Prayer

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.                                                                                                                                      Luke 6.12

Prayer was important to Jesus. Seemingly He had no direct need to pray – He was without sin, so there was nothing for Him to confess. He was God, totally God, so there was no real need for him to press in with any mortal need or requirement. So, why then did He pray? Regularly and in solitude, often in the night or the early morning He would remove Himself to a mountainside and pray. Why?

I believe it was all to do with His communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As Jesus prayed thus, the Triune God came together in unity and oneness. And because Jesus was Himself God, the Godhead came together in perfect manner.

I do not have the perfection of Christ, but I still need to press into God in prayer. Because I am a sinner, I need to present myself before God in confession and repentance. Because I am not God in myself, there will be times when I seek to make lowly, mortal requests of Him. This is all part of prayer for me.

But the greater part is to share what Jesus knew as prayer – to seek to enter into wholeness before the Father; to join with Almighty God in the closest, most powerful way. I shall never meet God in the same way that Jesus used to meet with Him when He was on earth, but I shall seek to meet Him, and meet with Him, in the unique way that He has ordained for me. I have a special relationship with God. I know there are secrets He wants to share with me. I hope there are mysteries He wants to reveal to me. I believe there is a whole lot of love He wants to lavish upon me and, through me, to reach to other people. I seek more of His grace, more of His mercy, His truth, His justice, and His faithfulness. I seek for myself, a greater portion of faith and a greater anointing in Holy Spirit power.

All these things are possible as I seek God in prayer.

Lord God, Loving Father,

I am conscious of my many failings which I lay before You as I seek audience with You. I confess and repent of my sins, each and every one. I ask You to take them, and forgive me. I ask You to strengthen me against future sin and lead me, rather, in paths of righteousness.

I declare You to be the source of everything I might ever need. I rejoice in You. I marvel at Your power, Your greatness, Your richness, and the richness of everything I have in You. Above all else, I treasure the relationship I have with You. I pray for a secret place of meeting with You where I can present myself as Jesus did when He sought the mountainside. This place is not a physical location, but a place where my spirit can be powerfully, lovingly, deeply touched and intermingled and interwoven with Your Holy Spirit. This secret place is in my heart. With what freedom I have I release my heart to You. I ask You to come in in greater and growing measure. I am yours, Lord.                                        Amen.

Daily Life

This is my comfort in my distress,

     that your promise gives me life.                            Psalm 119.50

This verse reinforces for me the essential connection between my life in God and my earthly life. When trials befall me and I possibly experience distress, these things are caused by and in this world. Discomfort and disadvantage come out of daily life in the natural. At such times it is not difficult to dissociate God. I may be tempted to think of Him as ‘high and lifted up’, as distant, remote and certainly removed from my struggles. How wrong I would be to think this way. But how eager Satan is to have me think so?

My “life” comes from God’s promises. His Word contains the most wonderful encouragement for me. Not least is His constant assurance that He is with me at all times. And this includes, yes especially includes, the rotten and messy situations, the time when I could be tempted (though this is Satan’s activity, I’ll warrant) to feel that I have so let God down that I can’t possibly turn to Him. Anyway, He wouldn’t be there for me. What lies!

I have experienced this. I have felt so wretched at one time in particular that I carried for a long time the sense of having let God down. I carried it, that is, until God challenged me with a clear reminder that He had forgiven me, and so should I. How liberating! How wonderful to know something of the extent of His love. And what a reminder of the life that is in His promises.

Loving Father and Source of All Life,

I thank You that You have drawn me to You. I thank You that You accompany me on every step of the journey as I allow You. I thank You for the many and wonderful promises in Your Word that give me life.

Yes, Lord, my life is in You – all of my life. I receive You into my struggles, I look to You in the time of temptation, I rest in You when I am weary, and I seek to abide in You at all times.

Your Word is filled with promises. I seem to discover fresh assurances each day. I thank You for the truth of each and every promise and I pray the reality of all of them into my life.

Thank You, Loving Father, Glorious God.                 Amen.

Reflection

Monday, 8th August 2011

I went for a walk today, the first in over two weeks. It wasn't a long walk, maybe 5km, but it was good.

In the time I've been home, I've done so much sleeping. In no previous travelling have I experienced such a lengthy "body clock re-adjustment" on returning home. Is this a sign of age? I wonder!

As well as sleeping, another major aspect of the last couple of weeks has impacted me greatly. This is the re-connecting with people - family, friends and acquaintances. Even local shop people comment, "It's good to see you back. We missed you." It's a sweet thing to be missed when one is absent. And it's a joyous experience to pick up the relationship when one returns. The sheer volume of this in recent days has filled me with gratitude that I am blessed with such an abundance of friends and fellow-journeyers.

This has also been a vivid and present reminder of what I considered to be the clearest insight to come from my Camino experience, that being the prime importance of relationships in my life. While I was away I revisited several existing, even long-standing, relationships. I also experienced and enjoyed a number of new relationships. Many of my relationships derive from the relationship I have with God.

When I moved on from Spain and spent time on the most delightful Greek island, I reflected on the joy of simplicity in living. In our ever-progressive modern world thoughts of living simply raise quite a challenge. But, I believe, it is a challenge to be taken up, rather than excused.

The common denominator for me in both these significant life factors, is God. My "gospel" is a simple one: God loves me! All of my life is based on this. And the relationships I enjoy with so many people are enabled and sustained by the relationship that I enjoy with God.

I haven't always had this intimate relationship. Indeed, there was an extended time when no relationship at all was acknowledged by me - and didn't that reflect on my quality of life! In time, God drew me to Him in exquisite relationship, which deepens as the journey unfolds.

For some years this journey has been reflected somewhat in my prayer journal. On a fairly regular basis (most days in fact) I read a portion of God's Word and then reflect on what He may want to reveal to me or want me to discover in my meditation on it. This is no academic exercise. This is my "God Time". It is a time when He may give me revelation of His love and purpose. I often find myself journeying way beyond the immediate verse or quote of the day.

I have found immense blessing in this. I've also wondered if others could be touched by my experience and similarly blessed. And so, from time to time I plan to post extracts from my prayer journal in the hope that God will use these to speak to others, and draw them further into loving, intimate relationship with Him.