Many of us are trying to talk to God and hear God talk to us for the first time in our lives and something very strange is going on. We could watch a "The Game" (or insert the name of your favorite show) marathon for like 8 hours without ever having to go to the bathroom, get a snack or take a nap but trying to have a 15 minute discussion with God feels like going to the dentist to have a tooth pulled (or getting your braces tightened, ugh). What is really going on?
Well a few simple things, first, we are flesh and blood human beings. While we have a spirit that is becoming more alive as we connect to Christ, our flesh is probably still very much alive to. When people refer to the part of you that is "the flesh" they mean the nature of a human being which is always against God. The flesh is the part of you that just wants to do what makes you feel good (or at least makes you think you feel good). It does not know or want to know any God besides itself. It is the part of you that says "I run things around here." The part of you that is spirit is the part of you that will connect to God but the part of you that is flesh is much more likely to fall asleep.
Don't worry, it's not just you, Jesus told his disciples to be alert and pray because even though THEY were disciples and had been with him for a long period of time, the flesh was still weak. In fact Jesus said "the spirit is willing (meaning it wants to connect to God and do what God says) but the flesh is weak (meaning it will be sleepy, hungry and have to go to the potty). Look that passage up, it is in Matthew 26:41.
Add your weak flesh with the fact that many of us are just trying this for the first time and we have a recipe for disaster.
THE BIBLE SAYS: It wasn't so long ago that you were all into your old nasty life of sin. You let the world (meaning the people who don't know and are not committed to God), which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief (meaning you took in all of the crazy stuff on TV, music, in magazines, video games, the internet, etc.), and then exhaled disobedience (as a result of all the stuff you took in what you put out was the opposite of what God wants from you). We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. (Ephesians 2: 1-6, this is my twist on the message bible translation. Everyone else is making up translations, I figured I would get in on the action).
Ok so what have we learned? One, we are wrapped in flesh which wants to do it's own thing at all times and does not want to give in to what God wants. Two, we just came out of doing the absolute crazy. All of us no matter how long we have been "saved" or giving our lives to Christ were just doing the fool not long ago. So we have two things we need to do that will help us pray. First, recognize that getting to where you want to be may take some time. You spent such a long time stuck on stupid, give yourself a minute to get in gear going in the right direction. Second, KEEP TRYING! Your flesh has the most control over you when you let it do whatever it wants to do. The more you work on living like Jesus and connecting with God, the less your flesh will be able to boss you around (we will talk more about this flesh problem another day).
Here are some practical tips:
1. Try some worship music to set the mood for your talks with God. There is lots of good worship music but some of my favoirte artists are: Kari Jobe, Hillsong, Gateway Worship, Israel and New Breed, Julie Meyer, Chris Tomlin, Youthful Praise, Byron Cage, Smokie Norful, Mandisa, Kurt Carr and alot more. We will dedicate a whole post to good Christian music one day.
2. Use the bathroom, eat a snack, silence your phone and take a nap before you start having your conversation with God.
3. Use the clock. Force yourself to stick to a certain time.
4. Read the bible, the more you know about God and Jesus Christ, the easier it is for you to pray. You gotta start reading that bible.
5. Use the A.C.T.S. model from yesterdays post.
Ok, now get to praying and remember to leave us comments telling us how it is going. If you are having issues, someone else is having the same ones and we are here to help!
No comments:
Post a Comment