Prayers that work: thinking in circumspect while focussing in particular

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

27 May 2010

What are you thinking about when you are busy? Anyone working, no matter where, thinks a certain percentage about the focus matter that they are busy with but around the focus are nearly 10 different jumping flashes of photos of memory coming up: favorite dish, child, mother, father, brother, sister, and other daily routine items. Are thoughts about the Bible, church, doctrines, persons of the Bible, Psalm verses, one sentence prayer to God, hymn lines, switch on as these 10 flashes every few seconds? What we are saying, is that no one just think about labor, work, content matter of study, education, Arbeit, tasks, operation. People are not robots who can just focus on what is in front of them in the camera or view and do what is programmed automatically. People think in circumspect while focussing in particular. 

Jesus once said that we should pray without ceasing and many people thought that is impossible. The answer is just what we have explained. While busy doing something, your thoughts naturally wanders offroad and back on track, offroad and back on track. The more problems you have with one of the 10 flashes of photos of the memory, the more that one particular photo will return and return and return until you pay more attention offroad than on track and your supervisor have to ask you whether you are day-dreaming.

Many people talk about what they see in the 10 flashes: sports, actor, movies, popular ballad, novel. They talk about all kinds of topics and that switch on in turn 10 flash photos in the memory of the listener finding a link in which the person can entertain back the one who just spoke. Most people wants to find common ground. There are societies that teaches their citizens to talk about all the five needs that Maslow has listed but not to talk about any religion. They have taught themselves to cut this aspect from their memory and conversation. They surpress the 10 flash photos every few seconds in their memory regarding worship, prayer, faith, experience with God, love, fellowship. They use expressions like: I am agnostic, I am an atheist and so on to create superficial barriers protecting their memory from delfing for 10 flash photos finding correlation. They do not want to link or correlate or continue a conversation in that direction.

When you use your free time, spare moment, off time, vacation time, holiday, early morning quiet time, evening sleeping time, toilet time, sitting in traffic time to listen to or read the Word of God in any place of the Bible, you are creating hundreds of photos at a time that is filed in your memory and which will flash, 10 every few seconds while you are working, playing, walking, talking, doing whatever, wherever.

If there is anything in Christianity that I like most, it is the priviledge to have these 10 flash photos in my memory every few seconds. Sometimes it is a moment in time years ago that appears vividly for two seconds. It is almost like someone took millions of photos of my life, stored it in my memory through experience and then in my now, suddenly mix the cards and take out at random this one and that one: 1981, 1999, 2010, last week, last month, yesterday, this morning, all in one sudden moment.

The Bible switched on in my life when I received a Bible as a gift at the age of 7 or 8. At that time what attracted me about it was its clean smell. I have a big nose and enjoy good smells. Then there was the very peculiar red paint on three sides. The black cover in front and back and the shoulder. I have never seen any book like this, at that time. And the words, so many. The pages were very soft and one's fingers could play with the pages very easily. Then our local church wanted us to memorize some verses, then a couple of verses, then a whole chapter and then expected us to read the whole Bible. There is a special program for that where you read every day one chapter. You have to stick to the program and in one year you can complete the whole Bible. Some days you read the content but other days you just read words and lines in order to rush to the end of the chapter. Those were the beginning days. Everyone is a beginner. But later came the post-beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, post-intermediate, pre-advanced and advanced readings. The fun did not stop. Endless is the Bible and the Word of God. Post-advanced readings followed and is still continuing without stop.

All this created in the memory flash photos that return to this content matter of the Word of God. Now I have the wonderful advantage that every few seconds, aspects of the Word of God flashes through my memory. We are talking here about the brain's ability to focus in the particular and at the same time flash 10 photos of the memory in circumspect of the particular focus.

If someone says: "When I work, I think of nothing but my work", the person is talking nonsense. No-one is like that. That is why there are so many "under the belt conversations" at work.

Now we return to the subject of prayer. Since Jesus asks us to pray without ceasing and since the brain has the capacity to flash in circumspect of a particular focus or series of focusses 10 memory photos every two or three seconds, therefore, a Christian can have the advantage to enjoy prayer at work, sports, play, driving, singing, walking, shopping, visiting friends and even just relaxing.

Teach yourself that when you are working and your sick father flash in your brain suddenly, your quiet lips are forming the words immediately "O Lord, please help him".

When sins of your past flash before you, teach yourself to form the words with quiet lips: "Lord forgive me". When you see the people you may have harmed in you life, your quiet lips form the words: "O Lord, please help her, or him".

Karl Marx, the socialist thinker made the mistake blaming religion as the opium of the people. What he did not know, is that classical marxism or neo-marxism today is also opium of the people. Opium has the problem that it removes people from their present reality and places them on a dream pattern for something future to expect. With opium it is never attained but people are happy to have it. Christianity in his opinion functioned like opium since it made people expect a future that to him seemed ever evasive. Reading the Bible and comparing it to history and seeing how prophecies have been fulfilled and how current prophecies are being fulfilled make the Christian realize that his socalled "opium" is not real opium since the end is in sight in future. Marx system is an opium to the people since he was hoping to create a socialistic "heaven on earth". Ever evasive is the words. The poorest countries with the most suffering of humans are socialist countries. Classical Marxism or neo-marxism could not fulfill their promises or their opium dreams. Whereas Marxism is a horizontal humanistic "opium", Christianity is a vertical reality that even helps renovating the mess that marxism in all its forms have created, by changing the Christians circumspective thinking in thoughts of encouragement, hope, forgiveness, love, patience, endurance. All aspects that Marxism could never offer or dare to offer.

During the centuries and moments in history of Christian persecution, they were hoping to kill the person and his or her ideas but the body was subject to pain and suffering but the brain kept receiving 10 flash photos of memory of the Word of God helping the person to smile in the fire burning around him/her. Prayer without ceasing.

When you start to pray like this, you will see how the Lord answer your prayers. My wife and I prayed a week or two ago: "Lord please give us a car, for our car is now old". Today a professor from the university called and said: "My son emigrated to the USA and left his car here. Please come and take it". We went there today and dust it off so that we can see inside and outside. The car smells new and drives well, better than the one we have currently. Pray without ceasing.  

Lord, I see Jesus on the cross and say: "Also me Lord, remember me when You come in your kingdom at the second Advent."

I see my aunt Maria with the cancer and say: "Lord, help her".

I see my friend's father in Sahmyook Adventist Medical Center and say: "Lord heal him from the virus that gives him fever".

I see my father and his bloodtests this week. "Heal him from his tiredness and what is the cause of it".