For today’s
blog, something different. If you are a
Christian, you will especially relate to it but everyone is invited to
participate.
I am going to
give a lesson about the excuses we make to keep from praying and the
distractions that come our way. Imagine you are playing a board game, one that
moves pieces across from start to finish and imagine that along the way you are
picking various cards with various instructions, much like Monopoly. The rest should explain itself.
I hope you
enjoy it. The game is based upon the
following scripture:
Phil 4:6-7
"Do not be
anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Diagram of
scripture above:
PROCESS: Prayer and petition with thanksgiving
RESULT: Peace of God which passes all understanding.
What is a
petition? A well thought out, well
worded request
The Prayer Game:
(updated version)
Object: To have a quality time of prayer,
focused, uninterrupted, which includes petitions and leads to the peace which
passes all understanding.
To achieve this goal, one must roll
dice, travel across the game board and eventually reach the Peace Which Passes All
Understanding Square.
To start, you
may choose the straight and narrow path or the scenic route
-Because the
straight and narrow path calls for too much discipline and focus, you
choose the scenic route.
-You roll a
three. Move toward the first Excuse Square. Draw an Excuse Card
Excuse card:
"I already prayed today at breakfast when I gave thanks for the
food. And I really felt close to God at
that time. Perhaps that's all the prayer
I need today."
-This excuse
leads to conviction. Draw a conviction
card.
Conviction card: "Hey lamo. You need the prayer and you know it. Keep rolling, bucko."
-You roll a 7. This takes you to the instruction
square. Draw an instruction card.
Instruction Card: Take some time today and visit a place of
seclusion, a park, a beach, a cathedral and have a quality time of prayer.
-You notice
that the Secluded Place square is in
the same direction as the Peace Square. However, your mind is in an excuse mode due
to the previous excuse card which made it harder for the Spirit to work in your
heart. You must roll a 5 to get into the
Secluded Place square.
-You missed it.
Instead you rolled a four. You landed on
another Excuse Square. Draw another Excuse Card.
Excuse Card: "I'm awfully busy today. I really don't have the time to go to a
secluded place. But work is also sacred
unto the Lord."
-Since this is
your second excuse you must receive a penalty. Draw a Penalty Card.
Penalty Card: Go back 3 spaces.
-You have
landed on the Barrier Reef square.
Your excuses and laziness have built a barrier between you and God. A week goes by without prayer.
-Since one
can't go without prayer a week without feeling conviction draw a Conviction
Card.
Conviction Card: Your own personal weather report: “50 percent
chance of dark sinful clouds coming toward your coast off the Sea of Iniquity."
Since nobody
likes conviction, draw a Conscience Searing card. This card will enable you to ignore the
conviction.
Conscience Searing Card: "Lord, Those clouds don't look so dark
to me. Besides, since there's a 50
percent chance of rain, there is also a 50 percent chance of a clear day. So what the report is definitely saying is
that there's a 50 percent chance of a clear day."
-Your response
to the conviction involved another penalty.
Draw a Penalty Card
Penalty Card:
"Go to the Sea of Iniquity. Go directly to the Sea of Iniquity. Do not pass All Understanding. Do not collect peace."
-Sea of Iniquity is hard to get
out of. To get out, you must roll
doubles.
-You don't
roll doubles.
-Sin leads
either to conviction or excuse.
You will get out during your next turn and the roll will take you either
to a conviction square or an excuse square.
-Your roll
takes you to Excuse Square. Draw an Excuse Card.
Excuse Card: "Define Sin."
-This nutty
excuse makes it impossible to take a conviction card for three more turns. Take a Numbing Card instead and numb
yourself to conviction.
Numbing Card: "Life is great. God is on his thrown. It seems God had something he wanted to tell
me, but I can't remember what it is. Oh
well. It probably wasn't important or he
would tell me again."
To get out of
this Numb State you need the
intervention of a third party. You need
fellowship and accountability. Take a Fellowship
Card.
Fellowship Card: The pastor preached about prayer in church.
-Draw a Response
Card.
Response Card: "Oh
come off your high horse!"
-Wrong
Response: Go back to the Sea of Iniquity.
-Try to roll
doubles to get out
-You roll
doubles! You land on the Instruction
Square. Take an Instruction Card.
