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 best-selling 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.
So today we're going to talk about prayer for life. And what that means. is plugging into God as your source of life. every day. James?
Yeah, this has to do with being more alive. Because of knowing Jesus. And It is so important. If you think about it, it's the very thing that he said in John 10:10: I've come that you may have life. and have it to the full.
And this isn't just talking about eternal life. This is talking about The life that you and I breathe through day by day. And I'm really excited about this topic because it is so basic. And it goes so deep. that we really can't miss it.
Well, I'm not trying to catch my breath.
So, no, actually, I love that idea of breath. And breath has so much to do with life, right? Yeah, it does. And of course, you know, people often talk about breathing when they pray, and sometimes it can all sound. Theoretical.
You know, you breathe in this, you breathe out that. And yes, that's. That's all good, but do you realize that the source of every breath. is God. the source of of every heartbeat.
Are you plugged in? And of course, a lot of these things we never think about because they're automatic responses. of our bodies. But Acts 17, 28 reminds us, in him we live and move and have our being. And those moments where you just slow things down.
Again, you know, you might say just Breathe. all of the difference it can make. And I I think the more we go there, the more we live there, In many ways, the more blessed we are because, again, we're plugged into the source of life. And someone who's been showing me this a lot recently has been George McDonald. And of course, we've been talking about him a bit.
He's the same man we mentioned that. C. S. Lewis said baptized his imagination. And it was in reading one of um one of of McDonald's works A fairy tale, actually, that he had written that C.S.
Lewis first became really. open to the concept of faith. And I just want to share with you from McDonald's Diary of an Old Soul. this prayer. He says, I have no choice.
I must do what I can. But thou dost me and all things else as well. In other words, think about how it was said that God does all things well. He goes on, Thou wilt take care. thy child shall grow a man.
rouse the my faith Be king. With life. Be one. To trust in God is action's highest kind. Who trusts in God, his heart with life doth sword.
Rowl. Faith opens all the windows to God's wind. In other words, he wants God to be king in his life. And he wants to be one with that life that created him to begin with. Isn't that beautiful?
Oh, it is. It it it it really, really is. And I'm just, you know, just kind of soaking it in. Because that Abundance of life, I like you know, the way he talked about it, just swelling with life and. I hope you know, a lot of our listeners, and I know you have James.
You know, when you really are feeling like you're you're communing with God in prayer, you do swell with life. And there's a kind of life there that just really kind of surprises me. Um yeah. Yeah, there's a piece there that we don't anticipate. You know, just a sense of his presence that gives us so much joy.
that you realize, wait a minute. Yeah. Um Maybe Ponce de Leon didn't find the fountain of youth, but But I found it here. And, you know, it's that sense of. of eternal um just Help and and hope and There's There's nothing better.
You know, you think about what Jesus said in John 5:40 to some of his people. He said, You refuse to come to me. to have life And I think this is something that we miss sometimes. We don't Think of God as Creator. Enough.
we just tend to think, well, I'm just going about my day here. And sometimes we may see something in nature that we think is beautiful, but to realize Wait a minute. everything. Everything. And when you do that, you know, when you start to come to that point where you say, okay.
I I I I've got nothing without him. Then Even the flavor of your food. becomes something that you can thank him for, right? Oh, it's interesting that you mentioned that. You know, I always ask every year for God for a word of the year, and a number of years ago, it was the word delight.
He wanted me to delight. Yeah. And so I began different practices of delighting. Like in the morning, you may have heard of my coffee where I, man, I. I just delight.
In the smell of that coffee, and just thank God over and like, man, this stuff smells so awesome. God, this is just amazing. And then I put a lot of different spices in it, you know, cardamom and ginger and cinnamon and and turmeric and I as I smell each one of those spices, I I delight in it again. I'm like, God, man, this is just and so by the time I drink it, I am just in total delight. And and and it it Hmm.
That's exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, there's a richness there. You know, there's, again, this, we often talk about how we need to take. life one day at a time. And yet So infrequently do we really do that.
But this can help us, you know, recognizing Uh you know set it Setting the cell phone aside, just Opening our hearts, opening our minds, opening our lives to what God wants to do in the moment, what He wants to do today. You know, I love the prayer, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. And often we may pray that when we're going through a difficult circumstance, but. But what about just the things that God wants to show us that we would otherwise miss. in the course of an ordinary day.
You know, there's there's just so much here. Oh yeah. This would be a great time to pray, by the way.
Well, let's let's do it. Abba, Father We. We just thank you. We praise you that That we really do live and move in you. And we acknowledge that right now.
We thank you for the gift of life, but oh Jesus, even more, we praise you. the gift of eternal life. And we ask, Lord, just more, more of you, more of your spirit, more of your life flowing through us so that we might. Just be real. Alive, loving.
people who know you. and love others too. In your name. 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. Yeah. This is the Truth Network.
