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Prayer Is an Unnatural Activity
dependence on our Creator Redeemer God. Prayer and worship connect us to the ultimate source of power, significance, forgiveness and peace. Even so, we continually feel the urge to go our own way, to do our own thing. "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it." PRAYER IS AN UNNATURAL ACTIVITY From birth we have been learning the rules of self-reliance as we strain and struggle to achieve self-sufficiency. Prayer flies in the face of those deep-seated values. It is an assault on human autonomy, an indictment of independent living. To people in the fast lane, determined to make it on their own, prayer is an embarrassing interruption. Prayer is alien to our proud human nature. And yet somewhere, someplace, probably all of us reach the point of falling on our knees, bowing our heads, fixing our attention on God and praying. We look both ways to be sure no one is watching; we may blush; but in spite of the foreignness of the activity, we pray. - Bill Hybels, TOO BUSY NOT TO PRAY: SLOWING DOWN TO BE WITH GOD, Chapter 1, "God's Presence, God's Power," InterVarsityPress, second edition 1998, < [Lord, help us to slow down and pray! Amen!} Have a great week, Chip Stam Pastor of Worship and Music Chapel Hill Bible Church Chapel Hill, North Carolina |