A Monthly Reflection

Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L (Oswald Chambers)

This month we sought to be challenged and comforted in prayer and faith. We face those challenges typically on our own strength, with our own desires, for our own goals. Our faith is in ourselves and of ourselves. It is instinctive. It is raw. It is carnal. The problem is that it is wrong.

The shift.

We trade the new for the old. We learn to be weak. We need Father-reliance and not self-reliance. We need time with our Abba more than life itself. Or it should be. Challenge accepted. (I need help)

The prayer. His prayer.

If we surrender and examine what our Savior Lord Jesus stated clearly is really four distinct points.

1) We are children of our Heavenly Father.
2) He loves us.
3) We need to love Him.
4) Therefore we have nothing to fear here as He is with us. And thus what else do we really need for ourselves.

Boil it down a bit more and our #1 goal is to seek Him as this will yield fruit in all sorts of tangible ways. We will walk different, think different, act different, even react different. We will rest in His arms and be safe when life is crumbling around us. We can find peace even amid a scary situation or a test or trial. Why?

He is our rock. He is a loving Father who wants to bless and take care of us. And He does not grow tired. He does not get frustrated at us for the sake of us (yet maybe our sin). He doesn’t abuse or lead us the wrong way. He does not tease us just to pull it away at the last second.

He wants to hear from us.
He wants to bless us.
He wants our unenvying heart.
He wants our time.
He wants our struggles.
He wants to share in our victories.
He wants to protect us.
He wants to provide for us.
He just wants us. Holy. Innocent. Pure.

He seeks, He desires us. We try to hide under the bed or behind a curtain or in a closet. He knows where we are. We cannot hide.

This month there were items that really popped up to help and a couple to challenge. I don’t truly understand His love for me, for us. Sure, I know it took the cross, but what was His pain? What was our Father’s agony? How truly deep was the love?

How can I get away from myself and be so sharp focused on Him that my life fades away here? How can He be #1? What am I missing? Why do I worry when He has done so much for me and Him being sovereign?

Why do I harbor bad feelings or unforgiveness or grudges? Why do I not show mercy sooner or say something kind when someone is mean to me? Why am I so stuck on myself?

There are some things I just don’t understand. Some things that need to be changed. Some things that I need grace myself. Then there is fasting and other “rituals” or things that maybe I am doing for the wrong motives or maybe have a wrong frame-of-reference. Maybe I need some good ‘old-fashioned discipline.

C. S. Lewis said, “We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not only expresses but completes the enjoyment.” That’s also true of who we praise and ours should be to praise G-d.

That even while Jesus was suffering in the garden, being tempted in the desert, mocked while walking the streets, or tortured on the cross – He was praising His Father by doing His will. He was loving His Father by honoring Him with “Thy will be done”.

We need to praise and love. We crave it. While this can be carnal like mis-guided fleshly faith in ourselves – true love and faith is spiritual, beyond us and not for us. Praise returns to the Creator of praise, the Creator of Love.

We enjoy the process and the focus. Only can we be truly filled, truly complete once we are fully surrendered and focused on loving our Father, our L-rd.

“True prayer is putting oneself under God’s influence.” – H. E. FOSDICK

Fasting. Prayer. Bible reading. Worship. All are attended for that sweet surrender of time and personage of ourselves before Him.

Once we realize (I need to) – how He is really is the All-in-All and that He is everything I need and more in every situation, my life will be more struggles! The problem is sin and self and if you are truly doing those above things then the sin and the self are unaware of existence, and you are enveloped with something much better. I think Heaven will be best because it is not just the absence of sin, sickness, etc. – it is the realization of whose presence we are in. The rest won’t even matter. Sure those negative aspects of life on Earth won’t be there – but our focus, our goal, our purpose will so transform us that I could not really imagine that we would ever think or be conscience of sin anymore. We would hopefully just be holy as He is praising Him forevermore.

And He never loses.

This idea came to my mind this last week and it really stuck another cord of how awesome G-d really is. If He is outside of space and time and He created us in a fraction of a second, yet some day will spend eternity worth of time with us. What a return on investment for Him. What a blessing for us. That is what we get to experience a bit while praying, reading, and seeking Him. We get that sample, that we little bit of ice cream on a taster spoon.

We want more. We should. It tastes and, in some respects, feels so good. We need to be all-in with our desire to be with Him. To cling to Him and His leg like a little child while He walks the streets of gold.

“Don’t let me go Daddy, I need you!”
“I love you son, hold on, Daddy’s got you!”

Could you just imagine if we did that every day when we are hurt by a co-worker, a family member, or a person who cuts us off driving down the highway?

“Daddy, I need you to help me forgive them as they were mean to me.”
“Daddy, please forgive me as I made a mistake and yelled at you earlier.”
“Daddy, I really am scared and don’t know what to do to build this tower.”
“Daddy, can you just hold me, I am tired.”

Do you remember this hymn?

From Joseph M. Scriven (1855):

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.

That was over 160 years ago. Still so true. What need great or small? What care in the world? What pain to have or love to lose – take it all to the L-rd in prayer.

Now while I can easily type these words, it is hard to put them in practice and that is my challenge as while I believe in Jesus as my Savior and Lord – there is still so much unbelief and struggles. I need Him to show me my filth and to yield it to Him.

I need to run to Him, to pick me up, and wash off the dirt from my skinned off knees.

“It is marvelous how the feet are kept from snares and pitfalls, when the eyes, instead of being fixed upon the ground, are lifted upwards to the throne.” – F. B. MEYER

A partying thought:
God answers prayer; sometimes when hearts are weak,
He gives the very gifts His children seek,
But often faith must learn a deeper rest,
And trust God’s silence when He cannot speak;
For He whose name is love, will send the best;
Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure,
But God is true, His promises are sure
To those who seek.

—Author unknown