boyradd

Never Gonna Say “Amen!”

Flying home from Denver and back into Baltimore, I met this man, Mark.  He was a very nice, older gentleman who felt it completely appropriate to strike up a conversation with me.  During the conversation, I learned that Mark is a mathematician focused on statistics, travels the United States for his job, has two children, one who lives in Savannah and the other who lives in Florida and that his kids are both in graduate school.

Why did I bring this up?  Well, I did not know Mark before this trip.  It was only through his boldness that I came to know more about his life than many of the people I work with.  It is the very same with Christ.

The more bold we are in our relationship with Christ, the more we will get to know Him, the more we can love Him, and the more we can do his will.  The only way we can build this bold relationship with Christ is through our constant prayers and communication with Him.

Boldness affects the effectiveness of prayer significantly.  If we do not stay in constant contact with Christ, we find ourselves playing a dangerous guessing game with His will.  A friend of mine had a very short-lived marriage.  Both are Christian but both focused too quickly on their physical desires instead of their relationship and communication with Christ.  In the end, a very sexually-heated relationship burned out very quickly and two Christians walked away as casualties of war instead of victors and partners together in Christ.  If they would have remained in constant communication with Christ throughout their courting, they would most definitely have either realized early on that their relationship would not have worked or they would have learned how better to stay in God’s will as they fell deeper in love.

As I conclude David Earley’s book, Prayer:  The Timeless Secret Of High-Impact Leaders, I learned more than a few ways to apply Biblical truths to my prayer life and to become more bold in my relationship with Christ.

First, fasting is a great way to improve one’s focus on Christ.  During my divorce, I made a promise to myself that I would fast a lot more.  I started with fasting every Wednesday as that was the one day my ex-wife would have the kids.  My Wednesdays turned into one of my most Spirit-filled days during that stage in my life.  As I emerged from those dark days, my fasting life started to fall off, and , with it, my love of Wednesdays.  I am going to reinstate my Wednesday fasts.

Second, the line on page 114 that “if we do not use Christ’s promises to the fullest, then Christ will have died in vain.”  I never thought of it in that way.  If I had missed an opportunity to win someone for Christ or learn more about Him, I would simply go on with my day as if not much had happened.  Now Christ did not come to bring condemnation, but those moments should convict me to be ever-vigilant for those moments and call upon Christ more to bring those moments and promises to me.

Third, applying unceasing prayer needs to become more of a focus in my life.  The Christian band Denver and the Mile High Orchestra has a song called “Not Gonna Say Amen.”  In this song, he questions himself that if he loves the Lord as much as he proclaims, then why would he ever want to stop the conversation between him and God?  I am going to try to live my life more with less “amens” and more conversation with God.