by Kevin Burton
Every Sunday around church time my iPhone sends me a message about screen time, how much time I have spent on the phone that week compared to other weeks.
I don’t care about the message. I didn’t ask for it and I have no use for that data.
Not long ago my Sunday School teacher mentioned screen time and posed this question; What if God sent you a message every week about your prayer time? How are you doing with that spiritual screen time, as compared to other weeks?
Most weeks that message would be a deep embarrassment for me.
God owes me, a sinner, nothing. Yet he has given me everything I truly need. No, I don’t have all my earthly candy store kind of wishes, but I have salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and a place with Him in Heaven.
One of my frequent prayers is, Lord I am grateful, but not nearly grateful enough for what You have done.
When I neglect to pray, to spend quality time for the one who made me and saved me from eternal damnation what does that make me?
Stupid and heartless.
God has the solutions to all my problems. He has them now. No research is needed. If I need help, how is it I don’t go straight to Him? When I don’t, that’s just stupid.
And the heartless part is that God saved you and me, not just to be able to put that on His resume. He saved us so we could be with him forever.
It blows my finite, earthly mind that God would want to spend any time with me. But the Bible says he does.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” (John 14: 1-3 KJV, emphasis mine).
After our discussion in Sunday School, my phone told me I had averaged an hour 40 minutes per day on the phone that week. That made me wonder when was the last time I had spent an hour plus in prayer in a day, or even in a week.
Let’s agree here not to wander down that Pharisaical road and start counting minutes in prayer. But by all means let’s make prayer much more of a priority.
“Our heavenly Father invites us to come to Him with all our concerns. Even so, there are believers who do not bother communicating with the Lord, except in emergencies,” wrote the late Dr. Charles Stanley, speaker on In Touch Ministries. “Unfortunately, neglecting prayer is costly because it often results in weariness and discouragement.”
“Certain situations take an emotional, physical, and spiritual toll on us—we refer to them as ‘burdens,’” Stanley wrote. “These low points can wear us out if we attempt to endure them alone.”
“ For one thing, we aren’t built for such loads, so trying to haul them around will deplete us. What’s more, 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, ‘Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you” (NIV).”
“There’s no point in both the Father and us carrying that weight, especially when He wants to handle it on our behalf. In God’s design, His strength supports us in our weakness, and He is in fact glorified by this arrangement (2 Cor. 12: 9,” Stanley wrote.
“As you pray, picture Jesus’ shoulders just above your own—with Him bearing your problems. Even if the burden doesn’t disappear, it will feel noticeably lighter when you hand it over to the Lord,” Stanley wrote. “Then, like David, you can say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden’ (Psalm 68:19).
I’ve been known to check my phone, not necessarily looking for anything in particular, just to check in and see what’s going on in the world. How much better to spend some time communing with the God of the universe who holds my past present and future and everything else, in His hands?
Page 7 