Friday, April 5, 2013

Pray, and occasionally use words

How do we understand the mind of God? Why do we try? In seeking His will, we often seek His mind, His plans, His future. Then we recall what someone told us at some Bible camp sometime or another, "His ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts."

And we give up.

But the Bible clearly says: He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name.

He who forms the mountains lets us know what He is thinking. Kinda excites me.

And how do those thoughts manifest themselves?

Let's says this:
1) Prayer
2) Scripture
3) Prayer
4) Listening
5) Other people
6) Prayer

Did I mention prayer?

I could add dreams and such, but never having had a dream that told me much more of quality than I could fly, I can't say too much about that kind of manifestation.

But prayer, the listening part of it, is important to gain the thoughts of God. Scripture certainly is a way to get closer to the thought and will of God, and other people and even other circumstances certainly talk and walk through the thoughts of God. Prayer is not, though too often for me it becomes such, a rendering of some list of things we want to know or we want to have done for us or others.

One of the desert monks once asked Abba Agathon "Amongst all good works, which is the virtue which requires the greatest effort?" He answered "Forgive me, but I think there is no labour greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him. For they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. What ever good work a man undertakes, if he perseveres in it, he will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath."
Prayer is our means, our primary means possibly, for finding God's will for us. Why? Again, why do mortal creatures of limited power and scope try to hear the thoughts of a God who lives on a different plane than us?

Here's the deal:
Jesus wanted us to completely turn ourselves over to the Father for guidance and direction. When that happens, we seek with all our might and with all our hope and with all our being to see the Father.

Seeing the Father is a big deal, that might indeed not be in our possibilities. But seeking the Father is what we must do. Must.

When that happens, essentially we turn our thoughts over to His thoughts, our ways over to His ways, our plans over to His plans.

Clearing the decks, so to speak, leads us to the moment that Jesus described this way:

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:31-34) 

Seek, friends, seek. Turn as much over as you possibly can this day. Seek Him. Seek His thoughts. Seek his direction.

No comments: