Prayer…To Do or Not To Do!

Greetings from Muskoka Bible Centre in the Muskokas…or, as some would call it, God’s Country!

I’m sure it will come as no surprise, based on previous blogs and Facebook pictures, that we have been spending the summer months at our home-away-from-home at Muskoka Bible Centre just south of Huntsville on Mary Lake. I can readily identify with those who call this part of Ontario God’s Country because it truly is a beautiful part of our province… away from the noise, smells, traffic and hustle of city life to a quiet, bird sanctuary, deer-populated haven. I sound prejudice, even to my own ears! But it is what it is!

Muskoka Bible Centre has been part of our lives for several decades, dare I say over 40 years! We have been blessed, challenged, and refreshed, and have been given opportunities to give back by volunteering wherever needed. Is it a perfect place? Not really. I suppose that contradicts my previous description of being God’s Country, but wherever humans tread, we leave our mark and it’s not always the best mark. However, be that as it may, I can’t think of a better place to endure the heat of the summer and receive a blessing, both in giving and receiving.

This summer I am volunteering a few hours each day, five days a week working in the bookstore—what writer doesn’t like to be surrounded by books!—while Doug spends a bit more time working in the Hub, a mini-style restaurant that provides snacks, lunches and superb Kawartha Dairy ice cream! Our support is only a small contribution in the managing of such a large conference grounds that has a continual turnover of many, many adults and children.

Each year there is a theme throughout the nine weeks of the adult ministry which carries over into the Kids Ministry program. This year it’s Pointing to Prayer and we are challenged weekly with Scripture verses that emphasize different aspect of one’s prayer life: Adoration, Salvation, Revival, and Protection  in the first four weeks. Repentance this week, and Thanksgiving, Intercession, Guidance, and Praise in the remaining weeks. And to tie into the theme, anyone coming into the bookstore will have a variety of items to choose from to encourage their personal prayer life or perhaps provide a gift for someone else. Placards, books, gift ware, and mugs provide opportunity to remind anyone of the importance of prayer.

You might be thinking that this post is promoting MBC. But really, it’s not; it’s just a piece of our lives that I wanted to share. The Pointing to Prayer theme is really my focus.

I know I’ve confessed this before, but since confession is good for the soul, I feel the need to repeat myself. There are times when I find I am negligent in my prayer life, and this theme has been a quiet reminder of those times when I’m off track.

It’s not that prayer has been or is absent in my life. Several years ago I had a unique experience when I felt challenged to pray for my sister who is no longer with us. Having just left work, I was waiting at a very long red light and while waiting for the light to turn green, I began to pray for Mary. It seemed forever before I was able to make the lefthand turn and continue on my way home. From that time on, each time I arrived at that intersection the light would turn red! I wish I could tell you how many times I sat waiting for it to turn green! Was God in control of the traffic lights at that particular intersection, on those particular days and at that particular time of the day, although the minutes varied? I have no idea, but whatever the reason, I found myself praying for Mary!

Now, that’s not a boast, just a short story of how God influenced me to pray for someone, and the memory is a reminder of how much I need to strengthen my prayer life.

So what is the problem?  What is holding me back? Am I too busy? Too preoccupied with life? But on a more serious note, do I have enough faith to believe that prayers are heard and things can/do change? I know I’m not alone in this struggle, having heard the same questions surface in Bible studies and in one-on-one conversations.

To help us, Charles Spurgeon prayed this about distractions:
“Lord Jesus, take from us now everything that would hinder the closest communion with God. Any wish or desire that might hamper us in prayer remove, we pray Thee. Any memory of either sorrow or care that might hinder the fixing of our affection wholly on our God, take it away now…Lord, wilt Thou shut the door upon the world for us? Help us to forget our cares. Enable us to rise clean out of this world. May we get rid of all its down-dragging tendencies. May the attractions of these grossest things be gone and do Thou catch us away to Thyself.”

Hard to beat that pleading!

There was a time when I thought, “Is prayer of any practical use since God already knows every thought and feeling before I even have them?” I came to understand that prayer isn’t something God needs—as if it’s something He needs us to do to fulfill a desired response. Rather, it is something God wants us to do. He has given us an open invitation to communicate with Him, the Creator of the Universe, the One whom we are privileged to call Abba, Daddy. After all, He is our kind, loving, heavenly Father!

Much more could be said on the topic of prayer. Countless books have been written, powerful sermons have been preached and thought-provoking devotionals have been penned, all for our benefit. And I have many such things on my bookshelves. But there is one item that I keep in my Bible, something I read so many years ago I can’t count…maybe fifty. It’s a poem I found in our newspaper that I cut out and have kept as a reminder of the necessity to pray and the dangers of not taking the time. [Forgive me if I’ve shared it before, but repetition is a gateway to memory!] The author of the poem is unknown. It’s entitled I Had No Time.

The day slipped by and time was spent
And all the good things that I meant
To do were left undone because
I had no time to stop and pause.
But rushed about, went here and there.
Did this and that, was everywhere.
I had no time to kneel and pray
For that lost soul across the way.
I had no time to meditate
On worthwhile things. No time to wait
Upon the Lord, and hear Him say,
“Well done, my child,” at close of day.
And so I wonder, after all,
When life is o’er and I hear the call
To meet my Saviour in the sky,
Where saints live on and never die,
If I can find one soul I’ve won
To Christ by some small deed I’ve done.
Or will I hang my head and whine,
“Forgive me, Lord, I had no  time.”

Prayerfully written and shared.