So, we, who are many,
are one body in Christ, and
individual members
one of another.
- Romans 12:5 NIV
It’s such an easy concept. You have a power cord and you stick it into an outlet – and thus you get electricity to common household items. This has worked for many years as long as all the wires are connected properly. Sure, there are the occasional power outages, but more times than not we can count on electricity to make life more comfortable. However, it only takes one time when the electricity goes out to understand what we oftentimes take for granted.
Our faith and our prayer life parallel with our reliance on electricity. We attempt to keep “our power lines” in proper working order by praying to God faithfully and consistently. It’s a rather simple process of taking time to “plug into” God with both prayers of thanksgiving and concern. I suspect that most of our prayers are sent with the expectation that once God receives them, the power will be turned on. Ask and you shall receive takes on a whole new meaning.
Have you ever considered what God does with our prayers? The flipside to prayers is realizing what God does with all our prayers. If we believe in God’s omnipresence, then a power surge seems like a distinct possibility. Ephesians 1 indicates that Jesus is a more than efficient conduit. Prayers go up; God and Jesus come down. To me, it makes sense that we seek to discern both directions of our prayer life. If we expect God to meet us halfway with prayers going up, why wouldn’t we determine that our actions should be required coming the other direction. Preparing for God’s response to our prayers feels like keeping a regular maintenance schedule on our circuit box. We’ve got to keep our faith and prayers in good working order for God to connect with us. We seem to be preoccupied with how we connect with God, and not so much how God connects with us. It is true that Christ died for our sins, but that’s not the end of the sentence.
After all, electrical outlets are designed to give people the reassurance that power is as close as the back of the outlet plate. Do we take God (our faithful power source) for granted? Are we quick to hand over our prayers like expecting electricity without paying our monthly bills? Is there anything we can do to realize how much God loves us and to become better outlets for others? Our ability to share our electricity is found in God and Jesus Christ. How many people are “sitting in the dark” because they don’t know about faith and prayer or God and Jesus Christ. It’s time for us to get plugged in with God!