Bring me back to you God…
What is broken, restore.
What is depleted, refill.
What is aggravated, pacify.
What is striving, calm.
Where my mind is listening to lies,
soothe me with your truth.
Where my will is stubborn,
soften me to new aha! moments.
I want you God.
Help me.
I need you God.
Restore me.
I crave you God.
Answer me.
Teach me to know your heart towards my situations.
May I know the things you call me to change,
and those things I am incapable to change.
Give me the foresight and wisdom to know the difference and
unshakable strength to persevere no matter what direction you send me.
Help me to stand in wait and stillness – not alone, but with you. May I remember that even while I am silent, you are working for me. (Ex. 14:14)
Let me walk tuned to your promptings – to know – when to rest and when to rise.
Break through my flesh to let my Spirit abound.
Love me like a lost sheep,
for I so often am.
So, return and find me,
and draw me near,
run after me,
and may I always know that you are mine – and I am yours.
You are not a shoving God, but a loving God. May I remember.
You don’t call me a bad name, you call me adored.
You don’t call me “badly behaved,” you call me renewed. You don’t call me defeated, you call me resurrected.
May I walk with a mind attuned to Spirit not tuned into the world.
Forgive me for the ways and the times that I have believed in anything but your truth, your life, your grace and your peace. For anything apart from you is not – of you. I need you.
Bring me outside myself, to see you, so that I can then show you to others.
In Jesus’ name I pray amen.
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Why? I don’t know, but what I do know is that sometimes it feels better to blame others…
Business school said if you wanted to succeed you needed to work for this type of company.
My parents said if you want to survive you need to do this kind of work.
The world said if you want to be recognized you better be rich and powerful.
So, while my heart said counseling, my ambition said business. I nodded and then obeyed…
And so it was. I scoured online for the best companies. I researched their in’s and outs. I learned the details of their roles. I filled out application after application. I was a mad-woman on a mission who knew her destination – and neither potholes, nor roadkill, nor old dreams were going to stop me.
I became slightly crazed…
I remember the interview like it was yesterday. Two suited-folk leaned in; they grilled me. Each question they lobbed was meant to press me, to trip me up, but I didn’t buckle. Instead I tightened my every muscle, made eye contact and said, “This has always been my dream job.”
My replies rolled off like balls on a tee. I knew their mission like it was my first name. I knew their organizational culture as if I had grown up in it.
Their smiles were big and their body language said it all – I was in; I was the perfect candidate. I was a success.
Kind of…
Did I speak truth? Not at all.
Did it matter? Not so much.
One on a mission to fruition doesn’t care so much about right intentions.
One laser-driven, can’t often see where God wants them to drive.
I got the job. I sold out.
Like Judas (Mk 14:10), the man who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
We know him, right? And, we don’t have much sympathy for his likes. Instead, we stand a little taller saying, “I would never be like him. I would never sell Jesus out for ______ (money, ambition, dreams, success, hopes, expectations, results, health, finances, etc.).”
But, would we?
Do we?
Maybe Judas is a lot more like you and me than we think:
Maybe others told him what mattered – and he listened.
Maybe he didn’t think so much about Jesus – as he did his end goal.
Maybe the world spoke that real power was getting in with “powerful types”.
What are you chasing after, believing that it is going to deliver you to happiness?
If Christ isn’t in it, you can be sure joy and peace won’t be in it either.
The outcome is universal:
Judas/Destination Seekers say, “I sinned. I handed over (innocence) to be killed.”
The world says: “We don’t care! That’s a problem for you, not us.” (Mt 27:3-5)
Just as Judas ended up a dead man, hung by his own transgression, so do we.
What happened with me? My ambition delivered the fruit of ambition: stress, anxiety and pain. I left this job not too long after I started.
Why do I say all this? This post isn’t meant to depress you, it is meant to resurrect you – to your unique calling of God. It is meant to break your pre-established molds and frames and pre-established standards. It is meant to awaken you to God’s unique and pointed call for your life. It is meant to help you listen to and then follow God, so that you can walk right up to his abundant life. It is meant to help you see beyond what is seen – and into the unseen. It is meant to help you do the one thing Judas’ didn’t do – say, “I am sorry God, your way is really the only way.”
