Dear CG, just to share a portion of what I journal-ed on 12th Feb. Its on prayer.
Prayer
I was just thinking about prayer yesterday after reading a book on it. There is this rather well known story (Dr. Robert Munger's My Heart Christ's Home) that illustrates the picture of us spending time with God and its simple concept.
So it goes that this guy has yielded his life to Christ, and realized that he really desired fellowship with God. The illustration here is that God is always in this beautiful room with a fireplace and nice sofas for the both of them to sit and fellowship. God is always in that room, waiting every morning for this man to come into the room and spend time with Him. God truly desired to talk to and listen to this man and for the first few months, they had great fellowship. But slowly, life’s responsibilities and workload began to overwhelm him. He skipped a day spending time with God in that special room, then two days, then a week, which turned to months and years. One day, the man walked past the room and peeked into it. He saw God sitting there near the fireplace, waiting for him, just like every morning. The man felt guilty, since he invited God in, but was not spending time with Him.
“The trouble with you is this. You have been thinking of the quiet time as a factor in your own spiritual progress but have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also. Remember, I love you.”
Prayer is about relationship, abiding in Christ, and sweet fellowship with God.
P- Process. Prayer is not a one off thing you do. From the mental and physical preparation the day or night before, to the focus required during actually praying, to the end of it where you follow up and end with a testimony no matter what the answer. It also includes prayer lists.
R- Regularity. More than a discipline, we talk to God daily because He is in our hearts, in our ‘special’ room, waiting for us, desiring to hear and talk to us. Since He was invited, let us treat Him with our best hospitality we can give.
A- Atonement. Let us remember that Jesus died for us so that we can talk to God. Only through Jesus Christ can we go to the Father. That is why we pray in Jesus’ name.
Y- Yielding. Prayer is an act of dependence, and often desperation, but supremely it is an act of faith. Prayer is a major evidence of true faith. We pray because we believe in God. We pray simply of the fact that the God we trust in is All powerful and All knowing. If we do not believe that, why pray? We pray because unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers work in vain.
Prayer
I was just thinking about prayer yesterday after reading a book on it. There is this rather well known story (Dr. Robert Munger's My Heart Christ's Home) that illustrates the picture of us spending time with God and its simple concept.
So it goes that this guy has yielded his life to Christ, and realized that he really desired fellowship with God. The illustration here is that God is always in this beautiful room with a fireplace and nice sofas for the both of them to sit and fellowship. God is always in that room, waiting every morning for this man to come into the room and spend time with Him. God truly desired to talk to and listen to this man and for the first few months, they had great fellowship. But slowly, life’s responsibilities and workload began to overwhelm him. He skipped a day spending time with God in that special room, then two days, then a week, which turned to months and years. One day, the man walked past the room and peeked into it. He saw God sitting there near the fireplace, waiting for him, just like every morning. The man felt guilty, since he invited God in, but was not spending time with Him.
“The trouble with you is this. You have been thinking of the quiet time as a factor in your own spiritual progress but have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also. Remember, I love you.”
Prayer is about relationship, abiding in Christ, and sweet fellowship with God.
P- Process. Prayer is not a one off thing you do. From the mental and physical preparation the day or night before, to the focus required during actually praying, to the end of it where you follow up and end with a testimony no matter what the answer. It also includes prayer lists.
R- Regularity. More than a discipline, we talk to God daily because He is in our hearts, in our ‘special’ room, waiting for us, desiring to hear and talk to us. Since He was invited, let us treat Him with our best hospitality we can give.
A- Atonement. Let us remember that Jesus died for us so that we can talk to God. Only through Jesus Christ can we go to the Father. That is why we pray in Jesus’ name.
Y- Yielding. Prayer is an act of dependence, and often desperation, but supremely it is an act of faith. Prayer is a major evidence of true faith. We pray because we believe in God. We pray simply of the fact that the God we trust in is All powerful and All knowing. If we do not believe that, why pray? We pray because unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers work in vain.
Prayer is not so much about our own spiritual growth. It is also not so much about our own requests. Rather, let us pray because of God. Let us pray because we know that when we do, we are actually entering the special room and making time to have sweet fellowship with Him. Despite of all our commitments, schedules, meetings and work, we must learn to make time to come into the special room with God. He is always there waiting for us. Let us not disappoint Him. Pray.
‘Prayer is a process of regularity, remembering the grace we receive through the atonement of sin, and yielding to the ultimate nature of the Almighty.’
- Jonathan Low, 2008
‘Prayer is a process of regularity, remembering the grace we receive through the atonement of sin, and yielding to the ultimate nature of the Almighty.’
- Jonathan Low, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment