Living In Prayer Mode

This post is from one of our board members, Craig Baron.

The part in Chapter 7 that hit me the most was when Batterson wrote about living a pinball existence. “There are only two ways to live your life: survival mode or prayer mode. Survival mode is simply reacting to the circumstances around you. It is a pinball existence.” He goes on to say, “Prayer mode is the exact opposite. Your spiritual antenna is up and your radar is on.”

I tend to live my life like a pinball, bouncing from this to that, living in survival mode instead of focusing on the opportunities God gives me. That convicts me. I do, many times, exist in survival mode. My own thought life becomes pinballed from one thought to the next. For example, I was going to play a game with my son recently but there was a game piece missing. I spent the next hour looking for the piece and being upset about it rather than staying focused on the task at hand which was connecting with my son by playing a game. I easily get sidetracked. I never found the game piece and by the time I gave up looking for it, he needed to go to bed so we didn’t play anything. I wonder if I missed out on something that God had for us that night. I wonder if I miss out on stuff like that all the time.

Another area I think about with the pinball existence is faith. Sometimes I don’t have the faith to even look at opportunities. I don’t see my life the way God sees my life. My problems and my issues seem much bigger than they really are. For me, when my spiritual antenna is not up, my fear antenna is up. When I live in fear, there’s no way I can see any opportunity that comes my way. When living in this state of fear, not only could a person miss the big God-ordained opportunities like starting a business, you could also miss opportunities in the small, day to day activities of being a father, being a husband, or interacting with friends and neighbors.

I like the meaning of the Aramaic word for prayer, slotha: “to set a trap.” Batterson says, “Prayer helps us catch the opportunities God throws our way.” I love that. It’s the opposite of pinball mode. Being ready, watchful, strategic. Not being surprised by the enemy. Being proactive and not reactive. Prepared and ready.