It is meant to help you consider, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mk 8:36)
Nothing is worth selling out Jesus. It’s meant to remind us of that.
Prayer for Clear Vision Lord, we want you. We mess up. We get our eyes thinking we need big apples to bite from. They never please. Help us to remember how sour they taste and how rotten they feel after we get a good chunk out of them. Help us to taste and see that you alone are good. You alone are worthy. Only your plans bring us through to our best plans. You have the greatest gifts in store for us. We don’t want to settle for average and stress-filled, while you have abundant and peace-filled. Grant us the fullness of peace in our wait and calm through our storms so we can stick with you. Forgive us. We need you. Amen.
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I am delighted today to welcome Diane Maudsley, both a friend and a passionate women’s ministry director to share her story for Ministry Monday. As you will see, God proves he can reach anyone at anytime. Who are you hoping he reaches? Don’t lose hope…
When the time is right, God will get the right message in front of their sight.
Diane’s story proves this…
It was Easter Sunday, 27 years ago, when the grace of God visited my small apartment living room as I knelt in front of the television listening to an evangelist teaching about forgiveness.
That day was by far one of the most, if not THE most, impactful days in my spiritual walk with God.
I had grown up learning about God, hearing about His magnificence and power, learning in Church and in Christian schools that He created me and this great world, and I knew all about His Son, Jesus, …but did I, really?
My soul was lost and desperate – it was searching the TV airwaves (there was no internet or iPhone then of course) for a glimmer of hope for my wretched life.
The man on TV called it “Resurrection Sunday”! He was looking right into the camera (into MY eyes). He told me Jesus died on the cross to forgive ME of MY sins…!!!
Why had I felt like I have never heard that before?
Why did it feel like I was hearing this for the very first time???
27 years later I can tell you why, spoken best by the words of Paul the apostle:“Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation…” (Eph. 3:2-3)
I was given a gift, a “revelation,” as I tuned to the right place at the right time for my heart, my soul, and my mind to receive this free gift of grace from heaven!
It was MY day of visitation!
Have you experienced yours?
When you open your heart to welcome God in,
surprisingly you find he walks right in.
Just as the veil or curtain was torn in the temple when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was removed from my eyes so I could see the Lord’s true forgiveness and grace!
Before this moment, while my life’s journey had taken me on many shallow roads of “doing good,” I was not standing on the solid ground of salvation, therefore I strayed from the “path of righteousness,” being easily swayed by temptation.
Do you subtly stray?
Does temptation often call your name?
Does that thought scare you?
Today I am the mother of 3 amazing gifts from God, my daughter who is 23, a son who is 20 and another son, who is 17.
Sure, it is scary, knee-worthy even, but because of my experience with a saving knowledge of God and His Son’s sacrifice on the cross and glorious Resurrection, I can rest assured that God is in control of their lives, just like He is in control of mine. I pray that they will have great testimonies of redemption and grace in their lives as they find Christ and follow Him to their destinies.
Resurrection always waits:“Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)
It calls us to more:“Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies” (Psalm 107:2)
Will you answer?
When I was set on the path of righteousness my life truly began anew. The road was not easy, but it was alive and hopeful and I declare to you today that I have been redeemed from the enemies of shame, guilt and regret.
Let’s remain awake and alive, shining the light of Christ everywhere we go.
God used a television evangelist that morning in my life. May He awaken the sleepers and use our testimonies to raise up a shining army that brings hope to those dwelling in darkness!
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About Diane Maudsley
Diane has been Women’s Ministry Director for Hope Church in Wilton, CT for 6 years and loves the women she gets to serve! She thrives on seeing a woman’s faith grow and come alive through the reading and study of God’s Word.
When she isn’t serving at her church, she is teaching horseback riding to children, most of whom have special needs. She is a PATH certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor since 2011 and loves seeing the children come to life on the back of a horse!
Everywhere I have been there has always seemed to be an “in” club. There has always been an exclusive group of women who have it better than me.
When I was in middle school, I can remember all the girls faces. They pulled together like a band of linked BFF necklaces. They were unbreakable, together and unified. I was not part of it.
While they laughed, skipped and played – I always hoped to be seen.
