if you please

You know, lately I've had several things washing around in the back of my mind as potential blog topics.  This morning, the following quote appeared on one of the quotes websites that I watch.

Cure yourself of the condition of bothering about how you look to other people. Be concerned only . . . with the idea God has of you.

Miguel de Unamuno

I had asked the Lord to lay on my heart what to write about next.  Thank you, Lord!

Last week, a friend and I were having coffee, and our discussion arrived at the acknowledgment that almost every believer, regardless of goal or claim, still cares a great deal about what other people think.  I certainly include myself in this (to my chagrin,) as I alluded to in one of last week's posts.  Before we come to know Jesus, it is people we look to for [perfect] love and acceptance, a habit that is difficult at best to break.  These attentions we give to others manifest themselves in amazing ways--how we dress, what kind of car one drives, the movies we say we like...

What we say we believe.

Several times in Scripture, the apostle Paul (in context) draws a distinction between pleasing men and pleasing God.  For example, in Galatians 1:10, we read "... If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ."  I think that even as our mindset changes (Romans 12:2) we tend to confuse serving people (love your neighbor as yourself) with pleasing people.  It is easy to confuse loving a person (seeking what is in that person's best interest) with making that person happy; very often the two do not overlap at all.  When I take my eyes off of Jesus, I'm in grave danger of catering to the reaction, i.e. acting to make someone happy, rather than letting Christ live through me to love and serve that person.  But it takes God in Christ growing me to know the difference, even though it might seem so simple.  Trusting God to grow me and live His life through me is the basis of a life pleasing to Him (Hebrews 11:6.)

Never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world.  There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.

C. S. Lewis

We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.

John Stott

quotpourri

Why do so many people have struggles when it comes to prayer? ... Men and women were originally created to desire communion with God. But the effects of sin have dulled most of that original human desire. Sin turned a natural activity into an unnatural funciton.

Gordon McDonald

prayer

I noticed today that my friend Mike, in the context of a recent post, made the comment, "One thing I've been thinking about is how much I need time for prayer. I think I need it more now than I ever have." As I have shared in the past, I breakfast with several men weekly for Bible study and fellowship, and [coincidentally] this morning we read Luke 6:12-19.  Verse 12 says, "It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God."  Wow.  We spent time discussing this, and when I later read Mike's post, what conviction was brought to bear on me!

Last year I read George Müller's autobiography, and one of my reactions to it was the notion that I don't know how to pray at all; prayer was central and primary in Müller's life.  I wonder if the disciple who asked of Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray..." (Luke 11:1) also felt as I do sometimes.  What an encouragement to read in Romans where the apostle Paul reminds us that we do not know how to pray as we should, and he goes on to say that the Spirit intercedes for us in prayer.  As John Bunyan  said,

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

As for more time for prayer, I've always felt that the scriptural exhortation to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17) underscored the fact that I'm never ever alone--the risen Jesus by His Spirit is always present within me.  Even so, the expressed desire for more time for prayer, and the scripture relating how Jesus prayed all night, reminded me of this comment from Martin Luther:

I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.

It's not unusual for me to not know how (or what) to pray, but neither have I grown to the point where prayer is as natural in my life as breathing. Lord Jesus, teach me to pray...

hello again

Several close friends have encouraged me to resume sharing through this blog, and others have asked me why I stopped writing. Such comments are encouraging to me personally, but they also quickly reveal in me so many faults that God has yet to grow me beyond. For example, I am amazed that it stings so much that other people dear to me did not make such comments. I am really still that selfish.

No matter. For the last several days I have had a growing urge to write, and I am praying like crazy that God is stirring this up in me. Please pray that my mind would be an open canvas for God to use in the lives of whoever reads my posts. Also, when I have written in the past, I've been amazed at how impacted I've been--it had to be God putting the ideas there and then using them to grow me!

Having shared these personal thoughts, I will also share several quotes that caught my attention this morning as I perused my quotes file (now over fifty pages!) I am convicted by these comments as well as the encouragement of my friends to be diligent to share my thoughts as God does life with me.

Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think.

Longfellow

The repetition of small efforts will accomplish more than the occasional use of great talents.

Charles H. Spurgeon