"Current"-ly Praying

And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, "The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the inquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation." --Numbers 14:17-18

O the awesome power of God!  "Be exalted, O God, in Your own strength!  We will sing and praise Your power." (Psalm 21:13).

I was thinking today about the last time an electrician was in my house.  I had replaced some outlets in the upstairs bedroom, but when I was done, there was no power.  I checked and rechecked the connections.  Each of the live wires was connected securely.  When I had given up hope, I called a friend with some knowledge of electricity, and he said, "You've got no current."  He checked the wires, and found out that I was not grounded properly.  When he was done, power flowed freely through all four outlets.  We had current.

Today I was reminded of that episode while I was struggling to stay plugged in to God.  After the morning I had, I was ready to turn off, power down, and go dark.  But I didn't, and it turned out to be a pretty good day after all.  Throughout the day, I kept the channel of prayer open to God.  He never fails.

Electricians call the stream of electrons that run through the wires in our home "current".  If there is no current, there is no power.  With no current, your appliances are dead.  The word "current" can also mean belonging to the present time; happening or being used now.

As I think about these two uses of the word "current", I think of a spiritual word play.  Without a continual, present-tense connection to electricity, an appliance will not work.  It could have been plugged in yesterday; it can certainly be plugged in tomorrow.  But unless the connection to the "current" is current, the appliance is useless.

I think this is why the Apostle Paul admonished us to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  If we fail to give thanks in all circumstances, we get run down.  If we fail to pray at all times, we grow powerless.  Our prayers must be "current" to give us strength to go on day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.  If we fail to connect to the Power Source, there is no "current" in our lives.

On the other hand, if we do learn to pray without ceasing, to rejoice always, the result is electrifying!