Scripture
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish.
~Jonah 2:1, NLT
Quote
We don’t pray to get on with the business, prayer is the business.
~Jack Taylor
Then Jonah prayed. He did not pray when the LORD gave him his assignment. He did not pray before boarding the ship for Gibraltar. He did not pray when the tempest hit and the ship was being toss to and fro. He didn’t even pray when the ship’s captain asked him to pray. He didn’t pray before being tossed over board but THEN, in the belly of the fish, he prayed. Jonah waited until he was in distress to pray. He waited until there was a major-major crisis. He only prayed when there was no other option; that’s when he prayed. Prayer should have been his first response but it was his last resort. There are no atheist in the belly of a fish. In the dark and restricted confines of the stomach of the fish; Jonah prayed. I happen to think it was a whale but of course I cannot prove it was or was not. A whale makes sense but I admit that God’s sense doesn’t always make sense because we don’t have enough sense for His sense to make sense. Does that make sense? I know one thing for sure: Jonah was in distress due to his lack of prayer. Had he prayed earlier and been obedient to the LORD, he would not be in such a predicament. Jonah created his own storm. What’s more amazing is that God answered his prayer and saved his sorry rear end.
What about you, when do you pray? I hope you don’t wait until a storm hits to pray or until a near death experience. Prayer is a big part of the Jonah narrative: The sailors are praying in chapter one, Jonah prays in chapter two, the city of Nineveh prays in chapter three. Prayer is like breathing, it is something we do all the time. We need to pray daily. We need to pray often and not simply when things go wrong. The reason some things go wrong is that we have not been praying. Prayer is no burden: I don’t have to pray, I want to pray, I love to pray. I don’t know about you but nothing is more invigorating to me than talking to Jesus.
- Well folks, I am tired. Both my body and my brain are numb. I’ve had back-to-back days of work and travel and I am wore out. Continue to pray for Larry Bennich, Kristen Sherman, and Amanda.
- I want to thank the members of GP for giving us a PASTOR’S APPRECIATION BANQUET last night and we thank them for the generous gift which will meet a need. Not all of them read the blog but many of them do. Thank you guys! You are a blessings.
- Two bad weeks in a row on my predictions. I would have lost the farm on the Auburn game. Its a good think I don’t bet. I missed the LSU game and Ole Miss beating Arkansas.
- God bless you; hope you have a great day and a great week.