Vital Signs

In medical circles they talk about “vital signs”: temperature, pulse, and respiration. When we are sick or recovering from surgery, these vital signs are monitored carefully. If these are all normal, we are at least in fair condition.

For the Christian life, the act of prayer is one of the “vital signs.” Prayer to God, prayer without ceasing, prayer in the good times, prayer in the down times, prayer with hope. 

At times it is difficult to hang in there with God. Things go wrong, and it seems that our prayers rise not higher than the ceiling. At times there is no Jacob left in us and to wrestle with God all night seems a futile thing. But we cannot let our prayer depend on how many times we receive a “yes” from God. If we received all that we asked of God, we would soon treat God as a convenience and we would look at prayer as magic. Then our faith in God would morph into faith in prayer; and that is not the way God would have it. 

Prayer is the language of faith. Jesus invites us to pray always and not lose heart. The words of our prayers flow from the depth of our hearts, we pray as ourselves—saints and sinners that we are. We pray with hope of a beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.: (Matthew 5:6).

Pastor Scott Schantzenbach