Why is it again that we are not bold and staring into the face of spiritual warfare and growling back? Just asking my self a few questions. Why are we not bolder? Or why am I not.... that is the question. (sigh) Never the less the Lord again is teaching me intimacy with Him, it is the fuel for everything.I am reading a book called "The Shack". It has such great timing in my life, as God had intended I am sure. But really just reminding me of God's goodness, and His measure of Love towards us. I have to admit I have a hard time swallowing even a drop of the measure of His love He has for us. That is where I go wrong, that is where worry comes from. Insecurities, distrust, whatever it may be.... it seems to me that we should just try and understand that God loves us more that we can imagine. It will change our perspective. I don't say this as a Sunday school lesson, but really try and grasp the depths of His love. How deep how wide, how long. Like Paul writes in Ephesians 3:18.
By the way, alligator tastes pretty good. :)
3 comments:
I just heard of the Shack tonight. Wow! http://www.thegodjourney.com/
poor alligator:)
i miss you.
Interesting that you should ask this question as I was just studying a similar topic.....
Whenever I think of spiritual warfare, I go to Paul's description of the Armor of God (Eph 6:10-20). He does an awesome job of relating life to war. He lists off all the tools we need to win the battle: truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word. I find that I'll usually do a decent job of getting all this in order, but where I fall off is in vs. 18. It is important to realize this verse is the continuation of 17 and tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit. Take the Word of God....praying! It doesn't do us any good to have all the tools in place but then to not pray and ask for God to help us use them.
John Piper relates prayer in this context to the communication with headquarters (God) by which the weapons of warfare are deployed according to the will of God. Prayer is a wartime tool.
I think it is especially insightful that Paul asks them to pray for himself that the proper words would be given him to proclaim BOLDLY the mystery of the gospel.
God chose us so that we can bear fruit. In doing so, he desires to answer our prayers. (John 15:16) Prayer, by design, will allow for the expansion of the Kingdom.
I think prayer is definitely an integral part of our intimacy with him. If we remember to go to him in prayer and keep the communication lines open, we'll definitely be one step closer to our calling of boldness.
Post a Comment