Day 26 – Game With Numbers

Boaz Ministries

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Batterson tells about a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence, whose sole purpose in life was to become more intimate with God. He wanted to live in the presence of God every moment; but that didn’t mean he secluded himself from the world. Working in the kitchen at a monastery, Brother Lawrence turned his chores into prayers. So even when he was surrounded by the noise and chatter of the kitchen, he had learned how to tune it out and become tranquil, praying to the Lord in his mind, a peaceful zone as if on his knees in the sanctuary.

Brother Lawrence’s devotion to God inspired another man, Frank Laubach, in the 1930s. The “game with minutes” was Laubach’s prayer experiment which was the practice of calling the Lord to mind at least one second of every minute. One of the ways Laubach would accomplish this was by “shooting” people with silent prayers. As people passed by, he would look at them and pray; sometimes they would do a double take and smile, sometimes their demeanor would change. The game with minutes, shooting prayers, turned the routine of life into an adventure.

Praying without ceasing can be accomplished by turning everything into a prayer. And it usually begins with the big issues in life. Gradually, the smaller things become matters we give to God in prayer. We can pray before we go into meetings; praying for the people in attendance. And we can pray a blessing upon the individuals as we leave. “And eventually, your entire life becomes a continuous prayer. Every thought. Every action. Every moment.”

Weekly church attendance alone cannot produce the powerful one-on-one relationship we need to be in touch with the Lord. Pastor Batterson asks the question, “Can you imagine talking with your spouse or child once a week? God wants a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute relationship with you.” Let us develop a “daily prayer rhythm” – get creative; start a prayer journal, a prayer list.

A favorite “power quote” from this chapter goes like this: “God is only a prayer away…you don’t have to hit your knees or bow your head or fold your hands to be heard…in fact the best prayers don’t even involve words at all. The best prayer is a well-lived life, day in and day out.”