Laced With Grace

“When there is little awareness of real need there is little real prayer.”
~ Donald S. Whitney from Spiritual Disciplines For the Christian Life ~

I told Laurel that I pondered the quote quite a bit this past weekend. I thought about it in two different ways…

One – if we think that we don’t need to pray over or for a certain situation. Whatever the reason might be, we don’t bring it before the throne of grace. For example, we have a situation under control (so we think) or we don’t want to ‘bother’ God because we think it is too small of a matter for God. There is nothing too big or too small to bring to Him – I am speaking out of experience (even if it is *just* for a password you forgot to open a computer application—He will answer )

I want to approach the topic from a different angle though. I am afraid to pray over or for certain things. I am not afraid that God doesn’t answer my prayers – I am afraid He does. His ‘track-record’ throughout human history and mine is flawless. He answered every single prayer. Maybe not the way His people or I would have liked, nonetheless He answered.

One of the things I do not get on my knees for is to write. I am not talking about writing here on Laced with Grace, my Blog, or on CWO (I pray over every single post before I hit the publish button)…I mean write a book—a devotional book. What if I really would get down on my knees; would earnestly pray over it—not just *talking* about it. I am afraid that God just might open the doors — than what? I know I would chicken out!

As am writing this post I am wondering why I am so afraid of praying over realizing a dream. God is God; I should not be afraid of what He can do with my life…

“…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” ~ Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

Maybe I should just get down on my knees to pray easterly for His guidance and His blessing on this project. What is the worst that could happen? Only that it does not get published.

How about you? Are you afraid to pray over a certain issue or area in your life? Are you afraid that He might just answer that prayer?

Lord of Heaven and Earth. You promised in Isaiah that You would give strength and that You uphold me with Your righteous right hand. Lord, I am asking You to guide me in my prayer life. Let me bring the small and the big issues to You without being afraid of Your power. In the precious name of Jesus ~ Amen.

Please visit my friend Laurel at Laurel Wreath to read her take on this week’s IOW quote, and the thoughts of other Christian women Bloggers as they are sharing their own thoughts…

Blessings on your day and as always…

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. – I Corinthians 6:19-20

I’ve been doing a lot of planning and preparing lately regarding a lot of new things that I believe are God’s plans for my life.  Of course, with my Type A personality, I always must ask God to slam “doors” in my face if my plans aren’t in line with His plans because I’m good at making up “plans”!  After all, according to the Bible my life is not my own, right?  The verse above has always been a convicting one to me, especially when I question the plans God has for me.  As you read the passage above,  think to yourselves whether or not you are living out your own will or God’s in your life.   And if you really want to see the “you are not your own” part lived out, come with me to the book of Hosea!

Poor Hosea.  That is my first thought when reading about this man.  But should I really be saying that?  Hosea was, after all, living out his life in radical obedience to God, reaping lots of rewards in heaven for his obedience.  Hmmm….do you think he knew the passage of Matthew 6:19-21? 

Hosea was told by God to take a “wife of harlotry” in Gomer (Ho 1:2).  Why? So his marriage and children could be a “picture” of Israel and Judah’s unfaithfulness to God.  I am totally humbled by Hosea’s obedience to God.(Ho 1:3).  Do you think Hosea’s goal in life was to marry a prostitute who would humiliate him?  Scripture doesn’t always depict the human element of its characters in much detail and I’m learning to try to put myself in their places more to get the full impact of what is going on.  I would bet that although obedient, being an emotional human being, Hosea was torn up inside when he heard God’s plan for him.

The bottom line is this.  Being in God’s will is the only place we should want to be, even if we don’t always understand it.  I like to think of God’s view of our lives as looking down from an airplane at the earth 20,000 feet below.  He can see everything – much more than I can see from the ground!  Trust and obey for there’s no other way.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist!  That old hymn just popped into my mind.

Seriously, the kind of radical obedience we see in Hosea requires a whole lot of trust and and a whole lot of self-sacrifice.   Radical obedience may even result in some really fun and incredible works for God once we overcome the fear of stepping outside of our comfort zones.  Are you up for the challenge?   Ask God today where He would have you to go.  You might just be surprised at His answer.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

A long time ago, God gave man the Sabbath – a day of rest. Today, we have our weekends, but we manage to fill them up and make them just as busy as the rest of the week.

This last week I was was intending to “Sabbath” – not a day of rest, but a time of rest.  But…we managed to fill it up and keep quite busy.  It was a great family time and I don’t regret a second of it.  But it was not a time of rest.

And I need that.  Yesterday and today I truly rested (so much so that I forgot it was my day to post).

If we don’t take care to follow God’s rhythm of work and rest, we begin to have problems – in the modern world we call it “stress”.  Our mind becomes numb and our bodies suffer.  God designed us to take a break now and then.

This is another short post, I have the rest of this day to Sabbath and I feel energized.

God bless you all.