2 Timothy 2:7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
Prayer is communication with God and in communication, there is a sender and a receiver of information. As a result, there must be feedback received after one person speaks. For many people, prayer is a way to get God to hear their problems and help them. They never receive feedback after talking. The opening scripture says to reflect on what is being said. Other versions replace ‘reflect‘ with words like ponder, think and consider. Thinking is the emphasis I want to make for now.
I once heard someone say something and it stuck with me since. He said many Christians are quick to open their mouth in prayer but hardly spend time to think. Another man of God said he has a quiet room he calls his thinking room where he goes to think after prayer. Then I knew that this was something worth looking into.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, This means thinking is a dimension of prayer. Let’s look at the use of the conjunction ‘or’. If the scripture said ask and think, then we can say that you would have to do both to consider it a prayer. But the use of the word ‘or’ shows that either of the two activities – asking, thinking – has the potential to do the same thing. What prayer can do, thinking can also do. We shape our lives by our thoughts and we align our lives with God’s will by prayer. So, they are both doing the same things – Alignment and Shaping. You can think your way into becoming anything because as a man thinketh so is he. That is why our thought must align with our words. You can literally cancel what you spoke in prayer with your thoughts.
Philippians 4:6-8 is another interesting scripture. The writer mentions that we need not be anxious but in everything by prayer, make our request known to God and the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. Then right after that, he mentions things we should think about. Look at the connection between our spoken words in prayer and thoughts. We had to be told what to think about because if what we think is wrong, it will affect the words we say in the place of prayer.
In thinking or meditation, God can speak to us. We can get ideas on how to solve the problem we just prayed about. I can remember certain times I was in very difficult moments. I didn’t even know what to say in prayer so I just kept quiet and did some thinking. While I thought, I began to see that for certain problems I encountered, I caused them by my choices. Once I got to know that, I prayed the right way and saw results.
Sometimes if you just start by opening your mouth to say something without properly diagnosing the problem, you may end up saying trash and even though you may be weeping, that weeping in prayer is not from a place of understanding. Some people would usually cry and ask God ‘Why me?’. Is that a prayer? Instead of dealing with the issue at hand, you are asking why you. Why shouldn’t it be you? That’s pride.
Back to the opening verse, Think on what I am saying for the Lord will give you insight. Thinking brings clarity, direction, guidance, and instruction on what to do. Sometimes we are so quick to say the devil is responsible for everything and because of that we don’t pause and think to see if there is an attitude we have that is causing the issue. Just pause and think more often. We can be so busy that God has a hard time talking to us. Once you shut everything off and be silent before Him, He’d speak.
David prayed in Psalm 104:34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord. He understood that his meditation will affect his overall behavior. 1 Peter 1:13ESV Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Preparing mind for action? I thought it’s our bodies that perform actions. This means every action we take, first begins in our thinking so if we would correct the outcome of our lives, our thinking should be the first thing to work on.
Remember that thoughts are prayers too because He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly and above all we can ask or think.
The Word In Clarity 