A neighbor told me that his friend died on Thanksgiving night because he ate too much.  Thinking this was a joke, I asked “How did that happen!?”   My neighbor said “Yeah, he ate so much that when he laid down on his bed he threw up and died.”  His brother standing there confirmed this, and I responded involuntarily “That's terrible!”   “Yeah,” my neighbor said, “But at least he died full.”  

God gives His children a warning about the consequences of sin, through Micah the prophet: “You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty.”  Micah 6:14. This is a perpetual feeling of emptiness.  I do not have to look far to find others and sometimes even myself trying to fill that sense of emptiness, and choosing empty pursuits in an unconscious effort to fill an empty soul.   A believer in Jesus knows that physical food does not make the soul full.  Food is for sustenance, for energizing the body to continue its life functions.  Overeating of food and over-indulgence in the pleasures of food is unhealthy, gluttonous, and  idolatrous.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, and ask Him to be Lord of our appetites.  You were bought with a price; therefore honor God in your body!  I Cor.  6:20

The Bible says, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”  Proverbs 23:20-21.   Proverbs 23:2 proclaims, “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”   Okay, so that last one sounds extreme.   But gluttony is extreme.   Yes, eating too much food is one of those supposedly “legal” addictions so common in America, but followers of Jesus should recognize our need for self-control in this tendency to over-eat.   Obesity kills. 

I just now headed out of my office for something, and found myself reaching for one of my wife's delectable rebel bars.   Why!?!   I had eaten two at the supper table!  So I willed myself to say “No!” to that temptation to eat something fattening and unhealthy on a full stomach, but instinctively opened the refrigerator to look inside.  What was going on?   Without realizing it, I was feeling a need for something even though I was not the least bit “hungry” physically.   This is an area of my life that the Spirit wants me to grow in.   Bring those feelings of emptiness before God, who says “Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:2. Receiving spirit food from our Heavenly Father is the best source of energy and health that we could pursue.   Will you take time to listen to Jesus today?     He said “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  John 4:32.    What is your food?                        

Jesus said “"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.   Matthew 6:5,6

I am saddened to realize that this, the 12th issue of A Faith that Works, is the first issue addressing prayer.  How did I miss it?  This may show that I can relegate prayer to the theoretical, spiritual, and theological aspects of life, and keep it out of the practical level.  One reason for writing A Faith that Works is to help answer this question: “What does it mean to live as a Christian today?”   Well, it seems the way forward begins and continues through prayer.   Jesus did not say “If you pray,” or “When you get the time to pray,” or “At your monthly prayer meetings” do this or that.   He said “When you pray,” operating out of the assumption that His followers will be regular, passionate people of prayer. 

Do not neglect prayer.  The measure of your spiritual heartbeat and God-desiring temperature is directly proportional to the level of priority, importance, and passion you give yourself to prayer.   Please understand me here.  I am not saying that you need to jump into more prayer groups and into more corporate times of prayer to prove that you are a praying person.  Certainly there is a time and place for group prayer gatherings, but Jesus did teach us that we need to regularly find a quiet place to come away to and pray to our Father “who is in the secret place.”   Oh, how bright our lights can shine, and how real can be our direction and discernment to the question “What does it mean to live as a Christian today?” when we bring ourselves, our struggles, our questions, and our praise before God in private prayer.  The writer of Hebrews tells the believer to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16.   Our times of prayer to the Father are likely the most practical, most God-glorifying, most Real, and most wise ways that we can allow God to direct our steps and make Him known to the world around us.   Seek His face.   Ask and you will receive.   Seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened to you. 

Here is a prayer dare.  Schedule a one-hour date with God this week and take it to pray, perhaps laying your Bible open before God and asking Him to direct you in listening to Him and in praying to Him.