Prayer is the Key

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted to have said, “prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.” Like Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus did not only teach about the importance of prayer, but also demonstrated it in His own life.

Passages like John 6:15, “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone”. Or Luke 5:16 “As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.” are a great indication that Jesus did not just give the discipline of prayer lip service. By His own lifestyle and habits, He modelled the priority of prayer.

Incidentally, His disciples must have been so impressed with Jesus’ prayer life that the only time they asked Jesus to teach them something, was regarding prayer. In Luke 11:1 it is recorded as, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Prayer and the disciplines of a regular devotional life have been shown to have direct health benefits to those that partake of them. Recent medical studies have shown that there is a correlation between people that practice some form spiritual disciplines and their brain structures.

In an article published by Columbia University in New York, they highlight a presentation done at the American Psychological Association convention during which, images of a brain were presented, showing cortical thickening in people who were taking their spiritual habits seriously. This thickening took place in areas of the brain where thinning of the same would normally be associated with depression.

The people that were involved in this study also reported a higher level of emotional satisfaction and mental stability than those in the control group. This should not surprise us at all.

The human body seems to thrive on connecting with God. It does so physically, mentally, emotionally and of course spiritually. Just like our mobile phones need to be connected to their chargers every so often for them to work, we need to connect to our source of power for optimal living.

Notes

https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2012/december/how-faith-heals/