Eric, as we're talking about prayer, about the devotional life I want to ask you very
practical questions because sometimes the things we talk about are very ethereal and
spiritual, theological, mystical. But there are practical elements to prayer
as well. One of them is this: how do I stay awake during
prayer? You know, if I get up early in the morning
and, you know, I'm kind of tired and it's quiet and I have some nice, soft music on,
how do I keep from just dosing off? Yeah, well I mean practically you should get
some good sleep before you start praying, you know what I mean?
Sometimes that's not always possible, but if it's possible get your sleep first, you
know what I mean? Sleep a good amount.
Uh, and second of all coffee's great, you know?
I like my coffee. The coffee's great.
Speaking of which. Another thing is standing up, standing up
will help you. Sometimes if I'm, if I'm dozing, if I'm in
stillness and I feel myself dozing I'll just stand up, and I just workshop the same and
get still again. But -- or I'll pace real slowly, softly, you
know, sometimes the motion can really hinder you because it just gets you riled up, you
know? When we come to God and we relax we testify
to Him by our disposition; we recognize there's nothing we can affect ourselves and we need
Him. It's a, it's a disposition of poverty to be
relaxed, "Lord, I've got nothing here, I can't do anything."
So you stand up, walk slowly, pray in the Holy Ghost very softly, worship.
You know, this helps a lot. And then once your blood gets going you can
sit back down again. And if you feel like you're dozing stand up
again and just relax, you know, very softly, everything -- with me everything is very gentle
and sweet in the, in the secret place. At first it wasn't like that, it was loud
and pushing and pressing, and machine gunning God with tongues and it just -- I found that
there was no bliss there, you know? I overran Him, instead of Him guiding me,
you know? So I hear you say posture is important, you
know, and it's not, it's not a bad -- to have a crutch, like a cup of coffee, or, you
know, sometimes, sometime the environment. If you've got too comfortable of a chair you're
sitting in go sit in a different chair, or things like that.
That's practical things, isn't it. It's common sense things.
Yeah, very. I think what it all boils down to, for me,
and I think the people, people watching this will relate to this.
You'll have it if you want it. That's good.
You know, I mean you can't fall asleep at work.
Right. Nobody falls at work and says, "Well I'm too
tired; I didn't sleep enough last night." Because you know you can't fall asleep at
work. You know you'll get fired.
And there's -- you're motivated, you're incentivized to do it.
Right. And I think a lot of times what, what a lot
of these objectives boil down to is just lack of desire.
Yeah. Or, you know, because if you really want it
you'll find a way to make it happen. You've got that great little excerpt.
You talk about valuing God, and you do the things that you value.
Yeah. Yeah, do you remember that?
Yeah, well, I mean the scripture says that he that cometh unto God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
And reward is always based on perceived value of some incentive.
So, you know, like for example if there was, uh, a dangerous criminal loose
here in town, and the government said, "We're going to give a $5 bounty for anybody who
will go out and apprehend him," nobody would -- nobody would even bother to get off their
couch. But if they say, "We're giving a $5 million
bounty," suddenly people will come out of the woodwork because it's the perceived value
of that reward; it's an incentive. And, and the, and the Lord says that, "If
you want to seek Me you have to believe that I am and that I am a rewarder of them that
seek Me." So if the Lord said to us, "The reward for
seeking Me is a million dollars," a lot of people would do it.
But what He said to Abraham is, "I am your reward."
When we realize that the reward for seeking God is God Himself then we discover how
much of an incentive that is. And that tells us how much we actually value
him because if the reward of receiving God Himself doesn't motivate us to seek Him that
means we really don't value Him that much. And why should God give Himself in greater
measure to people that don't value Him?