This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. Well, today on Encouraging Prayer, we're going to talk about pressing pause to pray, and we'll take it down to earth at why this matters and how we can do it.
So, James, go ahead and jump in. Yeah, well, first when we're talking about pressing pause to pray, we want to emphasize that this is something that God helps us do. You know, it's not this sort of thing which is, oh, look at me, I'm going to pray now. We've got to do it with the inspiration and the strength that He gives. You and I, before we came on air, we're talking about what a gift that prayer is. But then you also said, you know, yes, but it's a gift that we have to open. So let's go there. Absolutely. Absolutely. I can tell you that the more I understand about prayer, the more I realize that it isn't necessarily me that initiates it.
Yeah, yeah. And in order for us to really pray well, that's what our hearts have to be like. You know, it's this, you know, think of Jesus' words in Matthew 4, 4, of course, out of Deuteronomy 8, 3, that we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And it's the same way with prayer. You know, it's God who helps us to pray. And I think of our attitude from the beginning is just very childlike. And we're saying, Abba, Father, I want to do this. I know I need to pray more than I do.
Would you help me do it? And again, we just come at it from that childlike, dependent way. Don't you think that our Abba Father is going to meet us there? Oh, it's an absolutely beautiful idea that you introduced to me years ago. And the more I've pursued it, the more opportunities he gives me and the more real it all becomes. Yeah, you know, I like the way you put it there in terms of the more opportunities that he gives me. Because, again, if we make it about us, if we make it all about our effort, then, you know, I think we're missing so much.
I've heard a lot recently about the science of neuroplasticity, and basically, you know, how we can get caught in our ruts of doing things. But we should also add that God can lift us out of our ruts and place us in new places where his Spirit is moving through us. And that's really where we want to be. When we're talking about pressing pause to pray, first of all, what are we talking about? We're talking about being in the moment with God, and therefore living off of him.
Again, that bread alone kind of approach. And so if we're in the moment with God, then he can move through us to accomplish his purposes. And our lives are more complete than at any other time, because that's when we're going to bear fruit for him, which is the very thing that he wants us to do. So, you know, it's interesting, our bearing fruit, again, we can't do it without him.
And it starts with asking, but it's not all up to us. And one other thing as I think about this that is so important is that, of course, we can do it at any time and anywhere. God meets us at any time and anywhere, because in him we live and move and have our being, right? So if we're just in that place of, of, Father, I'm yours, Jesus, I'm yours, I want to walk with you, I want to live with you, you know, help me to do this, then he is going to.
And I've talked a lot here. So I want to just mention to our listeners that Robbie has just come back from his first trip to Israel. And I have never been, but, you know, when you think about this topic of walking with Jesus, Robbie, I'd love to hear a little bit about how that trip helped you kind of press pause to pray. Yeah, that trip helped me to realize that, you know, it was completely God coming over me in certain ways while I saw certain sights, that it wasn't like I pressed pause to play. All of a sudden, God just grabbed my attention through the Holy Spirit, I'm sure, and I sensed what he was sensing in the place that we were there as, for example, the wailing wall. As I touched the wailing wall, I knew I was going to pray, but I wasn't expecting the invitation God gave me and the sense that came over me of his broken heart, of the Jews not recognizing that he was the Messiah. And that wasn't something that came from me.
It obviously came from him. And I was realizing more and more throughout the trip that he was initiating these professions more than I was. And it was a really beautiful thing. Well, and if that makes sense, if you think about what the Scripture says about the Spirit interceding for us with groans that words cannot express, that God's Spirit moves through us on a level that's so much deeper than we know. And this is what we're wanting to tap into when we're pressing pause to pray, right?
Oh, absolutely. And as you said, it makes your whole life not only more fruitful but more real. It's like Tammy and I have, you know, traveled a lot of places, but you can't beat Israel from our perspective because God is so present. And when God's present, life gets real.
Yeah. And all of this has to do with loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, which is the very definition of being real. But it starts with that heart part. And I think this is what we really need to encourage one another in, to just, you know, give God our hearts in the moment. That's the best way to press pause and just, here I am, Lord, I'm yours. Or just call on his name, just pray Jesus, you know, or just, you know, without a word.
Again, it's not the words we use that matter. But just to lift up our hands, if you will, the hands of our hearts, so to speak, to pray with a sense of need for him. Oh, that's so beautiful. And lifting up our hands, we should probably do that right this moment, right? So, Lord, please, we're so grateful for this idea of asking for your help to prompt us in deeper into that relationship, deeper into prayer. Lord, help us to encourage one another to be sensitive to the Spirit and ready to press pause the second you engage us as we know you're coming after us. Lord, help us to open that gift that you've given us a prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
