Prayer, so how is that working for you?
It has been my joy to be in a retreat for a couple of days with John Franklin and Chris Schofield. Two men who have invested much into prayer, particularly in North Carolina.
They have been used of God to make me aware in a fresher way how deeply frustrating prayer can be for some folks and how wonderfully rewarding it is for others.
I hope that I will not reveal someone's personal secret, but there are a lot of folks who live under their breath in frustration in regard to their prayer life. They won't say it but you can see it. I could rattle on about causes and effects and the like but the real issue is, in my mind, pretty simple. It all revolves around understanding what prayer is and what it is not.
Prayer is not meant to "get you stuff" or "make things happen". For most folks who find prayer frustrating there might be a "what do you mean by that?" right about here because they have been led to believe that this is what prayer is about. Thus the frustration. Prayer is the journey to arrive at the mind of God. Along that journey we praise Him, we ponder Him and we even struggle with Him as He adjusts the issues in our life that prevent us from getting to the destination, which is the revelation of His mind.
Jesus modeled it clearly for us. The cross did not go away, the suffering did not lessen, but the prayer journey was completed when He arrived at the mind of God concerning the matter. In truth it is not necessary for God to spend all His time "fixing the stuff in our lives. It is absolutely necessary and quite enough if I can understand what His mind is on it. He said that He would give perfect peace to the one whose mind was steadfast on the Lord. That then is the prayer destination, thanks be to God that He is the destination and the answer.
They have been used of God to make me aware in a fresher way how deeply frustrating prayer can be for some folks and how wonderfully rewarding it is for others.
I hope that I will not reveal someone's personal secret, but there are a lot of folks who live under their breath in frustration in regard to their prayer life. They won't say it but you can see it. I could rattle on about causes and effects and the like but the real issue is, in my mind, pretty simple. It all revolves around understanding what prayer is and what it is not.
Prayer is not meant to "get you stuff" or "make things happen". For most folks who find prayer frustrating there might be a "what do you mean by that?" right about here because they have been led to believe that this is what prayer is about. Thus the frustration. Prayer is the journey to arrive at the mind of God. Along that journey we praise Him, we ponder Him and we even struggle with Him as He adjusts the issues in our life that prevent us from getting to the destination, which is the revelation of His mind.
Jesus modeled it clearly for us. The cross did not go away, the suffering did not lessen, but the prayer journey was completed when He arrived at the mind of God concerning the matter. In truth it is not necessary for God to spend all His time "fixing the stuff in our lives. It is absolutely necessary and quite enough if I can understand what His mind is on it. He said that He would give perfect peace to the one whose mind was steadfast on the Lord. That then is the prayer destination, thanks be to God that He is the destination and the answer.
posted by Phil | 1:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home