Prayer Training

Last week when Cassidy posed the question about landing the airplane, I wanted to see a vote. I wanted to see how many would take the safe route and circle back around. How many would take the dangerous approach and nose dive down to the right altitude. I know we would have a pretty solid mixture between the two groups. In fact, some of you are reading this now and revisiting the decision you thought of Sunday morning.

I like to think that I would choose the more safe and responsible option of flying around for another better pass. If we are honest, we have to admit that we really don’t know how we’d react. It is not until we are in that position that we would truly know. It is one of those situations that require you to react and trust your training. Life is full of them.

As I think about Cassidy’s urging of us to stop, breathe, and pray, I realize that putting this into practice is a way of training ourselves to be prepared in these high stress/anxiety situations. The more we intentionally stop, breathe and pray, the greater the chance we will default to these behaviors in times of crisis.

In the scenario of landing the plane, time was of the essence. The anxiety of the moment could be overwhelming. We could miss our chance to make a good decision and find ourselves forced into one we may regret. By putting stop, breathe, pray into our regular daily practice we are preparing ourselves to lean on God when anxious and high stress moments hijack our minds.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul urges us as believers to “pray continually.” He knows that if we are always in prayer, we stand a good chance of standing on the side of peace and self-control when stressful circumstances arise. He knows that prayer has the power to calm the winds that rock our boat we call life. So, stop, breathe, and pray.

Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt