I must say, it's very flattering...
posted by Little Mo | Permalink |
...when people come to your blog asking you to post. One feels most appreciated. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while - I suppose it is because I have been doing a lot, and not thinking much.
Anyway, I was at a conference this weekend giving a seminar on prayer. The irony.
And the thing I learned, and the thing I said (although I think it was a rather garbled myself) is that prayer is just trusting the Gospel. That's it. If we are trusting the promises of the Gospel, we will pray.
You know, so often we live the Christian life as if God has said, trust grace to be saved, but follow some rules to keep going. When in fact that is the Galatian heresy. God says, trust the Gospel to become a Christian, and trust the Gospel to stay a Christian. So when Jesus says "pray" - he's just saying; live out your trust in me. If you trust that by grace God has made you a Christian, raised you to new life in Christ, planned out an eternity of perfection for you, if you believe that God in his grace has done these things, do you think that you should...er...um...talk to him?
You know, sometimes people ask - does prayer "work"? The more I think about prayer, the more I think it's a slightly rude question, and indeed, one that I am not surprised the Bible really doesn't address. "Does it work?" is a question you ask of a machine - a car or a toaster. Not of a person. I don't say "does talking to you work"? That's just a bit rude - "do I get what i want from talking to you?" would be a pretty ignorant question and indicate something of a dysfunctional relationship with you.
No - God says, I'm your father, I love you - trust me. And if you trust me, you'll talk to me. It seems to me that, like so much else, prayer is all about grace.
Anyway, I was at a conference this weekend giving a seminar on prayer. The irony.
And the thing I learned, and the thing I said (although I think it was a rather garbled myself) is that prayer is just trusting the Gospel. That's it. If we are trusting the promises of the Gospel, we will pray.
You know, so often we live the Christian life as if God has said, trust grace to be saved, but follow some rules to keep going. When in fact that is the Galatian heresy. God says, trust the Gospel to become a Christian, and trust the Gospel to stay a Christian. So when Jesus says "pray" - he's just saying; live out your trust in me. If you trust that by grace God has made you a Christian, raised you to new life in Christ, planned out an eternity of perfection for you, if you believe that God in his grace has done these things, do you think that you should...er...um...talk to him?
You know, sometimes people ask - does prayer "work"? The more I think about prayer, the more I think it's a slightly rude question, and indeed, one that I am not surprised the Bible really doesn't address. "Does it work?" is a question you ask of a machine - a car or a toaster. Not of a person. I don't say "does talking to you work"? That's just a bit rude - "do I get what i want from talking to you?" would be a pretty ignorant question and indicate something of a dysfunctional relationship with you.
No - God says, I'm your father, I love you - trust me. And if you trust me, you'll talk to me. It seems to me that, like so much else, prayer is all about grace.
posted by Little Mo at 4:09 AM
3 Comments:
Mo! Welcome back to the land of blogs.
We had a sermon at church on prayer Sunday morning. We went through Psalm 77, which was pretty interesting.
I like your thoughts on the subject. Prayer is something I need to do more of.
BTW...Dr. Pepper is ming? I'm outraged.
Hey bro!
You've been reading Tim Chester's most excellent book, eh? (BST Message of Prayer)
If not, then do!
It really is all about the gospel. Prayer is such a privilege. Access through the cross.
Drop by thecrowdedhouse some time...
blessings
andy
Not that I'm proud or anything (ahem), but I would like to point out I haven't read TC's book, although I'm sure it is great. These were all my own thoughts.
Although as I said previously; all my own thoughts seem to have been thought by someone else before.
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