjust life).
We cannot be passive Christians. We cannot ask Him to close doors when He's given us direction (direction that we don't necessarily want). We must actively adjust our lives and not proceed through down paths that he's told us not to and expect God to slam the door shut to correct our actions. God is not obligated to stop us from making mistakes. Wowzers.
Stephanie
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I think that if a person is a passive Christian, the first thing that gets tossed out the window is prayer. Is there a necessary connection between responding to God and prayer? How else can you hear Him? How can you actively respond to God without prayer, or how can you be active as a Christian without prayer? I'm not trying to say that prayer can not become religious (but that would not really be prayer?)... I guess you could try and impress people by "praying" all the time... I just think that prayer is THE most ACTIVE thing you can do. We shouldn't say things like "I'll just continue to pray about whether God wants me to do what He is telling me to do." I only want to clarify that my understanding is (limited) and that real prayer is the cornerstone of flowing in the spirit in your active life and ministry in the world. Every response to God should be united with prayer in you personal life.
Robert
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