When I first began to talk to the Almighty
I would ramble on and on and imagined that I was making great strides after
reading how to books or going to prayer meetings. I listened to many
explanations about the God who wanted my attention. There was an occasion in
the scripture when the disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray and I
listened in as Jesus broke it down into understandable terms. First acknowledge
Him, know who He is, accept His will in the earth that you are made of and
believe His promises. Ask for only the minimal items to sustain your life and
realize that you are only forgiven to the degree that you are willing to
forgive others. Request the ability to avoid being deceived while trusting that
He is able to keep you safe in this dangerous world. Not once in that
instruction is there a list of mental affirmations or detailed petitions for changing
our government or societal ills. There is no step by step seminar recipe on how
to get God to respond our parochial expectations. In the heart of it there is
no positive confession, repetition, or neatly framed verses taken out of
context to support our assumed conclusions. Jesus is the I AM answer to every prayer
in spite of any imagined concept of who we think He is and here are a few of
them that you may be familiar with. Jesus said; I am the True Vine. I am the
Way. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the Light of the world, the Bread of Life
and the Messiah. He also said I am with you always even to the end of the world.
There are a few I am’s that arrested my
attention in the Psalms also. When I didn’t know how to pray, I would say what
David said and that was my approach as I saw so many similarities to what I had
been anxious about or when my sin was getting the best of me. Notice in Psalm
31, 38, 39 and 69 for example, that in those passages alone the words I, me and
mine appear over 230 times. Not once in any of those passages do you find David
asking for financial aid or a better job. He didn’t dwell on his neighbor’s
welfare or spend any time blessing Saul, the Senate or the Supreme Court. He
didn’t present himself as a patriot nor did he rebuke the devil or recite the
words of Moses. He talked straight up. David didn’t claim to have the answer to
anything and mostly complained about everything and was often negative in his
words and phrases. He said; I am troubled, I am bowed down, I am feeble and I
am ready to fail. With many similar words David said I am a stranger, forgotten,
and weary and I am like a broken vessel.
In conclusion I am also come into deep
water and I am full of heaviness because I have been over prescribed in the
philosophy and mechanics of prayer. I’ve gone to churches where the pastor has
his regular voice and a preaching voice. I suspect he believes the Lord will
respond if he exaggerates and embellishes the moment with extreme emotion. Our
praying voice should be the same as our everyday voice and silence is the
better part of prayer as it’s the quiet moments that open the heart up. It’s
not the length of time spent before the Lord and although I do admire the one
who is fervent for more than an hour, in the end it is the position of the
heart. To have a Bible open when praying is optional but the Lord is known to
answer; “it is written.” Paul used the phrase I am on one or two occasions and I
believe I am too. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain;.. 1
Cor 15:10a.. As you search the scriptures you may find that you identify from
time to time with this kind of praying and can confess that; Jesus is the I AM
and like David was, I am too.
No comments:
Post a Comment