While they hung out at one area of the pool – I was on the other.
While they whispered funny jokes – I wondered if they were talking about me?
I was left out.
Even growing up, I keep on seeing these “in” clubs…
At work, there was the “powerful group”, they were always a pay-grade and title above.
Around town, there are social classes. You either have the goods – or you don’t.
In writing, there is the “made-author” group, these are normally the untouchable women via email or social media because they have “people” who take care of that.
No matter what club it is, one thing remains the same:
They are in the light, I am in the dark.
They are center stage, I am in the back row, breaking my neck to see.
They are fun-and-games, big lights and cameras, I am alone. They are loving life, I am just trying to figure out how to see the action.
I am in the back row and they are in the front.
They have the best seat, I have the worst.
In a way, I feel victimized. I feel left with no decision, just left out.
Have you ever felt this way? Excluded?
But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you,‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. Jo. 14:10
What if God has placed us in the lower seat,
because he can best use and grow us there?
What if, over time, that exact seat is what gives us a freeing view of life only observable from that vantage point?
I can’t help but notice that those sitting in the lower seat, he refers to as “friend.” In a low seat, you almost can’t help but grow in relationship with God. You call on him. You need him. What if we were to see our seats differently?
Because, God says, what we consider our detested seat,
soon enough will become – our honored seat.
I don’t want to hate what he loves.
Do you?
I can’t help but think of how he grows a person as they sit down low and in the center of “abandoned”…
He looks at them and says:
You don’t need other people, you just need me. You don’t need status, you just need my righteousness. You don’t need looks, wealth, intellect or ability, you just need my purity. I didn’t seat you high, because where I can best mold you and make you is when you are low. Then, I can dig my hands in deep and let them recreate the best you, the you that is truly made in my image. So, keep not your eyes on things or fads, that will come and go, but keep your eyes on me, for I will last forever. And, forever we will go. I love you child and in my club, you will forever reside.
The lower we go, the higher our view of God.
We must decide.
Will we spend our life crying that we sit low, or will we spend it in peace,
as we remember that God never fails to bring his loved ones high, in due time?
Whether on earth or in heaven, at the proper time, we will be exalted.
We will be exalted to glories unexplainable,
to words unspeakable,
to life unknowable,
to hope unbreakable,
to peace unfathomable,
to community unparalleled,
to love unsurpassed.
And we will know, we have just uncovered the seat that has been waiting for us all along.
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“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” -Genesis 2:7
Sometimes I forget to take a breath. It hits me all of [a] sudden that I haven’t taken a deep breath for hours, that my shoulders are tucked up beneath my ears, as if they are supporting them, and I’m breathing but in short, rapid, shallow, hurried breaths. Slow down, I say to myself. Breathe. -Kris Camealy
The delivery nurse told me to pant. I was in excruciating pain but I didn’t want to damage my body by pushing prematurely. I didn’t know if I was in danger or if the doctor was just delayed in her arrival.
So I tried to obey, kind of. I found out later that the nurses’s command to pant was because the doctor was not there yet to catch my son. If I had known this I would not have panted, I would have pushed.
Pushing is my preference.
I push down doors of opportunity. I push myself and others to do more and be more. I push to get my way. But I’m often left feeling shoved around and out of breath when life doesn’t go as expected.
Take a deep cleansing breath. That’s what my choral director from college said when we warmed up to sing.
Inhale, up. Exhale, down. That’s what Shaun T. says on our crazy workout videos.
Breathe in for 3 and out for 10. That’s what our birthing class instructor said as we prepared for childbirth.
But I breathe shallow most of the time. I let the cares of life and the pace of ambition dictate my respiratory patterns. I need to slow down, inhale deep, and let God be on the throne of Heaven and my heart.
I scurry and hurry and drop and plop and need to come up for air.
The breath of God is in my nostrils, yet I often take it for granted.
As a tightly wound woman who lives quite frantically, most of the time, I battle fear, insecurities, people-pleasing and control and I want to be made well.
I don’t want my shallow breathing to lead to shallow living, so I pause and ponder what it is that God is speaking to this try-hard heart.
When faced with the unexpected twists and turn of life, we often pant or push. But what if we learned to breathe deeply and rest in the care of our Creator, regardless of our circumstances?