Instruction Card: Have a quiet time now. Roll one for Obedience
Square or 2 for Excuse Square. You roll a one. But since it has been so long since you've
obeyed your obedience skills are rusty.
You agree to pray but not effectively.
Draw a Miserable Excuse For a Square Card:
Miserable Excuse for a Prayer Card: "Lord, Bless me this Day, Forgive me my
sin."
-Draw a Prayer
Critique Card
Prayer Critique Card: A little brief, wasn't it? What are the specific sins you're guilty
of? Which blessings do you want?"
-You have lost
your incentive to cultivate a relationship with God. Draw another Excuse Card.
Excuse Card:
"Gee, I didn't get much out of my quiet time yesterday, so why have
one today?"
-This excuse
takes you to the Square of Distraction. Draw a Distraction Card.
Distraction Card: "You know. Lately reading Popular Mechanics does more
for me than reading the Bible."
-Distraction
takes you back in the direction the Sea of Iniquity. But it takes a while to get there. Various Excuse Squares are landed upon
along the way. With each Excuse Square, you draw an Excuse
Card.
Excuse Card: "You know, Sometimes I see more love
in the lives on non-believers, than Christians."
Excuse Card: "You know? Christians can be awfully closed minded at
times."
Excuse Card:
"God, You understand my unique personality, my unique weaknesses, and
my unique hormones. Basically, you understand that I'm unique."
-You continue
to move in the direction of the Sea of Iniquity. Fortunately there is Deliverance
Square along the way.
-You land on
the Deliverance Square. You may choose either a Fellowship Card or
a Memory Card. Also, since you
rolled doubles you may draw two more cards if one doesn't work. You draw a Fellowship Card.
Fellowship Card: The importance of obedience is being discussed
at church.
-You don't like
the discussion. You exercise your option
to draw two more cards: The first is an excuse
card:
Excuse Card: Those Christians are always talking about
money and always arguing over unimportant matters. Why should I listen to anything they say?
-This excuse
puts you in the direction of the Sea of Iniquity. But since you were allowed 2 extra cards,
you may now draw a Memory Card if you so desire.
-You do not so
desire but something tells you it might be a good idea to draw a memory card
anyway.
Memory Card: You are reminded of what it was like to be
close to God. His comfort, His
forgiveness. You decide to pray today: Turn around and move in the direction of the
Peace Square.
-You land on a Delay Square. Draw a Delay Card
Delay Card:
"I'll pray after dinner."
-each delay
sends you to an additional Delay Square earning an
additional Delay Card.
Delay card:
"There's
a good movie on TV and it’s a movie with good morals and family
values. Surely God will approve. I'll pray later:
Delay Card:
I'm
awfully tired. I’ll pray first thing in
the morning so that I may focus with a keen mind and give God the attention he
deserves.
Delay Card: I
overslept. I need to hurry to work. I'll pray when I get home this evening, sometime
before I go to bed."
-These excuses
put you in a rut. Go to the Den of
Rutness.
-You must roll
doubles to get out of the Den of Rutness.
-You don't roll
doubles. Draw a Rut Card
Rut Card. Jesus
died for us. We should pray. We should share our faith. Always
the same old thing. Been there, done that. Christianity
isn't exciting anymore. Christianity to me is. Well it's a Big
Rut.
-This time you
roll doubles. Head toward the Peace Square. On the way, your weakened Rut Condition leads
you to another Excuse Square. Draw an Excuse Card.
Excuse Card:
"God I'm such a sinner. I
don't have a right to pray."
-Draw a
Critique Card
Critique Card: "Of course you're a sinner. Of course you don't have a right to
pray. Pray anyway."
Even though it makes
no sense at all you are seriously thinking of praying. But because of your previous track record you
first decide to take a good detour to the Pre-Prayer
Square.
Draw a Pre-Prayer Card.
Pre-Prayer Card: You make the following pre-prayer, prayer: "Lord.
Give me the exact roll of the dice for the Prayer Square because
I know that the Prayer Square leads to the Peace
Which Passes All Understanding Square."
-You get the
exact roll needed and land in the Prayer
Square
You confess all
of your sins
You discuss all
of your anxieties job, family, finances, and the world in general.
You make
requests and petitions
Now you may
move into the Peace Square and receive the
Peace Which Passes all Understanding
You have won
the game.