Issue 39 Steadfast PrayerBlog | Everything in steadfastness
Everything in steadfastness
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 13.06.24
‘Everything Bagels’ have become the surprising choice of Starbucks’ customers around the world. Packed with all the seeds you could ever want, along with a touch of garlic and onion, they fill a hole on any working day.
Steadfast prayer is the ‘Everything Bagel’ of the Christian life. Paul, in Philippians 4, tells us that the Lord is at hand and not be anxious about anything; ‘but in everything’ to let our requests be known to God.
Being steadfast in prayer is part of the ‘everything’ circle of Scriptures that Paul comes back to time and again in his letters. He spoke about being constant prayer (Romans 12:12), about praying at all times (Ephesians 6:18), about unceasing prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and about ‘continuing steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving’ (Colossians 4:2).
In everything. Steadfast in prayer.
Everything BUT
Recently I was introduced to a new seasoning that can be added to anything from bread, to soup, to stews and casseroles. The US grocery chain Trader Joe’s has branded it as ‘Everything BUT the Bagel’, as a direct take-off from the Starbucks original.
What a brilliant marketing idea to focus on all the sprinkles and seeds around the edges and forget about the main event, the actual bagel.
Everything But the Bagel speaks to the widespread pull there is away from being steadfast in prayer. Our attention can quickly be diverted from a deeper life with God to the more superficial ‘ABC’ of church concerns: Administration, Buildings and Cash. Who can blame us when money is so tight and when property equals problems? These are the challenges that many leaders face.
Everything but steadfast in prayer is not a situation for which we are proud. Yet it happens and its causes are more profound than might be apparent at first sight.
