I've been doing most of my Bible reading in The Message lately, and recently i ran across this passage from Romans 9: It's the Israelites...If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. I'd call that a strong desire to see some people turn to Christ. in fact, that's reflective of the same love Christ has for all of us. through his crucifixion, he became "a curse" for us so that we could be rid of our sin and connected to God. the Bible tells us in Philippians 2 that we should have the same self-sacrificing attitude that Christ had.
while that's a heavy thing to take in all at once, it's really just about being obedient to God. enter prayer. over the past year, i've been learning more about what prayer really is. it is about getting God's will done on this earth. that's something we all say we want, but whether we really want it or not is evidenced in the way we live day to day. i think it has been almost two years since pastor raymond did a sunday morning series on finding God's will for your life. i don't remember his exact words (which i probably wouldn't have space for here anyway), but his point was this: why should God show us the big stuff he wants for us if we're not obedient in what we already know he wants. i heard another preacher say it this way: "brush your teeth." we need to make sure we are doing what we know to do, and in that submission, through prayer, God will continue to give us the direction we need.
the common misconception of prayer, though, is that it is just the way we tell God what we want from Him. we never verbalize this as our definition of prayer, but is it the way we pray? prayer is meant to be intimacy with God. it's us having conversation with Him - He talks, we respond, we talk He responds - and then shaping our lives by His direction, instead of handing Him a wish list and trying to do good hoping He'll be happy enough to give us what we want.
anyway, i dont' know how i ended up on prayer... i was really impressed by seeing paul's attitude toward the israelites. i hope that i am able to live with attitudes so similar to the the attitude of Chrsit.
while that's a heavy thing to take in all at once, it's really just about being obedient to God. enter prayer. over the past year, i've been learning more about what prayer really is. it is about getting God's will done on this earth. that's something we all say we want, but whether we really want it or not is evidenced in the way we live day to day. i think it has been almost two years since pastor raymond did a sunday morning series on finding God's will for your life. i don't remember his exact words (which i probably wouldn't have space for here anyway), but his point was this: why should God show us the big stuff he wants for us if we're not obedient in what we already know he wants. i heard another preacher say it this way: "brush your teeth." we need to make sure we are doing what we know to do, and in that submission, through prayer, God will continue to give us the direction we need.
the common misconception of prayer, though, is that it is just the way we tell God what we want from Him. we never verbalize this as our definition of prayer, but is it the way we pray? prayer is meant to be intimacy with God. it's us having conversation with Him - He talks, we respond, we talk He responds - and then shaping our lives by His direction, instead of handing Him a wish list and trying to do good hoping He'll be happy enough to give us what we want.
anyway, i dont' know how i ended up on prayer... i was really impressed by seeing paul's attitude toward the israelites. i hope that i am able to live with attitudes so similar to the the attitude of Chrsit.
posted by Jonathan Branch at 9:53 AM
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