Pastor's Perspective, Sunday, January 15, 2012

How would you rate your prayer life on a scale of 1 to 10?  What number would you give yourself?   A 10?  Or a 1? Something in between?

I had to rate myself last summer when I was applying for my minister’s license and had just finished the exam that took a couple of hours.   I was handed another sheet that had questions about myself and I had to rate myself on the different topics.   Most questions were easy to answer.   Questions like getting along with other pastors, caring for the people of the church, in alignment with the doctrine, tithing, and so on.  

One question stopped me.   How would I rate my prayer life on a scale of 1 to 10? 

A number of thoughts went through my mind before I answered the question.  Have you ever had a debate with yourself?  Here are some of the thoughts I had:

·         If I don’t give myself a 10, would they think I am not spiritual enough?

·         I do spend time in prayer everyday so maybe I can rate myself a little higher than a 1. 

·         How can I rate myself a high number, can I ever rate a 10 without spending 24 hours a day on my knees?

·         But compared to others that I know, I exceed their level of prayer.  Boy that was an ego statement – “sorry Lord”.

·         But the Lord spoke to me clearly and said: “You cannot compare your prayer life to others, you need to compare yourself to what I (the Lord) expects from you.”

So I ask you again, how do you rate your prayer life?   Compare your prayer life to what God expects, not compared to your neighbor.

Let us all work this year to increase our prayer rating by spending more time in prayer and less time doing things less important.

Associate Pastor Ken