If you’ve been reading this site for long many of the concepts in this article will sound familiar to you. Those concepts had their origins at least 25 years ago when my friend (and roommate at the time) and I sat down to write this editorial for The Moody Student, the student newspaper for Moody Bible Institute. Russ Carter and I put pen to paper to encourage our fellow students to follow the school’s new program, called Renew 2000. But this is more than a trip down memory lane, it is a succinct statement about prayerful living than I’m sure will change the lives of some of our readers. Without further commentary, here is Renewing Prayer, by Russ Carter and Tyson Thorne.

Essentially, if our mind is to be renewed then so should our prayer, Perhaps there could be a lengthy list made of all the things we should renew; if so prayer would have to be at the top of that list. Why? Because it is the way in which we communicate to God, and Paul said to do it “without ceasing”. Even in class? Yes, the attitude of prayer should be present. Unfortunately too many people do not make prayer a “without ceasing” practice. Is this your habit? Suppose you pray before each meal yet fail to hold the attitude or prayer throughout the meal. Why even bother? Even the Pharisees prayed in public and Jesus said your righteousness must surpass theirs.

The attitude of prayer – leaving your mind open to God – is a big part of the process for renewing the mind. I’m not speaking of an eastern form of meditation, but too often we open ourselves up to God with “Dear Lord” and close ourselves to his presence with “in Jesus’ name Amen”. Remember, God always knows our thoughts. This realization alone should cause us to understand anew the “without ceasing” concept of prayer; let us not only acknowledge God’s presence in our thought life, let us welcome him in! This will do two things.

First, it will radically change what we think about, and what we think of sin. It will also change the way we evaluate television, books and music. Listening to records, or watching television with God is a very different experience from watching alone. This shift that will occur in our judging and evaluating process is in reality a change in our world view. It takes what we presently accept as the highest standard of good in our lives and replaces it with Christ’s presence. It is what I call a Christocentric (Christ-centered) world view, and it changes not only what we do but how we think.

Moody’s new campaign, RENEW 2000, is making an attempt to recapture Christian’s minds. It’s theme verse is Romans 12.2, “be not conformed to this world any longer, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The mind that thinks we pray only before a meal, a class or a chapel is the mind in need of renewal. It is a mind in need of opening itself afresh to the Spirit of God, to "pray without ceasing”. It is a high calling that will move Christ to the center of our thought life and then cause our actions to follow, flowing from a mind functioning around the character of God.

Next time you pray before a meal, be creative. Whether you keep your eyes open thanking him mentally with a pure heart, give him a round of applause for the meal, or bow, remember that this is not a single act of prayer, it is a part of a prayer practice that will liberate your mind from secularization.