✙ Psalm 48:9
✙
Prayer should be automatic. And the Bible tells us that it should also be unceasing. But the fact of the matter is that human beings get preoccupied with many material things which often force things spiritual from our minds. Thus prayer gets pushed to the wayside. The old Scottish pastor Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) once said that "we may well take the lesson which Christ’s prayers teach us, for we all need it, that no life is so high, so holy, so full of habitual communion with God, that it can afford to do without the hour of prayer."
As spiritual as we ought to be, we should also accept the fact that we need to formalize the time we spend with God. The habit of meeting God in a certain place at a certain time helps train our minds for communication with God. Let's face it: No one is is always in such a perfect spiritual state that prayer is automatic 24/7. That's why we participate in ritual that either keeps us on track, or gets us back on track.
The Bible acknowledges that there are times and places for prayer, and that the people of God attend to these locations and hours. In Christ, we now realize that they are not the be-all and end-all of our faith. But it is good to acknowledge their importance, for it is there that we meet other Christians, and it is then that we can always find our way back to the Way.
✙One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.
✙ Acts 3:1
✙
Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:
✙
Thank you, Lord, for times when I have the opportunity to re-connect, and places where I know I can find you when I have strayed from the path.
✙ After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.
Losung Losungen Tageslosung Moravian Daily Texts Watchword Watchwords Lehrtext Lehrtexte Teaching Text
Text selection ©2020 Evangelische Brüder-Unität
