If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)
If someone were to hand you a phone and say, "It's for you. It's the president of the United States!" you'd know it was a joke straight away. You wouldn't believe it for a second. You'd be like, "yeah right, why would he call me anyway?"
Have you ever stopped to think about what prayer really is? Prayer is like picking up your personal cell phone and having a conversation with the One who spoke the universe into existence! You never get His voicemail, and He's never to busy to talk as long or as short as you need. And the craziest thing about it is that God truly cares, and He wants to talk with us and to meet our greatest and our smallest needs!
I once met the most influential leader of the Church in the West African nation of Sierra Leone. When the government of that broken and war torn nation needs the assistance of the churches, he's the man they call. When the Islamic leadership needs to send a message to the only stronghold standing between them and total political dominion in all of North Africa, they call this man. He knows 2 Chronicles 7:14 to be true. He starts each morning on his knees in prayer at 4am. He prays for four hours, unless he has a really busy day ahead, in which case he gets up even earlier and prays five to six hours. That just sounds totally foreign to our western minds, but this man understands that he's desperately in need of the hand of God on his life in order to carry out the work at hand! He's runs dozens as orphanages (which he built), and has personally discipled hundreds a pastors (whom he oversees).
When I met him, I was struck with what a humble man he is, though he could have a lot to genuinely be proud of. In that moment, I was also struck with how prideful I am, though I ain't done nothin'! All that time in prayer conversing with the King of the universe has put everything in perspective for my friend, and he lives every hour in light of what matters most for eternity. I was deeply convicted to grow in the area of prayer. It doesn't have to be hours on end, but it should be quality time every day.
All of the hundreds upon hundreds of promises in the Bible are available for you and me! Prayer is the point of activation for those promises. And as we remind God of His goodness, He wants to speak a word to our hearts each day to give us encouragement, guidance, direction and conviction, if we'll only take the time to ask, listen, and be prepared to treasure His words.
The practice of reading the Bible, praying for understanding, and writing down what we sense the Lord whispering to our hearts is the practice of Life Journaling. This discipline is the essence of the Spirit filled life, and it's the only way to develop a true friendship with our awesome Creator! We will never lack the wisdom we need to meet any circumstance head-on with the power to endure and to affect change in the earth!
So let's pick up the phone; what are we waiting for!?
Aaron Herman
No comments:
Post a Comment