Mountain Climbing Prayer

"Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8 HCSB

Prayer is hard work, requiring endurance of mind, soul, spirit and body. It is similar to mountain climbing. I used to enjoy free climbing. That means that I took ridiculous risks climbing rocks without the benefit of any gear, knowing that as soon as I reached the peak, I would have nothing to do but climb back down.

However, as I was climbing, my entire focus was on the moment. All I could think about was that next toehold, that next crevice. If I allowed my concentration to waver even for a moment, there could be some unhealthy consequences.

We must not allow our mind to wander as we pray. During times of intensive prayer there might be bright lights, warm feelings or visions, but these are almost invariably distractions of the brain or from the devil. This is not to say that God cannot speak through visions, bright lights or warm fuzzy feelings, but we must pray through these things so that we gain certainty as to their source. If it is of God, they will intensify and a clear call to action will come. If they are from our own desires or the devil, they will leave us complacent and self-satisfied.

Besides concentration, climbing requires endurance. It is exhausting and sometimes I had to force myself into a large crack or perch on a precarious ledge to try to let my shuddering muscles regroup. In climbing, long sessions of grinding work are followed by short bursts of intense activity where you launch yourself to a particularly distant hold.

Prayer is like that. Sometimes there are long lulls where you have to keep grinding away, praying without receiving immediate gratification. Sometimes there are crises requiring short bursts of “aerobic prayer”. Either way, endurance is a requirement.

When climbing, it is important that we only look to the next hold, the next position. If we get caught up in looking for the peak, we will either become discouraged or miss something that needs our attention.

Similarly, we mustn’t pray simply to get what we want. If we do, what you get will be dissatisfying and second rate. If the Ransomed pray because that’s what spiritual creatures do, the experiences will come and they will be great, but in those periods when they don’t come, we won’t lose heart or miss something that needs your attention. Prayer’s purpose is not mystical experience.

Whether we are in that long dry spell when it seems that the heavenly doors won’t open for us, or in that mountain top experience - “Keep on asking…keep on looking…keep on knocking.” That’s when the real answers will come.