God, Prayer, Pain
God,
Prayer, Pain
Job 2:4 “And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man
hath will he give for his life.”
John 15:8 “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall
ye be my disciples.”
Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.”
“Father, I want to be
like You.” If this is our first
expression to Him, it is powerful. This
is the big rock to fit in the prayer jar, so to say. All other smaller ones can fall in and find
their place.
Really, how does God influence this place? He is greatly limited in the affairs of men because He has constrained Himself. He recognizes a man’s sovereignty and resists not to meddle with him. So how does He act?
Through your prayers,
God is not shoved into movement. By
prayer and fasting, He does not force people by His hand to conformity. In other words, this is not witchcraft. We do not implore a Spirit to do our
bidding. In fact, God is not a
contractor.
So what does “prayer”
do? First, prayer is simply talk with
God that makes us aware of Him. Second, prayer bounces our character against
His. Lastly, we change (bear His fruit) and so change this world.
John 17:15 "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."
Jesus knew about pain. Leaving his disciples behind, He foresaw that
pain would spur His new church to grow.
Physical and emotional struggles would keep Her reaching for the Light. A new plant in the desert. She needed Him to grow.
Run from pain? Pain explodes the boundaries. It bursts forth new bud. Pain in hope bears fruit. Primarily coming to
God with our ‘owies’ to kiss them is childish. Getting back on the horse to ride is
perseverance. Maturity is behaving like
Christ through the struggles. And to
behave is not to hit the panic button. Even
so Lord, please help us.
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