April 13, 2012—SnyderTalk Editorial: Pray without Ceasing

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Pray without Ceasing

I’ll never forget a chilling scene in The Shining — the classic horror movie starring Jack Nicholson.  Jack Torrance, played by Nicholson, and his family were spending the winter as caretakers at Overlook Hotel near Denver, Colorado.  Nicholson’s wife in the film, Wendy played by Shelley Duvall, was concerned about his erratic behavior.  After a particularly harrowing incident, she snooped around until she found out what Jack did with his time every day.

Each morning, Jack locked himself away in the Colorado Lounge where supposedly he was writing a book, and he insisted on absolute solitude – no interruptions.  The frightened look on Wendy’s face when she found his manuscript set the stage perfectly for what was about to happen.  It was a masterpiece of filmmaking by Stanley Kubrick.  As Wendy riffled through the pages of the lengthy manuscript, all she saw was one sentence repeated again and again and again: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

I can relate to that line.  If we really knew how dangerous it is to get out of sync with God, we would be as scared as Wendy Torrance was when she realized that her husband was losing his senses and putting her life and the life of her son at risk.  It’s easy for us to get lost in our work even if we’re perfectly sane otherwise and spend virtually no time with God.

Work, work, work, work.  That’s not how it’s supposed to be.  I used to tell my students that activity is not a good substitute for productivity.  If we don’t know where we’re going, lots of activity may make us feel good about ourselves and help to convince people who don’t know any better that we’re actually doing something worthwhile.  In reality, we might be on a path heading in the wrong direction, but our colleagues and our boss give us gold stars for our strong work ethic.

If they knew the truth, they would have a totally different opinion.  In some ways our behavior is similar to what magicians do when they distract our attention with hand movements and gestures and prevent us from seeing the trick.  Interestingly, our colleagues and bosses are just as vulnerable to the activity trap as we are.  That’s why I constantly reminded my students about what Denise the Menace told Joey: “We may be lost, but we’re making good time.”

I’m not trying to brush aside the importance of hard work, but I am saying this: hard work in and of itself is not the solution to our problems.  First, we need to identify the right things, and then we need to devote our time and attention to them.  Just staying busy is definitely not the answer.

Psalm 127: 1-2 explains why perfectly:

“Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless Yahweh guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.  It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved (even in his) sleep.”

At the end of the day, no matter what we do or how much we think we’ve accomplished, if we haven’t made God an integral part of our lives and our plans, then we’ve made a tragic error.  Even more, we aren’t likely to accomplish the mission He set for us if we don’t let Him direct our path.

Prayer is our 24/7 channel of communication with God, and He wants us to use it liberally.  But Satan is our Adversary, and he tries to bushwhack us and keep us from engaging in conversation with our heavenly Father.

Jesus said, “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10: 10)  Peter said that he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to destroy.” (1 Peter 5: 8)  Satan knows that if he can obstruct our prayers, he can prevent us from having intimacy with God and eventually destroy us.  He will use any trick he can conjure up to keep you from praying.

Most Christians don’t give Satan enough credit, but they should.  He is very clever, and his craftiness makes him a serious foe.  Satan is most effective when he subtly plants thoughts in our minds and makes us believe they are ours: I’m just too tired; I need to read the newspaper; my wife or my children want my attention; I don’t have time to pray because I’m so busy.  When we grab hold of them, they become our thoughts.  Once we own them, we are in danger.

Satan doesn’t play by the Queensberry rules, either.  While we are praying, he continues to attack and tries to get us off track.  How many times have you been praying and noticed that your mind was wandering toward a person who injured you in some way?  Suddenly, you start to get angry, and the only thing you can think about is how wrong that person was.  We wallow in our hurt as if we want God’s pity, and sometimes we even blame Him: Why did You let that happen to me?

I believe it is impossible to live in this world and not experience personal attacks.  The reason is that Satan strikes out at everyone, including our colleagues at work and members of our own families.  He uses anyone he can manipulate to beat up on us and prevent us from having intimacy with God.

For instance, consider personal attacks at work.  Many people try to get ahead in life by putting other people down and sometimes by spreading lies about them.  I would be shocked if that hasn’t happened to you.  First Satan gets to our co-workers, and they attack us.  Then we get angry and feel hurt, and suddenly Satan is controlling our thoughts, and he wins the battle.  Again, most people don’t give Satan enough credit, and they have no idea that he is behind the attacks.

Don’t let him win.  Respond quickly when Satan interferes with your prayers by turning to God for help.  When I pray, the first thing I do is ask God not to allow Satan to divert my attention while I pray.  That doesn’t stop him from trying, though, and when he attacks me while I’m praying, I think about what God said: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” (Hebrews 10: 30 and Deuteronomy 32: 35)  I have a Protector/Redeemer who has assumed responsibility for dealing with people who try to hurt me, and I turn it over to Him.

I think God lets Satan plant thoughts in our minds to strengthen us.  It’s like working out with weights to increase your physical strength.  The more weight you use (i.e., the more resistance you encounter) the stronger you get.  As you learn to recognize Satan’s attacks and then turn to God when it happens, the stronger you become spiritually.

This is an excerpt from What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life?

To see other SnyderTalk editorials, click here.

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Thomas Jefferson

“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

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Jeremiah 51: 34-38

“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, he has set me down like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster, he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has washed me away.  May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitant of Zion will say; and, may my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say.  Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am going to plead your case and exact full vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.  Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.  They will roar together like young lions, they will growl like lions’ cubs.”

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  • God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
  • “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
  • “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)

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