Nakita Kolov, the Russian nightmare.
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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. Thank you for listening to this because it helps us recognize God's good work and blessings all around us every day. You know, you might even call it taking snapshots with God.
It's like, okay, here it is. And some people do this quite naturally, you know, some are just really tuned into nature and praise God for it all the time, but I know I need to tune up on this and I think we all do because sometimes we can get so busy and wrapped up in the day, you know, that we don't quite literally stop and smell the roses. Oh, yeah. James, one of the things that our listeners may not know about you is that you're a beekeeper.
Yes, I am. I'm a novice one, but I try and I'm amazed by bees. You know, the other day I went into a hive and as I was taking care of things, I noticed there were two rows of bees, you know, a few hundred of them just sitting on the edge of the frames, just watching me, you know, just watching my next move. And those are actually guard bees. They're worker bees, but they're trained as guards.
And as long as I behaved myself, they'd let me pass. And I did, so they did, you know, and didn't get stung. But it's amazing the order God has put into nature, isn't it? Oh, it really, it just blows my mind.
You know, one of my things is I just absolutely love to take walks and my wife and I swim a lot in the lake. And the other day, this blue heron flew over us and it just circled and swirled and we just watched it. And there was a snapshot of like, man, what an awkward looking thing to be flying around, but it's so graceful.
Well, especially when he flew off with your pants in his mouth, right? It was like the stork carrying a baby, you know, but nonetheless, you know, that's a really cool thing to watch. Yeah, very cool, very cool. And it helps to remember God's Word tells us in Psalm 19, 1, the heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display its craftsmanship. A friend of mine, Patricia Raybon wrote a great piece about this this past Thursday for Our Daily Bread, and she talked about how Alex Smalley, a researcher in Britain on basically human response to weather effects, said that watching a sunset or sunrise can have this profound effect on your emotions and can help you de-stress and put your problems in perspective, all this stuff. And of course, believers in God get this, because he so often meets us in nature, and we almost know this intuitively. I mean, it's a great place to be. Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about how to really unpack that for us in our everyday lives. Yeah, great. A good place to start is James 1.17 that says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
So first, we need to recognize that everything we enjoy, you know, especially we're blessed with five senses, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the taste, the touches that bring us pleasure, all come from God. And I was really convicted of that this past week. Really?
How so? Well, I visited a friend in the hospital, and he was paralyzed years ago by a fall from the ladder. And all I knew was that he had no mobility. I didn't know he could not feel anything from his mid chest level down. And he told me that's why touch is so important to me.
You know, of course, the ability to move affects your muscles, which also affects your blood flow, and he had suffered complications from that. And as I was sitting there with him, I realized just how much I take for granted every moment, every day. Oh, I've been talking about that with my wife just recently. I definitely know what you mean.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we do take a lot for granted. And it's really important to learn to press pause and literally savor the moment with God as a way of just thanking him. You know, God, thank you for this cup of coffee or the taste of honey or the touch of my granddaughter's hand on my face or, you know, the colors in the sunset, whatever it may be. You know, that's what the Bible encourages us to do in 1 Thessalonians 5, 8, you know, in every thing, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So practicing this every day, you know, it really is a good thing.
Yeah, although I think I'd have trouble thanking God for too much coffee. You might try. A good place to start is, what do I really love? Besides keeping bees, my wife and I also raise labradoodle puppies sometimes. And we have a litter right now, and it's one of my favorite things. Now you're starting to sound like a song, like, when the dog bites, when the bee stings.
Well done, but no, I mean, these really are some of my favorite things, with apologies to Julie Andrews, I guess, but there's nothing better than sitting on the floor with a pile of puppies or climbing all over you and grabbing your pant legs and your shoelaces. And I just love them, you know, and being with them makes it easy for me to praise God. And it helps me to think about a time when we'll be able to be in nature and have no fear, and it will have no fear of us. I mean, can you imagine? Oh yeah, every time we go swimming, I'm looking for snakes the whole time.
It's going to be awesome. Yeah, yeah, I like to think of these things, you know, as God just saying hello. I mean, he shows up in so many different ways, and if we're attentive, if we're open, we'll answer back with thanks and praise. And I know you do this so well, I think you do it better naturally than I do, because you spend a lot of time outdoors, and it's an important part of your prayer life. So, any other experiences you want to share as we wrap up?
Well, this one actually wasn't a normal outdoor experience, but it was so miraculous, I'll never ever forget it. I was really low Monday morning when I got up, and I had a hard time getting in God's presence, as sometimes you do when you're trying to get to that point of prayer. I don't know how to explain it, but it's worth pushing in, and I pushed and pushed and pushed in. And I finally got up in God's lap, and I said, Lord, I just need something special. I need a passage. I need something from the Scriptures that speaks to what's going on in my heart right now, and I know you know what's going on in my heart right now. And he said, Robbie, there's a Bible up on your father's desk that you didn't know was there. He said, if you go up, you find that Bible, it's on the top left-hand part of the desk, and you open that up, you will find what you're looking for. I know we're out of time, so let's wrap up today by just asking God to help us with this, just like he helped you.
Please. Father, I just thank you for what you did for Robbie in that moment. And, Lord, help us to overcome the evil of our days with good, with the good of praise, with the good of thanks, with the good of just being with you, because you are near. You are Emmanuel, God with us. And, oh, Lord, we praise you. We need you.
We can't live without you. And we just thank you for your goodness to us in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, well, 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.
