Prayer and Root Canals

First and foremost I am still in recovery mode from yesterday's emergency room visit. Smiley seems to be unfazed since he gets to sleep all day. I am trying to get my principal to let me teach a sleeping class next year. So far she doesn't think it is a very good idea. I am praying that she will see the light.

Speaking of praying that brings me to my first thought for today. I saw this yesterday in my quiet time as well as did those of you who use the Our Daily Bread Devotionals. At the bottom of the devo was this quote, "Talking to Christ about others helps us to talk to others about Christ." Also about two weeks ago I was listening to a pastor on the radio, maybe Adrian Rogers or Jack Graham, and I heard this quote. "It is more important to talk to God about your neighbor, than it is to talk to your neighbor about God." Some of you are probably saying, " Well duh!" I do pray for those that are lost. However, I was always so focused on getting into the streets and telling people about Christ that I really didn't spend a lot of time talking to God about them. How much more effective would outreach and evangelism be if we spent more time on our knees praying to a Holy God for those who we are trying to reach. We all know that Jesus lived the verse "pray without ceasing" but we also see numerous times throughout the Gospels where Jesus would retreat to be alone to pray. Sometimes all night long. We are not told what he prayed for but I

would imagine that at some point he prayed for those that he would be ministering to in the days to come. When was the last time you prayed all night for someone? I am including myself in that question . I need to retreat and pray all night for those that I will come in contact with in the coming days. I need to lift up those that are lost to the Lord before I go out to tell them about the Lord.

Point number Two : How a root canal is a picture of Salvation.

Today I am going to get the finishing touches on my second root canal. It all started last year when I was hospitalized for an abscessed tooth that supposedly could have killed me. I had lived with the broken tooth for a year because I was afraid to get it fixed and it wasn't bothering me at that time. Until it became infected and developed into the most excruciating,maddening pain that I have ever experienced in my life.

Sounds like a picture of sin to me. We live with it because it isn't that bad, it doesn't bother us. Until it overwhelms us and reveals it rottenness.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

This is the pig slop moment that the prodigal experienced and we have a choice to make. We either come to our senses and return to the Father or we die in or sin.

I also had to make choice and I did. I found myself in dentist chair staring at the nostrils of a grown man who was at that time drilling into my head and holding a conversation with me. How he understood the Charlie Brown teacher voice, that was coming out of my cranked open mouth, I'll never know. The process from that point consists of drilling out the center of the roots from the bad tooth. It is then dead and the inside of the root is then replaced with a new material. A material that is pure and with no infection. This material is permanent also. Sounds like what happens when someone trusts Christ. (Justification) Christ comes in and forgives our sin, he removes the rotten and gives us the pure permanent Holy spirit.

2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The dentist then builds up your tooth to prepare for the crown. (Sanctification) We too are to be built up in Christ daily through prayer, His Word, fellowship, ministry, and edification. Then finally the temporary crown is removed to make way for permanent crown. (Glorification) Eternity With Christ. The only thing left is the payment, today at the dentist I will be paying, because root canals aren't free. However, this is where Salvation differs because it is free. Jesus as already paid the price at the cross of Calvary.