What if we trusted instead of threw tantrums?
What if we found grace in the unraveling of life?
What if we allowed our tightly wound tendencies to wrap us around the One who holds us, and all things, together?
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Katie M. Reid is a tightly-wound woman who fumbles to receive and extend grace in everyday moments. She delights in her hubby, four children (and one on the way) and their life in ministry. Through her writing, singing, speaking and photography she encourages others to find grace in the unraveling of life. Connect with Katie at katiemreid.com, Twitter and Facebook.
I love God. I love him a lot. So, why do a whole bunch of common things, seem to draw me away so easily? Not all these things, in themselves, are bad. Many are not damaging. Almost all, are not sinful, and perhaps this is just the problem. They go undetected as their current moves me out.
Do you feel yourself slowly drifting?
What normally goes undetected as it floats you miles off?
10 Faith-Squeezers that are Likely Happening in your Day:
– Going gangbusters on family activities
– Getting caught up with life’s incidentals
– Becoming all wrapped up with another person
– Planting my face on TV, iPhone or iPad
– Driving like a routined robot on a schedule
– Expecting things to happen
– Getting frustrated when they don’t
– Allowing anxiety and worry to seep in as a result.
– Letting the monotony of life, make me monotonous
When we float by the tides of life’s demands,
we sink into a rip-current that seemingly sends us miles from God.
So, how do we stay, as we always were? How do we stay on fire?
3 Tips To Stay Wild About Your First Love:
1. Put God first – and keep him there!
Just the other day, I was outside. I was taking a second to bask in the wonder of Spring budding. I was observing. Until, someone called my attention away. They needed me. I couldn’t say no. I felt awkward saying, in a random moment, “Hey, I’ll get back to you in a bit, I am spending time with God.” Sometimes, our need to please gets in the way, of our need for God. It doesn’t mean, we shouldn’t value those we most value, but it means we must always value God first.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)
Apply this:
– Set aside time with God, and reserve that as his.
– Devote your first portion to God in the morning. Wake up and be with him.
– Ponder God’s Word throughout your day.
2. Experience him.
When I am in my car, sometimes the most restorative thing I can do, is worship. It is my time to turn up the music, to focus my mind and to literally see Jesus as the music plays. Whether it is in a car, at your house or on a 5-minute walk, Jesus is always waiting. Experience the fullness of his life, death and resurrection. When you find yourself in the center of God’s amazing, it is hard not to more and more drawn to it.
Apply this:
– Turn on worship music.
– Observe nature on a walk and thank him for his creation.
– Close your eyes and see Jesus, hear his words and ponder his parables of old.
3. Ask.
I used to tell my brother (yes, I was the bossy oldest child of six), “You don’t receive, because you ask not.”
I don’t have any idea who says something like this, but apparently – I did! But, I can’t help but think how often this is the case with us. In our relationship with God, we often ask not and then we get not. It’s not that he doesn’t want to give, but just that it is hard to force a giant gift into someone’s hands that are closed. Are your hands closed?
When we ask, we sending God a message of acknowledgement
that he is provider, sustainer and giver; his reply often – confirms it.
Apply this:
– Say, “God, I want you first of all and above all.”
– Ask again, all day long as things go wrong – and right.
– Ask for wisdom on how to respond to those who bang into you.
– Ask for a mind set on all things Spirit.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Mt. 7:7
God has not left you, most likely, you have left God. But, be not discouraged, you are raising your arms, pulling together your strength – and with these three tips – are well on your way to swimming back to him.
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What looks buried over so much that you are convinced is impossible to dig out?
If you came up with nothing, think deeper. What is it you believe you can’t do?
Remember this thing.
I am face-to-face with impossible these days. What I want to do, I have tried to do, yet no matter what, I just can’t seem to do it. To make matters worse, the problem sources within me. If it was others – their circumstances, problems or things – those wouldn’t be so offensive, you know, you can more easily brush those off, but what is internal it feels eternal sometimes.
Sure, I said I have forgiven, but truly forgiving is hard when someone keeps on offending. It is hard when you feel abandoned and ignored. It is hard when those feelings rise to the surface and make you remember stuff.
