I do not know how to go out or come in.
...So give Your servant a hearing heart [.]
From Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings 3
NASB: "an understanding heart"; original literal wording "a hearing heart"
...I am but a little child;
I do not know how to go out or come in. ...So give Your servant a hearing heart [.] From Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings 3 NASB: "an understanding heart"; original literal wording "a hearing heart"
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Rosalind and Jonathan Goforth were missionaries in China in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and were contemporaries of Hudson Taylor. I posted a link the other day ("To soak in" page) to a little book Rosalind Goforth wrote, entitled How I Know God Answers Prayer. (Thanks again, Rose, for this recommendation.) I'm only on page 22, but already I've found some quotations that are powerful food for spiritual thought and growth. Here's what I would like to share so far -- there may be more later. May God allow these things to so take root in my own life that He ends up blessed beyond His wildest imaginings.
"Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him."
Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God "Prayer is two-fold: definite asking
and definite waiting to receive." ~ Oswald Chambers (as quoted in David McCasland, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God: The Life Story of the Author of My Utmost for His Highest) In winter most trees appear lifeless, but in fact they are in a state of dormancy. They don't suddenly enter this state overnight -- they are prepared for it gradually, as the seasons change. Nor do they come out of dormancy overnight. Everything the Lord designs and plans is brilliantly, perfectly orchestrated. Everything we commit fully into His hands is meticulously attended to in this same way. What we see after we've released something or someone into God's care may not look at all like care. At times it may even appear that He is allowing things to fall apart. I wonder if that's what we would have said if we had seen the first winter on earth. "What are you thinking, God? You've taken all the beautiful leaves off the trees. And now it's so cold and windy, the branches may all snap off. Maybe You're going to just let the trees die and start over again at some point? This is so sad. I wonder how this will turn out." To us that sounds silly, yet this is pretty much how we tend to respond to the chaotic or puzzling things that go on in our lives or in the lives of those we pray for. "I've prayed for my child to come to know Jesus/to end up with the right life mate/to take a healthy direction in life. But look what's going on! The situation has gotten worse, not better. Things look very bleak." Maybe things look very bleak because in His cycle for this event, it's winter. God isn't thrown off course by winter: He designed it. He designed the way growing things enter dormancy, and He designed the way they leave it. Can we not trust Him with what happens in between? I just happened to notice this wonderful quotation I posted a while back on the "Quotations" page:
"The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, meekness, gentleness and self-control – are the outworking of the in-working of Christ living in us. And when we don’t depend on Him and access Him and live in Him through prayer, the fruit of the Spirit is not exhibited in our lives – it’s Him." ~ Hilary Price, "The Galilee Retreat," part 4, "Moving Beyond Failure" Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.” (Numbers 3:11-13)
This was a very unusual place to be taken on a sunny Thanksgiving morning. I jumped into Numbers because it's one of the less-visited places in my Bible, but I sure couldn't see right away what I was doing there. I knew there must be some message, because the Lord had asked me to set aside part of my prayer time to laying some specific burdens before Him, and Numbers 3 is where He led me first. Initially I wondered if there was something for me to see concerning the Levites, or the firstborn. Attention span waning a bit (sunny holiday morning), I followed a cross-reference to another part of my Bible and hung out there for a while. But the phrase "I am the Lord" kept coming back to me. It's repeated over and over in Numbers 3, as it often is in Leviticus and in other Old Testament places where God sets out how things are to be done. In some of these statements, "I am the Lord" seems stuck in almost randomly (Numbers 3:41a: You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel...). What does this mean? What was I doing here? Suddenly the answer began to dawn on me. The fact that He is the Lord is key to everything. Everything. "I am the Lord" interlaces so many of His commands because everything He does or commands is designed to bring glory to Himself. He is the center of everything. ...And therefore (practical application)... I am not to be the focus of the prayers He calls me to pray concerning my needs. The