DE PONDERINGS
"…one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray…'" (Luke 11:1)
I confess. I read the classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, with a certain degree of skepticism. But I'll have to admit that many times my skepticism is turned into awe and wonder. The reading for August 28 is a case in point.
Oswald Chambers, the author, speaks about prayer in this particular daily reading. He says, "We hear it said that a person's life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer." I don't know that I've ever thought about prayer in these terms, but it makes perfect sense.
Think about Chambers' words in relation to John 15 where Jesus speaks about the vine and the branches. We are the branches that are attached to the vine which is Jesus. Because we are attached, the very life of Jesus courses through our veins. Prayer ensures that the flow continues which in turn ensures that we remain alive, vibrant, and connected instead of withered, dead, and disconnected.
Chambers adds, "To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'Prayer changes me and then I change things.' God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature."
As I make my way around the district, I try to keep my ears open and listen to how we interact with each other. I even evaluate myself as to how well I'm interacting. What I hear, and what I see in myself, is sometimes rather disheartening. We (including me) are quick to speak and to judge and to find fault. I wonder what differences we might see and hear if we were more attentive to prayer? If we were more attentive to the life of Jesus that flows through our veins?
I share these thought not to cast stones but to raise awareness because I truly care about each and every person who makes up this body we call the IL/ WI District of the Church of the Brethren. My hope and my prayer is that we can all remain connected to the True Vine to receive the life-changing flow of grace that will sustain us spiritually and help us all to be healthy branches. Healthy branches aren't so concerned about the differences of other healthy branches. They are more concerned with helping reconnect those that have become disconnected. Another way to say it? We become more missional, outward focused, rather than being focused inwardly, trying to maintain the present branches.
There's plenty of room for many more branches to be grafted into the True Vine. Prayer helps us to be branch grafters. Prayer really can change us. And when we're changed, well, we really can be change agents for God.
I confess. I read the classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, with a certain degree of skepticism. But I'll have to admit that many times my skepticism is turned into awe and wonder. The reading for August 28 is a case in point.
Oswald Chambers, the author, speaks about prayer in this particular daily reading. He says, "We hear it said that a person's life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer." I don't know that I've ever thought about prayer in these terms, but it makes perfect sense.
Think about Chambers' words in relation to John 15 where Jesus speaks about the vine and the branches. We are the branches that are attached to the vine which is Jesus. Because we are attached, the very life of Jesus courses through our veins. Prayer ensures that the flow continues which in turn ensures that we remain alive, vibrant, and connected instead of withered, dead, and disconnected.
Chambers adds, "To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'Prayer changes me and then I change things.' God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature."
As I make my way around the district, I try to keep my ears open and listen to how we interact with each other. I even evaluate myself as to how well I'm interacting. What I hear, and what I see in myself, is sometimes rather disheartening. We (including me) are quick to speak and to judge and to find fault. I wonder what differences we might see and hear if we were more attentive to prayer? If we were more attentive to the life of Jesus that flows through our veins?
I share these thought not to cast stones but to raise awareness because I truly care about each and every person who makes up this body we call the IL/ WI District of the Church of the Brethren. My hope and my prayer is that we can all remain connected to the True Vine to receive the life-changing flow of grace that will sustain us spiritually and help us all to be healthy branches. Healthy branches aren't so concerned about the differences of other healthy branches. They are more concerned with helping reconnect those that have become disconnected. Another way to say it? We become more missional, outward focused, rather than being focused inwardly, trying to maintain the present branches.
There's plenty of room for many more branches to be grafted into the True Vine. Prayer helps us to be branch grafters. Prayer really can change us. And when we're changed, well, we really can be change agents for God.
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