Lord,
If you could please heal my body…If you could please end my suffering, Please give this. Please give that. Have your/my quiet times dissolved into a laundry list of what you would like God to do? If it doesn’t happen on your timetable, where does your brain go? It’s not fair or God isn’t listening or why, God? or we descend into the pit of worry and fear. Worry that interrupts our sleep, our joy, our life!
A view of most of North America taken from a low orbit of about 826 km altitude. The whole hemisphere is not visible owing to the low orbit, and the horizon is at a distance of about 3,300 km, while the radius of the planet is 6,371 km. The diameter seen from this height is about 125 degrees. An image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s Earth-observing research satellite, Suomi NPP.
We become so center-focused we lose sight of WHY we pray. WHY we spend time with the Lord. We were made for His pleasure. We were made to SERVE Him. How turned around we become when we don’t remember our place in this beautiful universe. Has God not provided for our every need? Ephesians 1:3 ·Praise be to [or Blessed is] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly ·world [realms; places].
This passage in John is a good example of the people just missing the point.
30 So ·the people [L they] asked, “What ·miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you [L sign will you do that we might see and believe you?]. What ·will you do[work will you perform]? 31 Our ·ancestors [forefathers; L fathers] ate the manna [C a flaky breadlike food that God provided the Israelites in the wilderness; Ex. 16:13–36] in the ·desert [wilderness]. ·This is written in the Scriptures [L As it is written]: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat [compare Ex. 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Ps. 78:24].’
32 [L Therefore; So; Then] Jesus said to them, “·I tell you the truth [L Truly, truly I say to you], it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33 [L For] God’s bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 [L Therefore] ·the people [L they] said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Then Jesus said to them, “I am the ·bread that gives life [T bread of life]. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.36 But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. John 6 EXB
The people were looking to Jesus to be their magician. Make something happen, Jesus. With arms crossed, the people said, Amaze us. Oh, my! They had the DEFINITION of amazing standing in front of them.
We forget so easily all the spiritual blessings found in Christ Jesus! We forget we have all we need in Christ. We have Him, friends. We think we know what we need!
26 ·Also [or In the same way], the Spirit helps us ·with [or in] our weakness. We do not know ·how to pray as we should [or what we ought to pray for]. But the Spirit himself ·speaks to God for us [intercedes] with ·deep feelings [L groanings] ·that words cannot explain [or that are inexpressible; or that are unspoken; or too deep for words]. 27 ·God can see what is in people’s hearts and [L The one who searches hearts] knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit ·speaks to God [intercedes; appeals] for ·his people [or his holy people; T the saints] ·in the way God wants [or in harmony with God;L according to God]. Romans 8 EXB
Read that again. Did you see it? We do not know how to pray or what we ought to pray for. So, yes, let’s keep the conversation going. Keep praying, keep talking to Him, tell Him your needs, He knows them anyway, tell Him your hurts, your pains, your joys. Praise Him! He knows what is in your heart and guess what? He loves you anyway. How about that? We know where our minds can go. We know how sinful, how dusty a people we truly are. And HE LOVES US.
So this morning, as you begin our day, please, please don’t ask the King of Universe to amaze you. He already has…don’t ask Him if He loves you. You know the answer. He gave everything for you.
Pray on. pray on.
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