ABC Great Rivers Region: Guest Columnist Max Klinkenborg

“Too Busy Not to Pray”

Max Klinkenborg, formerly GRR Associate Minister, Area II and Congregational Ministries - Natural Church Development

Have you ever asked yourself, “How is the life of a Christian different from the life of a ‘good’ person who doesn’t claim Jesus as Lord?” Some ‘good’ people behave better than some Christians, or so it seems on the surface, so what is the difference? Not wanting to oversimplify an important question, let me suggest that one primary difference is that the Christian is a pray-er.

A pray-er is one who responds to many of life’s situations with a prayer. When they face the bounty of a full plate, they offer a prayer of thanks. When a pray-er sees an exceptionally beautiful sunrise or sunset, they offer a prayer of adoration to an awesome God. When they face fear from risks, or natural disasters, or illness, they ask God to be present and comfort them. When they are disappointed in their own behavior and feel shame and guilt, they pray for God’s forgiveness.

The Christian responds to life’s routine and life’s surprises with prayer, with eyes open or eyes closed, alone or in a crowd, out loud or silent, touching a needy person, in the midst of acts of kindness and generosity, or across land and sea to distant peoples and places. But maybe prayer isn’t quite second nature to you, in fact, you would admit there are days when you don’t pray at all. What can we do?

Bill Hybels book, “Too Busy Not to Pray” acknowledges that many Christians have good intentions about prayer, but haven’t developed a prayer routine that will help them be the pray-er they want to be. He uses the acrostic, ACTS, and suggests there are four components to prayer and the order is also important.

A is for adoration or worship. We must begin with the acknowledgement that we are talking to the Creator and Sustainer of the World, the One who gave us life and breath and is worthy of our full adoration and worship, even when we are not certain how to show it.

C is for confession. When we confront the all-knowing God, we are stripped of our charades, our pretense, our deceptions and lies. We must confess, not wholesale, but specifically, the words and deeds that have separated us from God, others and ourselves.

T is for thanksgiving. Now is the time to be grateful, appreciative and humble in the face of the many ways in which God has blessed us beyond anything we have earned or deserve. Again we need to be specific, mentioning individual blessings, rather than the blanket statements that ring of insincerity and spiritual laziness.

S is for supplication or requests. Hybels says, “Once I’ve worshiped God, confessed my sins, and given thanks, it’s okay for me to take out my shopping list.” Remembering that God is not a celestial bellhop, ready to do our bidding for a small tip, we do well to ask in humility and in ‘fear and trembling’ lest God grant us the wishes of a selfish heart.

Look for the opportunities in your life to be a pray-er and practice the discipline of prayer through