The more I pray the more I understand the beauty and refreshing power of prayer. It's like pouring clean fresh water to a dry school. When you focus on God and open your heart to Him you feel renewed and encouraged. I believe real prayer is a fresh filling of the Spirit because we're calling on God for what we don't have, it's a constant confession of independence. This is refreshing, it's renewing, it's the key to receiving more satisfaction than you can think of.
When I was first saved I used to look on prayer as some kind of heavy task. I imagined God standing behind me like a forceful slave-driver speaking into my life by delivering over-bearing commands. I'm really glad I was wrong! Prayer is enjoyable! There's a myth floating around some conservative churches that 'denying yourself' (Mat 16v24) means throwing away pursuit of joy. Not true. It means pursuing real joy! 'Denying yourself' happens when we see Gods glory as our ultimate treasure, better than any sin. It's seeing God as our treasure!
If God is our treasure then prayer is our joy. Prayer is our joy when we savour Gods glory above everything and anything else. Therefore real Christ-exalting, pride-crushing prayer results in cherishing God and pursuing Him as ultimate good and satisfaction.
3 comments:
Thomas Brooks (1665):
“You cannot have too frequent communion with God, you cannot have too frequent fellowship with Jesus, you cannot have your hearts too frequently filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and with that peace that passes understanding, you cannot have heaven too frequently brought down into your hearts, nor you cannot have your hearts too frequently carried up to heaven; and therefore you cannot be too frequent in closet prayer.”
Great quote. I love a bit of Thomas Brooks, thanks!
Ps who are you?
Hello Simon,
Obviously that was Thomas Brooks
;-) No sorry, that was just me. Thanks for your post about prayer! It stimulates to pray more in order to have more communion with God, because that's miles ahead of all things we can get in the world!
Rienke
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