So I go deep…
I cover my irritation in the darkness, but there it sits.
The pain was a time ago, but irritation sits heavy.
The relationship waits, and I lay immobile to feelings. The rock lays over me, and I am closed up into myself. I am tightly wrapped, in my own thoughts about how things should go. I can’t breathe, I feel upset at myself for not being able to move on.
I feel like I am stuck in a hole. A deep, unscalable, deathly, waterless hole.
But, here is the kicker – so is Jesus.
And, here is the double kicker – he rose from it and will raise you up too!
In the tomb, where you feel dead, Christ is ready to rise up in you – to make you alive.
In the tomb where all things seem lost, Christ already won that battle.
It is called resurrection power!
“But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb…and did not find the body.” (Luke 24:2-3) Resurrection power!
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:5)Resurrection power!
“He is not here, He is risen.” (Mark 16:6) Resurrection power!
What looks dead, comes alive.
What seems impossible, becomes possible.
What seems unbearable, becomes bearable.
What seems hopeless, finds hopefulness.
What is it for you that looks dead, dank and dying before you?
Jesus is raising it up to new life. By his stripes you are healed and by his resurrection a new answer to your situation is being revealed.
Jesus both tells and asks you something. Something pointed, like he did to Martha not so long ago, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Do you believe this?
See your situation and believe this verse over it. Grab it like a lifeline. Call it yours.
As you do, he will lift you up out of the pit. You simply: 1.)hand it over to him 2.) let his resurrecting forgiveness wash over it and 3.) feel the promises clean your shame-soaked body.
Here’s what happens – He saturates it with so much light, it nearly blinds you to what was of old. Then, as he raises you to new heights, you move from trauma to transformation (and it doesn’t even feel that hard). Why? Because the power of resurrection sinks right into you…
…if only you believe.
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“Those women seem against me,”I thought. Surely, they don’t want to be friends. Not when they leave me out this way. They couldn’t possibly like me, or be for me, for that matter. And, you all know how the old saying goes, “You are either for me – or against.” I think I knew where they stood.
They even seem to enjoy leaving me out. Worst of all, they don’t even realize how it hurt me.
Isn’t that the worst, when the offense is so blatant? I wanted to know why they got to walk right into their own little Promised Land of joy full of milk and honey, while I was left sucking tainted water? It hurt.
My heart yearned to know.
To seek and pray deeply, is the only way to give a victim mentality,
take a fresh does of Christ reality – that heals…
The taken advantaged one.
The hurt one.
The burnt one.
The one of the past.
The one that was counted out of sports, while the other girls made the team.
The girl who sat on the sidelines, as others jumped on the blacktop.
The one whose work was negated, as others was promoted.
The one who looked ugly, while everyone else looked pretty.
What kind of eye glasses have I been looking from?
What perspective have they been revealing? Fuzzy ones? Hazy ones?
These glasses are making me look all wrong.
Here’s how you can tell what kind of glasses you see from…
1. Do you see earthly poverty or spiritual abundance?
2. Do you solely live by the pain of the cross or by the hope and freedom of the resurrection?
3. Do you live expecting failure or trusting in God’s victory?
I am seeing it is time for a perspective-shift. Are you?
The truth is, I am not stuck on an island. Jesus is my way, my hope, my rescue, my strong-hold. He shows and leads me to a new place. A place of peace.
The question is – will I go. Will I choose to leave what has defined me – trusting that the living water will help me live anew in him? Or will I remain parched and hungry for all I don’t and never will have (even though it has been entirely granted to me)?
I am ready to go somewhere new.
Are you?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Cor. 5:17
Maybe it isn’t so much that I am not new, or that we are not new, but that we haven’t believed in “new.” Perhaps it is a matter of taking off these glasses of old to see a clear view of his new.
Perhaps then, we will see his land of milk and honey verses my land of depravity and negativity. Perhaps then we will “see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Ps. 27:13)
I want to see what God sees everyday in my land of living.
Isn’t it time to move on? To see fresh?
Let’s go.
To a place of milk and honey, where we aren’t abandoned we are resurrected in Christ Jesus.
Walk by still waters and to lay on green pastures (Ps. 23:2) – resting in his ways.
