What's Your Spiritual Temperature?
When I saw this quote the other day, I didn’t immediately embrace it. My initial reaction was that of course prayer is important, but what about reading His word and doing our best to follow it? A Voddie Baucham sermon I was listening to a couple days ago convicted me on this point. Obviously, reading the Bible and living it out is vital to our spiritual health, BUT this is merely proof of our love for Him and that He is working in our lives. If we’re not careful, especially if we neglect prayer, this can turn into legalism, self-righteousness, and pride (i.e. “Look at me obeying Christ.”). Prayer, on the other hand, expresses our NEED for Christ and a desire to depend on Him. If we say to ourselves, “I don’t really need to pray today,” then we’re basically saying our relationship with Jesus is not that important, and we’re content to rely on ourselves. That attitude doesn’t exactly scream ‘Christ is Lord of my life.’ If we happen to not read the Bible for a day or some time, it may not be the best practice, BUT it’s not like we suddenly forget what is in there or have rejected His words. A failure to pray IS a rejection of Christ for that time.
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Php 4:5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
Php 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Php 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
—Philippians 4:4-8
This is a commonly used passage to remind us of the importance of prayer and for good reason. Verse 6 tends to be the most popular since it’s often used to emphasize the importance of prayer’s power of anxiety. That’s absolutely true! That said, it doesn’t really say anything about our spiritual health. Let’s be honest, a lot of people cry out to God in times of need or when they feel they don’t have a handle on things; even those who don’t necessarily believe in God. When the moment passes, we can easily go back to living a prayer-free life, seeing ourselves as lord. Some much better indicators of someone who has a habit of spending time with God in prayer are rejoicing in the Lord, reasonableness, peace even in storms, gratitude, and constant thought/conversation about the character of God. The evidence of this fruit is the difference in someone who believes these things are true and someone who lives this lifestyle. Can it be faked? Sure. But what’s the point of doing that? You may be able to deceive a brother or sister in Christ (not sure what that gains you), but you can’t deceive God. He’s going to know your real spiritual temperature. In fact, He knows it much better than you do.
In the end, I have to say Spurgeon is right. The intensity or passion for prayer is likely the best indicator of our spiritual health. If it’s done in the right way — with a higher view of God and a lower view of self, and a desire to follow His will above our own — then it should also result in more time reading the Bible. After all, that’s the best way to check if what we’re thinking/hearing/feeling during times of prayer are actually from God. It’s not about what we think fits the criteria of Philippians 4:8, but what GOD says. So, I encourage you to go check your spiritual temperature ASAP and make a point of doing so regularly. Hopefully we see prayer as a reliable thermometer!