The Main Thing About Prayer

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock - Melbourne

Peter Lord once said, “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”.  This is a great life philosophy.  Short and to the point, it implies two fundamental principles.  Know what is important, and don’t get distracted by what isn’t important.  But sometimes identifying what is important is harder than we realize.

Take prayer for example.  We know it’s important, but why?  Because He said so?  Because it’s how we get stuff to happen?  Those reasons may motivate for a while, but my experience is that they don’t  remain long term.  I’ve seen many prayer groups start out strong praying for a move of God, but dwindle over time when the answer didn’t come.  What if the answer comes only after years of praying?  What keeps us going?

It’s easy to “grow weary in well doing” when we focus on results.  So I’ve been trying to refocus on the real reason we pray.

In Genesis 15:1 God told Abraham, “I am your exceedingly great reward”.  And that’s why we pray; to have Him.  If that is my reason, my reward in prayer, it really doesn’t matter if answers are years away.  I can have Him every time.  The main thing; one criteria of a successful prayer time.  Did I connect with Him?

Balancing Your Books

Tony Hauck

Church on the Rock - Melbourne

I pulled financial reports today for our monthly meeting. In just a few minutes I have a report that explains what we’ve done with every dollar we’ve been given, and how that compares to our budget. We create a budget each year so that we spend intentionally. Our income can vary, so if we spent according to the wants and needs of the moment, we may not have enough later to pay all our bills. Budgets help you determine when to say “yes” or “no”. We plan ahead because we are accountable.

God has given each of us a fixed, known asset, and we will have to account for how we’ve spent it. Its called time; 168 hours a week. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a year end spending report on our time? Of course you have to trade part of your time for income, and spend some on family and friends. And you have to spend a fair bit taking care of yourself, like eating and sleeping. You may be surprised to learn that the average person still has over forty hours left in their week to do whatever they want. Most of us don’t budget that time, often allowing the desire of the moment to crowd out more important things. If we don’t spend our time intentionally, often others will determine how its spent.

I find that considering the millennium motivates me. If our goal is just to be a good Christian and get to heaven, we’ve missed a lot of the Bible. This life is just an internship. Our true function kicks in when Jesus returns. We’ll be partnering with Him in judging and ruling and restoring. There will be positions of authority. But here is the catch; the position you hold then is determined by what you did with this life.

Consider Ephesians 5:14-16. Every hour we’re given is gone the moment we spend it, unless its invested in eternity. Then it accrues interest forever.