RESURRECTION LIFE

Going into a new year is both frustrating and fun. It’s always fun anticipating what the year has in store. Frustration comes from knowing that if we do this year the same as we did last year, we will get the same result.

Mature Christians often have a difficulty knowing what they should be; and knowing what they are not. For some, this spurs them on to greater effort and greater achievement. For others it becomes a recipe for disaster. They see their own limitations and give up trying. On occasions I’ve been in both places.

There is an additional complication which we come across in certain Christian circles. People say, “God told me this” or “God told me that”. Unfortunately we have no other witness to this ‘fact’ so we are not in a position to either support or reject the claim. But the comment is useful to use because it puts the speaker beyond human correction. After all, if God did tell them that, I daren’t contradict it. So we tend to look at people who make such claims with great suspicion. However, time will tell whether the statement was true or false.

Reading the first 3 verses gives me the impression that King David was familiar with this difficulty. A Psalm of David. ¹ O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! ² Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! ³ Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Psalm 141:1-3 ESV

With the exception of King Jesus, David was the greatest king Israel has ever seen. Yet, here is this king who has a heart after God, admitting to his own shortcomings. I suppose we could paraphrase this verse by saying. “Lord, please help me to stop lying!” In verse one, we read of this same king asking God to hear His prayer. Could it be that he had the same problems we do? It gives me great comfort to know that he experienced times when it seemed that the heaven was like brass. I know it too well. David was a sinner. His illicit relationship with Bathsheba and the arranged murder of Uriah confirms this. But God never abandoned him.

So when my head swells with uninhibited pride, it’s a blessing to know that either I will correct myself, or He will correct me. Furthermore, it helps me know that regardless of how bad I have been, forgiveness is not beyond reach. I don’t know about you, but I find this very comforting. I know I should never compare myself with another; but it’s good to understand that even at my lowest point I’m not beyond His salvation and His grace.

The meditation today looks at some of the problems we all have with prayer. Fortunately, He has the solution even for people like you and me.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland.

Resurrection Life

Each time that you are praying, do thoughts invade your mind? Is prayer to you a burden, a deep unwanted bind? Is contacting the Saviour beyond all you can see? Then I have got good news for you; for you are just like me. I’ve never found it easy in truth it’s very hard. I feel I’d like to go and play in someone else’s yard. So we rely on systems to keep our spirits quiet. When what we’re really needing is a spiritual riot. Something we can cling to, to help us get it right, And really serve the Master without some inner fight. Is this a bad confession? Should I hide this away? But all that I can murmur is, “Lord teach me to pray.” I know I’m not alone in this. I know my friends complain That they would like to pray to You in ways that don’t seem vain. And yet there’s great encouragement when answers come along. We know the time’s not wasted and prayer is never wrong! The problem is our senses. We think that we should feel A sort of dynamism, which makes the Saviour real! We should be filled with power to set the world alight. Instead there’s empty nothingness for we can’t get it right. O Lord, I hate this struggle. It seems I cannot win. And since these words are faithless, I know that they are sin. But Lord I’m tired of trying; I cannot bear the mask That covers my hypocrisy when prayer is just a task. So Lord as we go into the year which lies ahead, Father, work a miracle and raise me from the dead. Help me know your presence in spite of how I feel. Teach me that sensations are not what make things real. I know that You can do it. Please let my prayers ascend Like fragrant clouds of incense, of which there is no end. You’ve said that we can do it. To pray and never cease. Perhaps all I am needing, is some form of release. The freedom to engage with You in way’s I’ve never known. The way the Bible indicates is what You’ll surely own. An inner transformation that causes us to be The essence of what we should know in Christianity. Not some mumbo jumbo of raising up a storm. But where a right relationship is constantly the norm. For working the miraculous for You is just routine And raising sinners from the dead is where you’re always seen And we desire to know You as we have never done In fellowship with Father, the Spirit and Your Son. Jim Strickland – Written Monday 2nd January 2012