Prayer is Paying Attention

NCF Office – February 27, 2024 1 Comment

Have you ever found yourself hearing the same word in multiple places: songs, scripture, a word from a friend, a pastor…until you finally realize that maybe God is trying to get your attention to tell you something? Read on to hear Jeff’s story of a time God used multiple avenues to get a word to him and the impact it made on his life. –Melissa Logsdon

I was watching a good TV series recently where two people were talking about prayer. One was a skeptic and the other a believer. The skeptic asked the believer, “What, you talk to God?”. The believer responded, “No, I listen”. 

One of the essential aspects of prayer is listening. To listen, one must pay attention. Given what Dr. Cornel West calls, weapons of mass distraction in our society, this may be easier said than done. I recall a time when I had to lead a bible study at my campus ministry and did not feel any leading as to what to study and discuss. It was really bothering me as I usually have things come to me when I am preparing to teach. This time, however, nothing was coming – call it teachers block. Then, one day, during the week, I was flipping channels and paused on one of those church channels. This is something I rarely did, back then or now, as most TV churches or preaching does not appeal to me. I did not stop on the channel to get teaching ideas either. But I paused long enough to hear the pastor speak about peace. I proceeded to flip channels and did not think about it. Then that following Sunday, I went to church, which is something I did not do consistently by any means. Pastor Raymond Winfrey, one of the people that helped shaped who I am today, preached about, you guessed it, peace. Out of the 52 Sundays of the year, it just so happened peace was that morning’s topic. At this point, I was beginning to get the hint. However, just in case I was not completely sure what my topic should be about, I went to work that Monday morning where my coworker had a Christian calendar with each day showing a unique scripture. And yes, believe it or not, it was about peace. It was Romans 5:1, which says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”. Out of 365 options, that day at work had a scripture about peace. 

I have never been a person to feel God clearly speaks to me, or had visions/dreams, or heard prophetic voices, etc. I approach my faith like many things in my life – with logic and what seems sensible. If I choose to believe God and Jesus is real, it is logical and makes sense to treat other people like Jesus did. For me, it is not mystical or deep. With this experience, however, God pushed beyond my logical self and made sure I understood there is more. My logical mind could not help but reach that conclusion. After all, when you calculate the odds that I would decide to linger long enough on a channel with church on TV (not very good odds then or now – let’s give it a generous 1/10) multiplied by the number of sermon topics on any given Sunday of the year (let’s say the pastor loved talking about peace and talked about it 10 times that year (10/52), multiplied by the 365 days of the year when one random scripture is selected for a Christian calendar (1/365). And not to mention all three occurrences happening in the 3-4 days after I started worrying about teaching topics. The calculation is 10/189,8000 or .005269% without considering the timeframe in which these 3 things occurred. 

I must admit, it was the most profound time I felt God really speaking to me in my life. I never heard anything that loud and clear before or after. But part of the lesson for me was that I did not have to. I have come to understand that the lesson I was searching for was not for the bible study listeners or at least not for them alone. It was for me. This God experience where I was forced to pay attention not only built my faith but also gives me a constant reminder that not only is God there, but that we should always have peace since we have been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

People often ask me if I get nervous before I speak in various venues. While there is always some level of nervousness, I tell them that preparation and passion mitigate most of any nervousness that I may experience but it is God’s peace that undergirds everything in my life. I encourage each of you reading this to try out God’s peace today, knowing that whatever you are going through God says you have peace there waiting for you.

-Jeff Trask, NCF Adjunct Pastor