Find shelter under the wing of an eagle (Ps. 91:4) – not trying to fly, but being content to abide.
To peace. To fullness. To life. No matter how people are living or hurting around us. It is ours for the taking; so let’s take it and go – with God!
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Easter popped up on us this year. I am not prepared. I am not ready.
But, was anyone ready for what was to come? Where the disciples? Was Mary, mother of Christ, ready?
I am sure, none of Christ loved ones were ready to see the son of God, the lamb, the truth, the light, the way, all hope, bread of life and shepherd go.
What did they feel? Was it fear? They did not know what his road held. Sometimes we don’t know what our road holds…
Like them, we want to hold on to Jesus, his all things good- for he is our everything. We want to say, “Jesus stay near, – and let evil stay far. Let us be with you. Give us good, good things!”
We know that he is “called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and we want the fullness of it.
May we know the joy of Jesus, but may we also know his pain. For it is the pain that proves he knows our pain. It is his pain that proves we will one day arrive at gain. And it is through his pain that the whole world, for those who believe are delivered from shame.
May we see, and rely on Christ through:
The mockery: When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Mt. 27:35
The pain:The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe. John 19:2
The cost:But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
We will be mocked. We will have pain. There is a cost.
Have we considered this?
Because of the cross, we no longer have to fear what comes to injure us, because Jesus lives in us. If he is in us, his power to overcome is extended to everything we face. Imagine that.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Gal. 2:20
So, today, no matter where our hearts have been this week, or this season, let’s bow down, lay low, praise Jesus and thank him for the sweat, the tears and the willpower to stick it through. Let’s look at his crown-laden, bloodied face – and see his victory just moments away. Let’s see our pain too, and our victory awaiting, because the truth is – through Jesus – we are now truly alive!
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
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Years ago, I took one of those 20-question quizzes, which used to populate our email inboxes. Before Facebook took over, we replied to all and read our friends’ answers one by one as they replied to ours. Remember that?
This quiz included questions about your favorite fruit, your most embarrassing moment, and how many days a week you cry. Random.
Guess what I learned?
Most people don’t shed tears every day.
Or at least that group of my friends didn’t. After I sent out my answers, some of them wondered if I was depressed. But I didn’t have anything to hide—I’ve just always been an easy cry.
I’ve been studying the book of Hebrews, where we see Jesus as superior to angels and prophets and the law that came through Moses. He’s our High Priest who gives us continual access to God’s Presence.
But we also see Jesus living out of his humanity, displaying strong emotion.
We see Him crying and praying fervently about what was to come.
We see Him struggle and still obey God, even through suffering.
We see Him fully dependent on God His Father day after day.
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Hebrews 5:7
It’s the emotion here that stops me—fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him.
This points to His time in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus asked His Abba, Father to take this cup from Him. He was asking God to not let Him die in such agony–with the sins of the world heaped upon Him.
He didn’t want His Father to turn away from Him.
And He was heard because of His reverent submission. This last part of the verse is important.
Jesus asked for a different way, but He submitted to the Father’s will.
Yet not what I will, but what you will. Mark 14:36b
Is this the attitude you carry into your prayers?
It’s often not where my heart is, when I come to God with a need. I’m thinking, MY will, Lord, just say yes! I’m assuming I can see far enough ahead to know my way will work out best. I’m sure I know what I need.
But often, God shows me that what I need more than anything is to walk with Him and depend on Him.
What I need most is to lay my requests at His feet and say, Not what I will, but what you will.
Jesus endured His life on earth with regular time away from everyone else, praying to His Father–even though there were endless people to help and things to do.
Our lives, also, are meant to be handled with prayer.
May we follow Christ’s example to actively trust in God and depend on our Father through prayer. May we pray as an offering, sometimes including tears. Every day if needed.
Angela Parlin is Dan’s wife and Mom to 3 rowdy boys and 1 sweet girl. In addition to spending time with friends and family, she loves to read and write, spend days at the beach, watch romantic comedies, and organize closets. But most of all, she loves Jesus and writes to call attention to the beauty of life in Christ, even when that life collaborates with chaos. Join her each week at www.angelaparlin.com, So Much Beauty in All This Chaos.
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