Recently I've been reading a book called "The Me I Want to Be" by John Ortberg. I think I've mentioned this before, but it has taken me an obscene amount of time to get through this book, not because it's boring but because it's so meaty. I feel like I can't read huge sections without being overwhelmed by all the great concepts to contemplate.
The section I'm in right now is about prayer, and it has been opening my eyes in incredible ways. John talks a lot about being "in the flow of the Spirit," and he says this on the subject of prayer:
"Prayer, more than any other single activity, is what places us in the flow of the Spirit. When we pray, hearts get convicted, sin gets confessed, believers get united, intentions get encouraged, people receive guidance, the church is strengthened, stubbornness gets melted, wills get surrendered, evil gets defeated, grace gets released, illness gets healed, sorrows are comforted, faith is born, hope is grown, and love triumphs."
I was just overwhelmed by this statement. I mean, I've known that these things are true about prayer, but to see them all together and realize how powerful prayer really is...it's so hard to explain, but it just caught me off-guard for a moment. Actually, I read this last night...so it caught me off-guard for about a day!
As I talked about in my last post, I've been having trouble with my emotions and letting them get the best of me. Granted, I'll always be wired with high emotions, but I've been letting them drain the life out of me. I was going through other parts of this book that I had highlighted weeks and even months ago, and I came across this question: "What can you feed your mind with so that it can flourish?"
Immediately I realized that I can't just take something out of my mind and expect it to be solved. I have to put something else IN...something for my mind to focus on. So often I listen to my own voice, the one that says, "You're not good enough. You're not pretty enough. Your life is a mess. You can't do this. This project is too overwhelming..." On and on. I have to get this voice out of my head, but I can't just leave it at that. I have to make room for a new voice. And it just so happens that I know the perfect voice to use. It's a voice that says things like, "In me, you are good enough. You are created in my image. Cast your anxiety on me. You can do all things through me. I will never give you more than you can handle..."
It's a voice that I will have to consciously invite into my mind every morning when I wake up. And maybe every afternoon. And probably some evenings, too, because I know the other voice will want to force its way back in. I'm thinking of prayer in a new way now. It doesn't have to be a lengthy, drawn out conversation with God that happens all in one setting. "The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God."
The joyful awareness. I'm okay with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment