It's About the Focus

- Dave Montgomery

What does it mean to "devote yourselves to prayer?"  Are we to walk around all day praying?  Paul says in 1 Thessalonians that we are to pray continually.  How do we do that? 

I think that for me it means that I am to have God on my mind continually.  How would He want me to do the things I am doing right now?  I know that God is interested in every aspect of my life, not just the big things, but everything.

As we go through life, we develop personal relationship with others.  If we are around them enough we get to know how they think, what to expect of them, how they might react to a situation, what they expect of me, etc...   I want to be continually developing a deeper relationship with God, not only through my times of prayer, but also as I study His word and meditate on it.  I want to be better at listening to Him and allowing Him to give meaning and direction to my life.  I need to spend more time with Him.

 

As I go through this time of fasting and my old nature cries out to be satisfied and my new nature cries out to keep me from giving in, I will have to concentrate on drawing close to God.  It is not about the food, it is about the focus.  If I concentrate on what I am giving up (food) and not on what I am gaining (time to focus on my relationship with God), I might as well not do the fast.