Purging a stack of
papers that has sat on my desk, mostly untouched, for many years, I came across
some rough drafts of articles that I never did complete. Here is one that
caught my eye. It was written in 2005.
This morning as I awoke, as I passed from sleep into
consciousness, in that brief moment before my brain fired up and began to run,
God spoke to me in the stillness. It was a precious thought, and an important one. I dwelt on it for a few minutes; then my mind ran on to other things,
and within a few more minutes, I couldn’t remember what God had been talking to
me about.
I apologized to the Lord.
Suddenly I had a mental image of 14-year-old Rachel, caught
up in the fun of her own world, distracted, and my being frustrated with her
because she has already forgotten to do what I’ve just told her, or worse,
hasn’t even really heard what I’ve said.
“I’m sorry, Lord,” I whispered again. “Is that how You feel
when I don’t heed what You say?” I knew even as I spoke that His responses
toward His sons and daughters are much more patient and loving than mine.
“Lord, please, will you tell me again what You were saying?”
Lying still and keeping my mind quiet and my heart wide open, I wait. Nothing
comes. Too bad.
I get up and start my day, determining that I will go and
sit by the pond and have some quiet time before I allow the day to carry me
away. I take with me a Bible and a book. It’s the book I end up reading: Jesus Freaks, by a rap group, DC Talk,
and an organization called The Voice of the Martyrs. The book is a stirring
compilation of stories of believers who have died over the last 20 centuries
for their faith in Christ.
I devour a number of stories. It’s time to quit now, but I
will read just one more. And there, at the end of the story, on page 69, are
two quotes that remind me of exactly what God said to me first thing this
morning.
It seems God is limited by our prayer
life—that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him (John Wesley,
founder of the Methodist Movement).
When a believing person prays, great
things happen (James 5:16, NCV).
I remember now: God was impressing me earlier this morning
with the importance of praying: on my own, and as a couple in the way Greg and
I sometimes do, taking the time to “cover all the bases,” as we put it, praying
about everything and everyone that comes to mind until there seems nothing left
to pray for. In those times, we feel spurred on by the conviction of the power
and importance of our prayers: We are in
a spiritual war, and the things we seek in prayer sometimes have to be won like
spoils taken from the enemy after a battle.
It stands to reason, then, that if we don’t pray, there are
some things that just aren’t going to happen. This thought, of God’s limiting
His intervention in human affairs to the confines of His people’s prayers, is
not intended to put a burden on us. Rather, when we are ready to embrace this responsibility,
we will find it to be a joyous and powerful privilege. You may not be up for
the fight every day; I’m not, but I’m working at it.
And this “covering all the bases” way of praying does not
mean endless, repetitive prayer lists; it means listening to the Holy Spirit,
praying as He prompts, and not quitting until you get the release from Him—the
peace and assurance that for now you are done.
“Pray without ceasing,” says God’s Word in 1 Thessalonians
5:17. When we read this verse, we wonder how we can possibly do that—be praying
all the time. But not all prayer is warfare; far from it. We can be in a continuous state of prayer by
keeping our hearts and minds turned toward God all day long, listening for His
voice and responding as we go. Often our prayers are just our side of a
conversation with Him. He is continually speaking to us, if we will just learn
to listen. King David brings out this thought in at least two of his psalms:
Thy thoughts toward us: … would I declare and speak
[them], they are more than can be numbered. (Psalm 40:5, DARBY)
How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are
thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your
thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still
thinking of me! (Psalm 139:18, TLB)
This describes what happened to me this morning: as I awoke,
I heard Him thinking thoughts toward me, speaking to my heart. Early-morning
thoughts from God.
Sometimes prayer is just our response to that inner voice. Sometimes
it is a venting of our needs, our fears, our petitions; sometimes, certainly, an
outpouring of our joy and thanksgiving. Other times it means heeding a call to
the battle of intercession.
It’s a sobering thought that John Wesley expresses above, in
a nutshell: “God is limited by our prayer life.” But God’s Word says it too:
“Ye have not because ye ask not” (James 4:2, KJV). Stop and think about that
for a minute.
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In rereading this old
article, I bring away several layers of significance. First is the marvel of
God’s talking to us, that He would take the time to intentionally impart His
thoughts to us—to me. And then, when through my own carelessness, inattention, and
distraction, I lose what He imparted to me, He so graciously runs it by me one
more time.
Not that He made it easy: I waited and prayed, then read several
chapters thoughtfully, still waiting and listening. It was as though He was
asking how important it was to me, how much effort I was willing to put in, to hear His voice again. He
has said, in Jeremiah 29:13, NKJV, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search
for Me with all your heart.”
How astounding that He had placed the words that I
needed to jog my memory in the very book He knew I would pick up and read that
morning, and that I decided to read that “one more chapter.” The words that I
read there helped me to retrieve my earlier thoughts.
Second is the thoughts
themselves, the internal reminder of the importance of prayer and the concept of His choosing
to partner with us through prayer to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.
And third is the timeliness of finding this
old article, just when—with the challenges life is throwing at us right now—I need
to be reminded of God’s intimate involvement in our lives and the importance of
prayer in connecting our needs with His power.
