A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

I am in the midst of several quality books. One that I want to highlight this morning: A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller is one that I have gotten into and do not want to let go or let down. I am not going to go into much detail, the title speaks for itself, but I do want to set down some quotes that are pretty profound.

"You'd think if Jesus was the Son God, He wouldn't need to pray or at least he wouldn't need a specific prayer time because He'd be in a constant state of prayer." p. 43

"If you know that you, like Jesus, can't do life on your own then prayer makes complete sense."

"Jesus defines Himself only in relationship with His heavenly Father. Adam and Eve began their quest for self-identity after the Fall. Only after thy acted independently of God did they have a sense of a separate self. If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need, in life." p. 44-45

"Time in prayer makes you even more dependent on God because you don't have as much time to get things done. Every minute spent in prayer is one less minute where you can be doing something 'productive.' so the act of praying means that you have to rely more on God."

Plumbing and Praying

Matt has come to my rescue once again, if only just partially.  Last night the sink stopped up.  Ken put Drain-o in it, several times, and it ended up sitting there doing nothing.  We have two dishwashers and one was running just fine, the one with the sink that was not stopped up.  I decided to run the other one, and ended up with a kitchen floor full of sudsy water.  Ken was up in a deer stand, and I thought I knew what to do, but decided to get some advice first.  I called Matt and he confirmed what I thought, and then I went to work.  I told myself, how hard can this type of plumbing be?  I unscrewed all of the pipes under the sink, found the clog, and dumped it out.  A wonderful sight to behold.  I made sure it all worked, drained, and didn't leak, then cleaned up what mess I had not already, and by the time Ken came home all he had to do was make sure the pipes were as tight as they could be.  I love being able to do things without having to call "a professional," or wait until my husband comes home.  I really enjoyed the accomplishment.  

It dawned on me that sometimes I treat God in this way.  We either make a mess on our own, one just "pops" up, or we get involved in a mess with regard to a relationship or through a relationship, and then we "call" God, ask Him to confirm what we already think we know, tell Him what will take to fix it, or don't even "call" at all, just go ahead and "fix" it.  When I think of how I am such an arrogant, pompous, windbag in His omnipotent sight, I do not understand how in the world He puts up with me.  In the case of my plumbing the analogy breaks down some where along the way, but God used it to show me how cavalier I am in regard messes disasters of my own making.  

Psalm 57

1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, 

for in you my soul takes refuge. 

I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings 

until the disaster has passed.

2 I cry out to God Most High, 

to God, who fulfills {his purpose} for me.

My prayer should be more like the one above.  "Lord, have mercy on me.  Humble me.  Make me mailable clay in your hands, for your glory."  

Continuing to learn from the mundane while waiting.............................Lynn

Morning Praises It's Creator

I love the morning noises.  The crickets, and insects seem to be singing a song of praise to You.  The blue Heron squawks a good morning beckoning the dawn to awaken Your world.  The frogs croak as they make the rhythm of praise to an expectant world.  You have given the earth new dew, fresh water from a cistern that continually tells of Your new mercies.  The rustle of the invisible breeze is shaking the leaves and gently tells them to greet the new morning with hope.  

Hope, You alone gives us hope.  Nothing else is able to give us hope, except You.  You are the God of history.  Your plan ends sometime in the future with hope.  

Someday I will Meet Jeremiah, and he will still be speaking of You and Your great plan that has come to pass.  

Praise You this morning.  Praise You.  

Why would You even condescend to man?  We don't wake up praising You like the Heron does.  We don't trust You easily like the birds do for everything they need,  

And yet You not only condescend to us You died upon a cross with the Father's wrath upon You, for us.  

Please Lord, may I live today with every part of my being for You.  

Awaiting You and Praising You............Lynn

Sit Down Saturdays; vol. #3-Rest

Father,

Some of my friends are at the beach this weekend.  They have gone down to work on one of the couples homes.  I wish I was with all of them. I wish I could have gone. I wish I could have gone and played with them for the weekend. I wish I could break bread with them as neighbors and friends again.  I miss them all.  There are so many things that I wish, long, and miss right now.  It's not that I am fighting God's will, or am not content doing what I am doing.  It isn't even that I am resentful of any of life's circumstances.  I just wish.........My mother had a saying when I was growing up; "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride."  I can just imagine one of us children wishing for ice cream, candy, a friend, a circumstance that we or she could not give us, and about that time is when she would insert her saying into the fray.  My response to her saying is, BUT I AM A BEGGAR.  I have to beg for everything, don't I?  Steve Brown, a pastor and speaker, has a saying about beggars also.  He says, "I am just one beggar showing other beggars where to find bread."  How do these two sayings go together, or do they?  Just pondering all of this.  

I do feel like I am a beggar.  I think that I begged and have prayed for everything that I hold, and held dear.  Those things that I am wishing for were begged for too.  Friends, a family (in the form of the church), a ministry.  In some ways I feel like You have taken them all away. Were they idols in my heart to be torn away so that they would not be forever challenging Your preeminence in my life?  Was it just not Your will, Your perfect will that tore those things from me?  The Bible is full of instances where You hold all the above mentioned things high.  You want us to pray for the gift of teaching in order to teach, I did.  You want us to prefer being with the Body of Christ, which is Your Bride, in order to give us a family, a place where acceptance is held dear, where everyone "knows your name."  You hold up friendship between brothers and sisters as a good, noble, and honorable thing to be sought after, nourished and cultivated as a gardener would a beautiful watered garden.  I did all those things.  I prayed for years that You would make me a Bible teacher, You did.  I prayed for years to have a close knit church family, You gave me one.  

I am seeking You as a child who has put down their toys, climbed  up into their parent's lap and just rest.  Nuzzling my head between Your arm and chest I am holding on to You.  I don't have the answers.  Maybe I never will. 

Resting.........Lynn

PS   Ken just sent this via email.  Thought it was good and pertinent.  

The “A-to-Z” of the Christian Life

“The gospel shows us that our spiritual problem lies not only in failing to obey God, but also in relying on our obedience to make us fully acceptable to God, ourselves and others.

Every kind of character flaw comes from this natural impulse to be our own savior through our performance and achievement. On the one hand, proud and disdainful personalities come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are succeeding. But on the other hand, discouraged and self-loathing personalities also come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are failing.

Belief in the gospel is not just the way to enter the kingdom of God; it is the way to address every obstacle and grow in every aspect. The gospel is not just the “ABCs” but the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life.

The gospel is the way that anything is renewed and transformed by Christ — whether a heart, a relationship, a church, or a community. All our problems come from a lack of orientation to the gospel. Put positively, the gospel transforms our hearts, our thinking and our approach to absolutely everything.”

- Timothy Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.