by Stephen Bay
www.stephenbay.com

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. -Ephesians 6:18

There was a time when I’d pray anywhere and everywhere, even while driving. Some of my more “mature” brothers and sisters in Christ told me that, in their opinion, it wasn’t appropriate to pray while doing something else because it was disrespectful towards our King and Father, but I figured that I’d rather spend my driving time in prayer than listening to the radio. I’ve had many intimate conversations with the LORD while behind the wheel, stuck in traffic.

About a year ago, another one of my well-meaning brothers chided me when I offered to pray for him while driving down the freeway. He told me to at least pull over before praying. Ever since this incident, I started to question myself: had I been disrespectful towards God by praying while driving? Had I failed to show Him due reverence?

Cut to last May: one of my neighbors, an alcoholic by his own admission, had been on my heart for many months, and I came home from Sola Dei one night to find him trying to climb up to his third-story bedroom window. He had been arrested for DUI and had his car impounded that morning; his house keys were still attached to his car keys, and he had walked 10 miles to get home. I offered to drive him to the police station the following morning to pick up his car.

During our drive to the station, he was the most vulnerable he had ever been in my presence. He was broken, sober to the realities of the life he was living, and open to talking about faith issues. While I didn’t want to be an evangelist with an agenda– and a captive audience– I found myself with the perfect opportunity to share my faith with him. I did, and I asked if I could pray with him.

He smiled. “Yes. I’d like that.”

We were driving down the freeway.

In my mind, I heard the words of my friends, telling me that it wasn’t appropriate to pray while driving.

I thought it’d be inappropriate to pull over, as we had to get him to an appointment at the police station.

So I didn’t pray.

Instead, I said, “Let’s pray when we get back home.”

To make a long story shorter: we would keep missing one another over the next several weeks. I’d be home and he’d be out, or vice versa. I kept thinking about him and praying for a chance to meet him face to face and make good on my offer to pray with him in person.

I finally caught up with him the other day. He had gotten his driver’s license back, was busy with work, and his life was returning to normal. When I offered to pray with him, he declined.

He wasn’t as open to it anymore.

I feel like I missed my window and it bugs me, because I’ve felt the LORD impress upon me for months to reach out to him, even before the DUI, and when I had an opportunity to pray with him, I let it slip out of my hands. I had fallen to legalism.

I’m not saying that showing reverence to God is a bad thing– it’d be ideal if I could dress up and go to a special place every time I wanted to pray– but does the LORD require this?

Another friend reminded me that pagans worship angry deities who must be appeased and approached only through intermediaries, but is God a pagan deity? As believers, we have been reconciled to Him through Christ and are now His children. My son knows that I won’t get upset if he jumps in my lap and starts wrestling with me, but he also knows that I’m his father and will assert my authority when he gets out of line. His respect for me as his parent doesn’t require him to be on pins and needles around me all the time.

Thanks to Jesus, we don’t need rituals or ceremonies when we pray; we can simply have a conversation with our Father, anytime, anywhere.

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.- Galatians 4:6-7