“…the love of God is
without end: ‘Having loved his own
which were in the world, he loved them unto the end’ (eternally, John 31:3).
The love of God in the believer is said to ‘suffer long’ and then is kind.”
He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.
This last week as we were away on a cruise ship to the
Western Caribbean, I spent a few hours on the muster deck of the ship reading a
book by one of my favorite pastors, John MacArthur. The book is entitled “Alone
with God.” The deck at sea this day was quiet with only a few walkers doing
their daily laps to help them curb their eating guilt. My wife had taken the time
to do a few laps around the ship (making each round about ¼ of a mile) while I
read. The breeze quietly moved across the deck where I was seated in a
comfortable deck chair making the sea air soothing and refreshing to breathe.
The waves breaking against the front of the ship were calm by the time they
moved across mid-ship where I was seated as I felt the ship rise and fall.
Before I began reading, I spent was praying. I was thanking
the Lord for the vacation we had, the beautiful ocean I saw passing by, and
several other things which were in the forefront of my mind. After finishing, I
began to read. As I read Chapter 1, something which spoke to me about the
awesome privilege of prayer.
MacArthur talked about the essence of prayer and said this: “For Christians prayer is like breathing. You
don’t have to think to breathe because the atmosphere exerts pressure on your
lungs and forces you to breathe. That’s why it is more difficult to hold your
breath than it is to breathe. Similarly, when you’re born into the family of
God, you enter into a spiritual atmosphere wherein God’s presence and grace
exert pressure, or influence, on your life. Prayer is the normal response to
that pressure. As believers we have all entered the divine atmosphere to breathe
the air of prayer. Only then can we survive in the darkness of the world. Unfortunately
many believers hold their spiritual breaths for long periods, thinking brief
moments with God are sufficient to allow them to survive. But such restricting
of their spiritual intake is caused by sinful desires. The fact is, every
believer must be continually in the presence of God, constantly breathing in
His truths to be fully functional.”
While reading, I could sense the presence of God during that
time, being away from all the chaos in the world I consistently live. But somehow,
the presence of God seemed to be so near. How is it that He felt so near in the
middle of the Gulf of Mexico and not in St. Augustine? Have I been holding my
breath in the real world back at home? Of course this isn’t true but it seemed
like it. Maybe it was because this was the first time I had to get away from
the “darkness of the world?” Is it possible to be in God’s atmosphere and
presence back in reality? Of course, but sometimes it makes it very difficult
though. I admit like most Christians that my prayer life could be better and
want to be better. I think most real Christians would agree on this point, but
what if we treated it like breathing air? What happens when we try to do
without breathing for too long? We can’t do it!
This is the way our Heavenly Father has shown us His great
love for us. He wants to connect with us throughout our day, every day, not
times when we get away. He wants us to be in connection with Him just like
breathing air. And when we manufacture times of prayer, they really aren’t the
type He seeks. They are normally just 911 prayers, seeking His intervention and
leaving it all to Him to do something about and take care of the issues. When we
pray each day, we are asking for the Almighty to intervene with Heaven’s power.
Let’s face it, God really doesn’t need us; we need Him. We are the recipients
of blessing, not Him!
Excerpt from: John F. MacArthur Jr., Alone with God,
MacArthur Study Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995), 13.
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