RAS Prayers
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Recently I learned of the name and the function of the cluster of nerve cells located at the base of the human brain stem. This cluster of cells is called the reticular system or RAS, for short. Its function is to monitor our environment. In other words, you and I are bombarded daily with countless stimuli vying for our attention, and it is the job of the RAS to determine what gets noticed and what goes unnoticed. For example, Nancy and I purchased a Subaru automobile last year. Before we purchased it, we had really never noticed a Subaru on the road, but since our purchase, we see them all the time! What happened is this. Our RAS, categorized the Subaru as important and relevant to our lives, and now we are more aware of them.
Likewise, when we attend constantly to prayer and keep alert in it, like the reference Paul is using of the watchmen who stood post on the city walls in Old Testament days, we will begin to see things first from God’s perspective. The watchmen of old had a vantage point. They could see things before others see them such as an approaching enemy army, or those coming to trade items which would benefit the occupants of the city. When we pray we notice things that God is doing, when we do not pray, we are less likely to see what God is doing all around us, every day. RAS praying moves us beyond the five senses to because to the operation of the Holy Spirit. Deduction and logic can only go so far, for the Holy Spirit enables us to see the invisible and hear the inaudible. May we be First Class Noticers!
Pastor Louie