The prayers of a gutsy child availeth much...
Oswald Chambers said:So many of us limit our praying because we are not reckless in our confidence in God. In the eyes of those who do not know God, it is madness to trust Him, but when we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to realize the resources of God, that He is our perfect heavenly Father, and we are His children.
No matter for how long a person has known the Lord, it is shocking to note the residual lack of true understanding of His nature as a Father. Like, I may have come a long way since I first began to follow Jesus—He has certainly proven His faithfulness to me again and again over the years—but I am nowhere close to praying with “reckless confidence.” Truthfully, I find myself refusing to bring up certain issues with God, refusing to hope, refusing to be vulnerable. Ridiculous, really, because He knows everything anyway, right? What, is He going to be like SHOCKED if I suddenly tell Him something I’m not sure He’ll like? What kind of loving (and omniscient) Father would that make Him? Since when is being “polite” a requirement with God? He is not that sort of King. I want to learn to pray with all awe and reverence, while keeping it real, showing Him every dark and hidden place in my heart. I want to hope and pray for CRAZY things, like miraculous things, to happen. And why shouldn’t they?
Jesus said that anyone who has faith in Him will do even greater things than He did, right? He said, "I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it."
John 14: 12-14
I love the sound of that, but honestly, it almost scares me, and seems too good to be true. Let’s face it, the whole gospel sounds too good to be true. But it is true. Perhaps a little reckless confidence is in order here. Bring it on....
posted by Jules @ Saturday, May 29, 2004
5 Comments:
I like the quote from Oswald Chambers. Very good. Another author I like, John White wrote:"We Christians are visually handicapped. Our perspective is distorted. Bombarded from all sides with false values, living perpetually among people whose goals are material prosperity, security, pleasure, prestige, it is inevitable that we absorb the atmosphere around us until heaven seems remote while the here and now looms large in our thinking. The future comes to mean tomorrow, next week, ten years from now. We are like people looking at curved mirrors in a fun house, but unlike the crowd laughing at the grotesque images, we see the grotesque as normal! It does not amuse us. We base our lives on it. .....what is it we need to see? Three things are mentioned: the hope that lies ahead for us, our value to God, and the extraordinary power at our disposal. (Eph. 1: 18-19)" (From John White's book Daring to Draw Near. ) He wrote a whole chapter, I just excerpted some of it for this space.
I tried to sign on to this thing properly but they kept rejecting it so have no choice but to post anonymously. Not my preference but all I can do. I think that we try to talk to God like he is a person, at least I do, since we are created in His image. Whenever I talk to a person, and I want them to say yes to my request, I do try to word it in such a way that it is or will be, hopefully, easier to say yes to my request. I think that is human nature. I guess if I was really psyched up about something, I might start talking in a different way and not preface or prepare what I want to say to God.....but I do like to hear people talk to God as tho he were a friend or a person rather than in some religiousy way...(not meaning that what you are talking about is a religiousy way) But our faith does grow with time and with it, our certainty that God will do what we ask him. It doesn't necessarily change the way that we ask or talk to him tho, not IMO. BTW, this is not really anonymous....it's val....I just couldn't sign into your thing. It was taking me all night and I still have to have a bath at 12:07 at night....back to my late nights already!.........so can you explain the reckless abandon thing in a different way or am I just being a stick in the mud?
Val and your Mother had the same response trying to reply..so yet again, on the correct posting, this time... I write again...ANONYMOUS....(so much easier this way,,,as computers and signing in don't work EVER for Me)"Ipray alsothat the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...Eph1;18 my little gutsy child...From where I stand,,, Jules, I see your confidence in Jesus..your TRUST in HIM...allowing Him to work in your life and you see and reap His benefits to you...as you WAIT on Him..to guide, and direct you DAILY.I know it is easy to look at life with all tis activites and interest some of importance and some clutter,,, and it looks to you like a huge , unwieldy mass ,, with little potential for getting through your troubles to a life that WINS (remember the ROOM thing,, and the overwhelming mountain of CLEAN UP) smae with your life.)You clean it (WITH HELP) and you..are free again.to focus on your heart (YOUR CALLING) to spend time with your Father GOd ..uncluttered and free,,, Strange comparison,, I guess. you visualize your room clean,,, but had to do the work to get there..When you have visualized with your heart,,, and it is enlightened, when you have pictured mentally what God is calling you to be , and therefore what you want to bem, then you can methodically start cutting away everything that doesn't contribute to that... DOEs it make sense to you..
I never finsihed cause my keys locked while I was thinking... excuse spelling I really should spell check.. ANYhoo...I have watched you ,over the years as God has become MORe in your life. sort out ,,, the things.. to free you up to know God , your provider, your Heavenly Father... I encourage you my sweet.. tocontinue on and I see you saying."If I'm going to be this in my future,, then I need to prepare myself these days by this, this, and this... ELIMInATE and CONCeNTRATE.Live your present life building toward your wonderful future.. and for the now..I URGE YOU TO LIVE WORTHY OF THE CALLING YOU HAVE RECEIVED as you continue to pray with reckless confidence.. and your house (ROOM) in ORDER. JUst a mummy note. Loving you.. MUM
First of all, um, Anonymous person, (y'all can still sign your names, you know, even if you don't want to sign up for a username) :) I wanted to thank you for sharing. John White quote- word up, so true. As long as we're on this side of heaven, I don't suppose we'll ever truly rid ourselves of the warped perspective. But even just to draw nearer to TRUTH, to abandon some of the "false values" we cling to for a clearer perspective, a new revelation of God, to see an aspect of life from His perspective.... That would change the way we live. Imagine a life that reflects values from the word of God, all "visual handicaps"/ misinterpretations removed. Things would look a lot different. An idealist am I, and therefore it is a good and humbling thing to acknowledge that I am human, that I make MANY mistakes DAILY- several of which I am not even aware, and the grace of God just covers so... graciously! And maybe that's a key to approaching God as our Father, because kids are just downright flawed and messy, and yet they are loved and embraced, even when they ask for the "wrong" thing or say something out of turn.
Val, I appreciate your thoughts, and honestly, do not see anything "stick in the mud"-ish about your comments. The reckless confidence thing had really struck me because it is something I think we can aspire to. I say this in the sense of coming to the Father as Jesus was able to- confidently, as He was praying His Father’s will. He had nothing to hide. He had no shame, no fear. That is what I want. It does not require more pious diction or a Masters’ in Theology, just an understanding of the Father’s heart in such a way that there is no need to be “limited” in prayer. It is a freeing thing- as you were saying, relational: "our faith does grow with time and with it, our certainty that God will do what we ask him." That is the essence. Along with that, your thoughts on approaching God as a Friend do not seem incompatible in any way, just another angle of the spectrum (from my “warped perspective,” anyway). :)
Hi, Mom. You’re great. Good “room” analogy. ;) Yes, it does make sense. I do think that a person can understand those basic fundamental truths, can have faith in God, can recite scriptures from the heart when faced with any questions or doubts, but no matter where a person is at in life and with God, there will ALWAYS be more to learn, always tons of room for growth. That is what I'm expressing. It is a relational thing, a deeper personal understanding thing, rather than a big picture thing. The "mess" has definitely been cleaned up. That happened at the point of redemption. But then there is the walking it out, the drawing closer to God. Sometimes I may express things that make you feel (as my loving and encouraging mama ;) ) I am in a bad or confused place, and it isn't like that. I just like to keep it real, to bring things into the light where perhaps someone else could relate, or expand on the thought. It's all good. It is personal revelation and conviction that we need to spur us on- grow us up.
Hallelujah. :)
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