Prayer: Steering Wheel or Spare Tire???

Posted by on Sep 21, 2016 in Signboard | 0 comments

On Setpember 21 2016, the following message was posted on our church signboard:

PRAYER IS A STEERING WHEEL,

NOT A SPARE TIRE!

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Car Habits

The next time you get into your car, notice what you do.  It’s all habit so you probably haven’t even thought about it.  But chances are, you sit down, buckle up, and then you start the engine.  But before you go, what’s the first part of the car you touch?  Or put it this way… do you start out by touching the Steering Wheel or do you instantly go to the Spare Tire?

The Spare Tire is probably the last thing you think about when you get into your car.  In fact, when’s the last time you even saw your spare tire?  Have you checked its pressure recently?  Is it flat?  Would it even help you if you got stuck on the road with a flat tire?  And how about that jack?  Does it work???

No, you don’t think about the spare tire.  Your immediate focus is backing out of the driveway or parking spot, and your hands immediately go to the steering wheel.

 

Good Morning!

What happens when you get up in the morning?  When you get in your car, your foot hits the brake and you reach for the steering wheel; when you get up in the morning, your foot hits the floor… what do your reach for?  Where’s your attention run to?

Coffee…
Things you need to say today…
Things you shouldn’t have said yesterday…
The mess you left in the kitchen sink…
The computer that was downloading updates when you went to bed…
The report you have to make today…

What does the Bible tell us to reach for first?  In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.   NIV

 

Your Morning Steering Wheel

The first thing we’re supposed to reach for is The Kingdom.  We do that by putting our day’s initial thoughts on God.  We thank Him for another day of life.  We thank Him for giving us a bed and for putting a roof over our heads.  We seek the Kingdom by connecting with God.  To do that, our first “touch” of the day should be with God through prayer.

Prayer is our Steering Wheel.  It’s our first priority.

Then why do our thoughts immediately jump to the things that God already has covered?  Wouldn’t it be better if the first thing we did in the morning is to make a connection with God (the source of all your solutions) through prayer?  Instead, many of us relegate prayer to the back of the car.  We give prayer as much thought as we do about our spare tire… until we run into a problem.

 

Your Steering Wheel Throughout the Day

Paul told us to keep on praying throughout the day.  Always be in a state of prayer.  Here’s what he wrote to the church in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:16-18)…

16 Be joyful always;  pray continually;  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
NIV

So does that mean that we’re supposed to close our eyes and fold our hands all day???  No, but it does mean that we should always be looking for God in every circumstance.

The opposite of these verses might say…

Be happy when you finish your commute;  pray when something goes wrong; be thankful when something good happens…

Is that what we do?  If prayer is the first thing we touch in the day- if it’s our steering wheel- God will be our guide throughout the day.  But if we only pray when we run into trouble, then prayer is only a spare tire.

Let prayer be your guiding steering wheel; your first priority.  Don’t let it get lost in the trunk.

 

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