people I pray for (though I love them) are not to be the focus of the prayers He calls me to pray concerning their needs. God is the focus of all that we are called to pray and do. He is the Lord. This is at the core of everything. This is a game-changer. Try this. Start with a very good, normal prayer: Father, my friend Margaret needs Your help with her situation. Thank You that You have promised to act mightily on behalf of those who love and revere You. I ask that You answer Margaret in Your perfect timing and according to Your perfect will. Thank You so much! In Jesus' precious Name, Amen. Prayer remix (as Louie Giglio says :) ): Father, my friend Margaret needs Your help with her situation. I ask that through Your answer -- whatever You choose to do -- You will be greatly glorified. Thank You that have promised to act mightily on behalf of those who love and revere You. I can't wait to see what You do to bring glory to Yourself in this situation. We await Your perfect timing, according to Your perfect will. Thank You so much! In Jesus' precious Name, Amen. The prayer remix is subtle, but the focus shifts from Margaret's needs (meet them -- thank You) to God's glory (bring glory to Yourself in whatever way You choose to meet these needs -- thank You). For me, this adds great excitement to the prayer. I not only can't wait to see how God will answer, I can't wait to see the powerful way in which His answer will bring glory to Him. "When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying
to fix the blame on someone else. ...You will find there is a reason which is a deep instruction to you, not to anyone else." ~ Oswald Chambers, "The Cross in Prayer" (My Utmost for His Highest classic, August 6) Here's the beginning of Oswald Chambers' devotional for May 29:
In that day you will ask in My name . . . for the Father Himself loves you . . . --John 16:26-27 “In that day you will ask in My name . . . ,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” I'm directing you to this because the message "Not ... as some magic word" comes straight from the heart of God. We are so easily charmed and misled by the thought that "in Jesus' name," tacked onto any prayer, is a guarantee that we will receive that thing. This is not what Jesus meant. Oswald Chambers explains it vastly better than I could, though, and no doubt with vastly more precious first-hand experience than I have, since I'm only just beginning to learn it. But what a priceless gift to have the Lord even begin to lead me to this profound principle. My Utmost for His Highest, May 29 devotional I love the often anguished melancholy and joyful abandon of the Psalms. David, particularly, seems to know how to summarize what I'm feeling when my world is crashing into the sea, or when I can't contain my love for the Lord.
Recently it occurred to me, though, that certain Psalms may reveal something about Jesus' own prayer life. This struck me one day as I was reading Psalm 16: Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.” As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips. The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. The wording "Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay" is a known prophetic messianic reference. So I began to wonder, "Did Jesus use this psalm in worship and prayer?" There are other hints to me that He may have. I'm awe-struck, for example, thinking that Jesus may have made this statement in anticipation of His relationship with those who would know Him as Lord: As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The passage below, too, makes me think of what Jesus said more than once, that He did only the things that pleased the Father, and only the things He saw the Father doing. Jesus was and is fully God, but lived as fully man -- no special tricks, just a deep and constant communion with His Father. So this passage takes on special significance: I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. And unlike David, who frequently says things like "I will not be shaken" to try to convince himself not to be shaken (I can totally relate), Jesus really wasn't shaken. He LIVED in prayer and praise, and He was unflappable -- fixed on His Father's will and purposes. In John 15, Jesus tells us that we are to depend upon Him as our life source: He is the vine, we are the branches. So just as He, in His life as a man, lived in complete dependence upon and submission to the Father, we are to live in complete dependence upon and submission to Him. Part of the way we do this is to do what He did -- live in deep and constant communion with God. Prayer is a love song. As we live in prayer and praise, we begin to realize that it's designed to be a duet. Begin singing, keep singing! |
All thy sins were laid upon Him, Jesus bore them on the tree;
God, who knew them, laid them on Him, and, believing, thou art free. Joseph Denham Smith (c. 1817-1889) Praise reflection archives
May 2020
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...take root downward and bear fruit upward.
2 Kings 19:30 |