Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. – Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)
What does this image of Jesus standing and knocking mean to you? Do you believe Jesus is chasing after you? Have you opened the door to your heart and life? Are you willing to become a temple for the presence of God?
Last week I was attending a Presbytery meeting. After driving an hour and a half to the church where the meeting was being held I was not in much a mood to worship, but the first thing we do at such meetings is worship. My mind was wandering, I was thinking of things I had to do, I wasn’t worshipping God.
Then after the offering I went out to wash my hands and take a breather. Perhaps in the act of washing my hands some of my concerns washed away, or maybe it was that grace poured over me.
Whatever it was when I went back in the Prayers of the People started. People lifted up names that were heavy upon their hearts, and names that gave them reason to rejoice. They shared the reasons for naming each person and we held their names as a group. It felt holy.
The prayer itself wasn’t the normal kind of prayer prayer, as when a person stands before the rest of us and utters a prayer on our behalf. It was responsive where the leader read some and then the congregation read some. It also left time for silence after various groups of people were named. As we prayed for groups of people across the world I could feel them. Those people whose names I will never know and faces I will never see I could feel and I sensed them close in the Spirit. As I prayed for them I realized something else… I loved them.
In that moment I knew something had happened. Right then I was living in the heart of God.
Jesus pursues us hoping that we will open the door of our lives, so that he might enter into them and eat with us. In the Bible eating together is one of the highest forms of fellowship. He wants to fellowship with us so that we might experience life together. In our times of prayer and while we sit at the Communion table we open our hearts to God so that we might find ourselves living in the heart of God. It is there, within God’s heart, that we find out we can love as God loves. So pray on, it does in fact change things, it changes us.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Showing posts with label pray on. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pray on. Show all posts
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Never Give Up!
Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. – 2 Corinthians 4:1 (The Message)
What has God let you in on? Have you started the work that Christians are called to do? What hard times have come your way? Did you want to give up? Have you given up? Has God given up?
The following is from a biography on Edward Bennett Williams by Evan Thomas:
In 1986, Mother Teresa came to [Bennett’s] office in the Hill Building to ask for a contribution from the Knights of Malta to a hospice for AIDS patients. “AIDS is not my favorite disease,” Williams told Paul Dietrich, a fellow member of the order who helped him raise funds. Williams and Dietrich rehearsed a polite refusal to Mother Teresa. Her head peeking over Williams’s enormous desk, the diminutive nun made per pitch, and Williams apologetically, but firmly, declined. “Let us pray,” said Mother Teresa and bowed her head. Williams looked over at Dietrich, and the two men bowed with her. When she was done, Mother Teresa gave exactly the same appeal. Again Williams politely demurred. Once more Mother Teresa said, “Let us pray.” Williams looked up at the ceiling. “All right, all right,” he said, and pulled out his checkbook.
When the things we do are what God wants done we can never give up! Sometimes it seems like all options are exhausted, but prayer is never finished. Prayer is as much action as it is conversation with God. So pray on when the work seems too hard. Pray on when the way seems narrow and path is dangerous. Pray on and know that as long you have breath in your lungs there is something you can do to help change the world for glory of God!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
What has God let you in on? Have you started the work that Christians are called to do? What hard times have come your way? Did you want to give up? Have you given up? Has God given up?
The following is from a biography on Edward Bennett Williams by Evan Thomas:
In 1986, Mother Teresa came to [Bennett’s] office in the Hill Building to ask for a contribution from the Knights of Malta to a hospice for AIDS patients. “AIDS is not my favorite disease,” Williams told Paul Dietrich, a fellow member of the order who helped him raise funds. Williams and Dietrich rehearsed a polite refusal to Mother Teresa. Her head peeking over Williams’s enormous desk, the diminutive nun made per pitch, and Williams apologetically, but firmly, declined. “Let us pray,” said Mother Teresa and bowed her head. Williams looked over at Dietrich, and the two men bowed with her. When she was done, Mother Teresa gave exactly the same appeal. Again Williams politely demurred. Once more Mother Teresa said, “Let us pray.” Williams looked up at the ceiling. “All right, all right,” he said, and pulled out his checkbook.
When the things we do are what God wants done we can never give up! Sometimes it seems like all options are exhausted, but prayer is never finished. Prayer is as much action as it is conversation with God. So pray on when the work seems too hard. Pray on when the way seems narrow and path is dangerous. Pray on and know that as long you have breath in your lungs there is something you can do to help change the world for glory of God!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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