I watched a movie recently where the faith and trust of a woman was
tested. Her marriage was suffering, even as her and her husband’s career were flourishing
and moving ahead. Bad choices were made
by the husband, which cost him his job.
The woman learned that prayer was her life line. It wasn’t an easy
lesson to learn, however. Offering forgiveness and grace come hard, when there
is so much anger and frustration.
This movie resonated with me. There have been times when I’ve been right
where the main character was. I was sad
and wanted to “fix” my problems and I couldn’t.
I was not in control and it took much prayer and submission to recognize
that!
I have been described as moving like the “Energizer Bunny.” It seems I almost never stop! From the time my feet hit the floor until I
crawl back in bed at night, I am usually doing something – and the more
productive, the better. Still life has a
way of causing knees to buckle, creating a need to slow down, re-evaluate and
sometimes even change direction.
When our knees buckle in prayer, as our hearts meet with God, we can find
renewed energy, even in places we hadn’t expected! What is even better is when our “renewed
energy” is a direct gift from God, who leads because we’ve opened our minds to
His voice.
The Bible talks about being renewed every day. But to be renewed every day requires a
commitment to meet with God because we want to, not because it’s in our
schedule. I admit, those little
devotionals that have a scripture and application message are easy to use and
wonderful. I’ve both used them and
contributed!
Yet, there is a drawback. Because we sit down for three minutes, open to
the right page (given they are usually dated), read the message and prayer, close the booklet and go on our way.
Done deal! But is it? What have we done? We’ve done nothing more than allow another
person to do our “work” for us. We’ve
likely not even opened our personal Bibles.
We’ve spent three minutes with the Lord without ever “giving of
ourselves.” There is hardly even a time
sacrifice.
Can you imagine having that kind of relationship with your spouse? What if in the morning you simply picked up
an index card, read whatever the message said to your loved one and then walked
away without another word or thought all day?
How long would your relationship last?
It wouldn’t! Yet, as Christians,
very often that’s exactly how we treat God.
How can we expect God to energize, grow, or even direct us when we don’t
take the time to spend time with Him? The
Bible says he “walked” with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He spent time with them and they with
Him. They had a ‘perfect relationship’
before the fall.
Are we walking with God? Are we
moving in God’s energy? If not, where do
we draw our ability to sustain our thoughts, actions, behaviors or
attitude? Likely it’s from the world,
because that is the only alternative.
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