"A Luz dos Justos Brilha Alegremente"

“The light of the righteousness shines happily.” Proverbs 9:12

(Jesus is our righteousness.)

I am not a battery, that I might be recharged, as I have imagined. I have no capacity to store energy. I was mistaken because, like the filament in a light bulb, I may remain warm after the power of God has stopped flowing. That is, after I’ve stopped paying attention to God, after the switch has been shut off.

So what am I to do, if I have to be directly connected to the Source in order to do any good?

Pray continually.

Sounds daunting. But if it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives through me, as Paul contends, if I have the very mind of Christ, as Paul argues elsewhere, then it’s all prayer. It’s all prayer. Every thought, every worry, every idea, every complaint, every lust, every enmity, all of it. Everything that passes through my brain passes too through the mind of the Almighty, Who is always with me, Who’s Spirit is so closely allied with my own it is impossible to distinguish between the two. (I’m just repeating what Jesus said). That’s why Paul could talk about praying continually. It’s all prayer. That’s also why Christians must be so terrifyingly careful about what thoughts they admit into their heads. “I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned,” Jesus said (Matthew 12:36-37). That is, every word spoken before God. That is, everything.

So don’t let anyone convince you you’ve got to get up early or be on your knees or have your hands folded or your eyes closed to pray. It’s good to be on your knees for the same reason it’s good to sit up straight and pay attention in class. But if you have been born again, you’re praying now.

If you haven’t been born again, join a little group of people who are seeking after God. It hardly matters what tribe. You’ll find saints and heretics almost everywhere you go, but when people set out together to really find God, they find Him.