Are we Prepared?

The other day, I was reminded of the story when Jesus cast a demon from a child as told in Mark’s Gospel. One of my favorite quotes that I have used as a prayer many times is the child’s father saying, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” That part that stuck in my head this time was Jesus’ answer to why his disciples could not drive it out, “This kind can come out only by prayer” and the fact that Mark does not record Jesus praying. The obvious conclusion is that Jesus had already spent time in prayer and because of that, was ready for what the day had in store.

A friend of mine wrote an article about taking time to “observe” and that we do not do that enough. I am not sure why that article reminded me of this statement from Jesus. Maybe because football has started and to be prepared, players need to watch game film and observe their opponents tendencies.

What struck me hard was that this is not my natural way of living. My whole life, I struggled with creating things on my own. I played sports growing up and I was always better at defense where you would react to what the offence did rather than create a play yourself. Even as a project manager, I was reacting to the task I was assigned. Since the possibilities of what could happen are endless, it is easier and more practical to react than to prepare for multiple situations.

With that in mind, one would think that if praying is all we need to do to prepare for what God will bring our way, that I would jump at the chance. Sadly, I have struggled with my prayer life my entire Christian life. When things are going well, I would forget to pray. When things were going bad, I would feel guilty for only praying when things are bad. Even when I did pray, it seemed like I spent more time with my checklist of prayer requests than on anything else. I saw very few answers to prayer and I had to convince myself of those.

What if we combined these two ideas: observe and pray?

What if our time with God each day was spent with “observing” God in the Bible, “observing” God’s face in praise, and then praying to God with thanksgiving and our requests?

Lord, help me to see you better in the Bible, in the world around me, and in my life so that I can praise you and pray to you more. Prepare me for what you have in store for me.