It's not that I'm praying that's so important, it's that God is listening.
"The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." Psalm 34:15
God, the Source of ALL power, ALL authority, ALL creativity, ALL beauty, ALL love, ALL justice, ALL virtue and righteous judgment, ALL goodness and everything our hearts desire...
Selah.
...desires to partner with His children to do His work in the world.
...and has thus commanded us to pray. Commanded us (because we are unwilling? distracted? unbelieving? busy? fearful?) to come boldly before His throne of grace for help in time of need, to ask for things in Jesus' name, to give us our daily bread and make His will be done on earth as readily and cheerfully and worshipfully as it is in heaven, to intercede for kings, nations, and our brothers. To pour out our hearts before Him, our refuge.
It's not that God is unwilling, unable, or too busy to act unless I pray. It's that I am readied for His work through prayer. So often I have to make my kids "ask nicely" before I can give them what they want. "For the Lord waits expectantly and longs to be gracious to you; and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you, for the Lord is a God of justice..." Isaiah 30:18.
"Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases." He doesn't need our prayers in order to act. But He invites us--He actually sent us a formal invitation in the Person of His Son and the indwelling of His Spirit--to be "fellow workers" (I Corinthians 3:9) with Him in His redemptive work in the world, the calling of all things back to their Creator, the making of all things new. A formal invitation to the party He has every day in His Own character, in being Who He is, and in all the transforming power that radiates out of this Trinitarian synergy.
And I'm too tired to get out of bed in the morning to fall on my knees?
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Give, receive, love!
God loves to give. "For God so loved...that He gave..." John 3:16
And God loves to receive. Namely, glory, thanks, and praise. "Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name, give to Him glorious praise." Psalm 66:1-2
So He gives to us. And gives and gives and gives to us, all things. "What do you have that you did not receive?" I Corinthians 4:7
So that we have something to give back to Him. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice...which is your...worship." Romans 12:1 "Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name." Hebrews 13:15
Meanwhile, we humans love to receive. "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:24
And we love to give. "'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35
This is the beautiful cycle of love that He made possible in Christ Jesus!
(And even this insight, this glimpse, is itself a gift from Him, and I offer it back to Him and to you, and praise Him for it! Ha, what joy!)
And God loves to receive. Namely, glory, thanks, and praise. "Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name, give to Him glorious praise." Psalm 66:1-2
So He gives to us. And gives and gives and gives to us, all things. "What do you have that you did not receive?" I Corinthians 4:7
So that we have something to give back to Him. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice...which is your...worship." Romans 12:1 "Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name." Hebrews 13:15
Meanwhile, we humans love to receive. "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:24
And we love to give. "'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35
This is the beautiful cycle of love that He made possible in Christ Jesus!
(And even this insight, this glimpse, is itself a gift from Him, and I offer it back to Him and to you, and praise Him for it! Ha, what joy!)
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Broken cisterns
My kids are God's Textbook on Life for me, filled with lessons and analogies. And I've heard other parents say the same. God is constantly prying my eyes open through them and saying, "See, that's you. That's how you're treating Me when you're bent on your own way. That's how I feel when you're ungrateful for My many blessings...for even giving you life. See, that's how my heart sings when you obey Me cheerfully."
My Textbook is chock full, but I want to try to capture more of these valuable lessons on "paper" (so I don't have to relearn them...again!). And because they are truly beautiful and precious to me.
Just now I was disciplining Cora for wrecking Annelise's block structure. Cora was fighting me and passionate about returning to the table because Annelise was going to take all her blocks. I told her, "Who can take care of that? Can Mommy make Annelise give you back the blocks you need?" Whimpery "yes."
Cora's goals were wrong, or rather, out of order. It was not wrong for her to be worried about her blocks, of course. But her primary goal should have been to make things right with Mommy and Annelise, and to make sure her heart was right with God.
But instead she was focused on justice for herself.
So, she could disobey Mommy, and run back to the table to wrest some kind of skewed justice for herself...which incidentally would result in further discord and injustice, with either Cora not actually getting all the blocks she needed to play with or Annelise having too many of hers grabbed away.
Or she could obey Mommy, make things right with Mommy, and then let Mommy go back with her to the table and exact true justice. (Well, or a close approximation in human terms. ; )) And actually, I would be far more motivated to take up her cause and fight for her, the more obedient and submissive she was to me, and the more she looked to me to do so.
God has been drawing me to Himself this year, as I emerge from the "baby cave." Motivating me to spend time with Him. Showing me the importance of obedience and making Him my first priority. "Martha, Martha, thou are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen the better part."
If I'm running around, busy with what I think is important, trying to effect justice or righteousness in this world, apart from Him, nay in disobedience to Him if He's told me to seek Him first, then it's only causing more problems and not solving anything. But if I "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things [that I think are so important] will be added unto" me. Because GOD is the Source of everything I think is important. Justice, rightness, goodness, health, help for people, truth, money and provision, even (and esp) the building up of the Body of Christ. He is the Source of beauty, rest, answers, peace, happiness, strength, and harmonious relationships.
Lord, help me to seek You first! And then direct and go with me as I get my orders from You and leave the sanctum (or "war room") to follow them.
"...for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2.13
My Textbook is chock full, but I want to try to capture more of these valuable lessons on "paper" (so I don't have to relearn them...again!). And because they are truly beautiful and precious to me.
Just now I was disciplining Cora for wrecking Annelise's block structure. Cora was fighting me and passionate about returning to the table because Annelise was going to take all her blocks. I told her, "Who can take care of that? Can Mommy make Annelise give you back the blocks you need?" Whimpery "yes."
Cora's goals were wrong, or rather, out of order. It was not wrong for her to be worried about her blocks, of course. But her primary goal should have been to make things right with Mommy and Annelise, and to make sure her heart was right with God.
But instead she was focused on justice for herself.
So, she could disobey Mommy, and run back to the table to wrest some kind of skewed justice for herself...which incidentally would result in further discord and injustice, with either Cora not actually getting all the blocks she needed to play with or Annelise having too many of hers grabbed away.
Or she could obey Mommy, make things right with Mommy, and then let Mommy go back with her to the table and exact true justice. (Well, or a close approximation in human terms. ; )) And actually, I would be far more motivated to take up her cause and fight for her, the more obedient and submissive she was to me, and the more she looked to me to do so.
God has been drawing me to Himself this year, as I emerge from the "baby cave." Motivating me to spend time with Him. Showing me the importance of obedience and making Him my first priority. "Martha, Martha, thou are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen the better part."
If I'm running around, busy with what I think is important, trying to effect justice or righteousness in this world, apart from Him, nay in disobedience to Him if He's told me to seek Him first, then it's only causing more problems and not solving anything. But if I "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things [that I think are so important] will be added unto" me. Because GOD is the Source of everything I think is important. Justice, rightness, goodness, health, help for people, truth, money and provision, even (and esp) the building up of the Body of Christ. He is the Source of beauty, rest, answers, peace, happiness, strength, and harmonious relationships.
Lord, help me to seek You first! And then direct and go with me as I get my orders from You and leave the sanctum (or "war room") to follow them.
"...for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2.13
Monday, October 3, 2016
How much more will your Father...?!
He gives us gifts that He knows are going to compete with His place in our hearts. But He just can't help Himself...He's that generous of a Father, Who loves to lavish good gifts on His beloved children. What kind of a God is this?!
[Matthew 7.11]
[Matthew 7.11]
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