Growing Me Up
In my journey in prayer this year, God is using the book Moving Mountains by John Eldridge to help me think through beliefs about prayer and how those understandings have shaped my practice of it. As I'm unearthing my conceptions and facing my questions, I'm drawn more to prayer and seeing the need for more of it in my life.
First, I want prayer to be easy. We say God is holy, yet something in us wants Him to meet our demands much like a genie in a bottle. We throw up a quick, Lord help me with...or Lord I need...or Lord please change. We see life as circumstances that need to be changed around us. When I utter these kind of prayers, I'm saying that life is about me and I see best. I want my will to be God's will. This is the opposite kind of prayer that Jesus prayed. He asked "Your will be done on earth" Matthew 6:10. I often jump into prayer without asking God what He wants, I just share my point of view without settling myself to start with aligning my will to God's. To submit myself and abide with Him a bit. He says in John 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
This seems like a big promise because I've had many prayers that did not happen they way I asked. Does that mean prayer doesn't work? Jesus is showing me yes it does if you pray for the the things that abide. The verse in John explains to me the first thing to consider in prayer is staying connected to Jesus. I must enter into his presence somehow without rushing into my needs. Taking the time to be sure my heart and mind is aligned with His presence. Then His words can remain in me and I'll know how to pray. I feel confident if I pray God's words back to Him. then I know it is indeed His will for my life and the kingdom work He wants to bring about through prayer. In prayer I can relize His priorities and start living them out.
Not sensing the prayer "works" has made me give up too soon and not preserve. Yet when I read Elijah's experience of prayer in 1 Kings 18 I understand perseverance is necessary before I can conclude that prayer is a "one-and-done" kind of deal. I feel like Elijah is a superhero of prayer. He prated for it not to rain and there was drought for three-and-a-half years. I'm sure he could pray and it would just start again. Yes as I read further into this story I see that he went to the Lord in deep prayer no less than 7 times before a small cloud revealed itself on the horizon. James 5:16 challenges me to keep praying when I don't see a change because Elijah is a man just like us. This means that when I've come into God's presence and connect with His will, I need to keep praying, even when I don't see an answer right away.
God wants to grow me up, by circumstances that bring me to my knees. To possess enough grit to continue to abide, submit, and ask. To pray with the eyes of heaven, for hope without sight is faith and a faith I desperately need more of.
First, I want prayer to be easy. We say God is holy, yet something in us wants Him to meet our demands much like a genie in a bottle. We throw up a quick, Lord help me with...or Lord I need...or Lord please change. We see life as circumstances that need to be changed around us. When I utter these kind of prayers, I'm saying that life is about me and I see best. I want my will to be God's will. This is the opposite kind of prayer that Jesus prayed. He asked "Your will be done on earth" Matthew 6:10. I often jump into prayer without asking God what He wants, I just share my point of view without settling myself to start with aligning my will to God's. To submit myself and abide with Him a bit. He says in John 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
This seems like a big promise because I've had many prayers that did not happen they way I asked. Does that mean prayer doesn't work? Jesus is showing me yes it does if you pray for the the things that abide. The verse in John explains to me the first thing to consider in prayer is staying connected to Jesus. I must enter into his presence somehow without rushing into my needs. Taking the time to be sure my heart and mind is aligned with His presence. Then His words can remain in me and I'll know how to pray. I feel confident if I pray God's words back to Him. then I know it is indeed His will for my life and the kingdom work He wants to bring about through prayer. In prayer I can relize His priorities and start living them out.
Not sensing the prayer "works" has made me give up too soon and not preserve. Yet when I read Elijah's experience of prayer in 1 Kings 18 I understand perseverance is necessary before I can conclude that prayer is a "one-and-done" kind of deal. I feel like Elijah is a superhero of prayer. He prated for it not to rain and there was drought for three-and-a-half years. I'm sure he could pray and it would just start again. Yes as I read further into this story I see that he went to the Lord in deep prayer no less than 7 times before a small cloud revealed itself on the horizon. James 5:16 challenges me to keep praying when I don't see a change because Elijah is a man just like us. This means that when I've come into God's presence and connect with His will, I need to keep praying, even when I don't see an answer right away.
God wants to grow me up, by circumstances that bring me to my knees. To possess enough grit to continue to abide, submit, and ask. To pray with the eyes of heaven, for hope without sight is faith and a faith I desperately need more of.
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