A Time for Prayer
I have been feeling a pull to the 24-7 Prayer movement reading the book Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts. God is at work in His creation and has begun a plan in which the surface has barely been scratched. In reading this I have been convicted of what God has been working in my heart for a long time, it is time to act. It is time that we do rise up and utilize the most powerful weapon that exists against evil and that is prayer. I have some edges that God continual chips away from me because of things that occurred when I was young and because of those things for a time Jesus Christ and I were not on the same side, as I saw it. Cultural Christianity drove me away from Christ for a time, but as I grow older and look back I see that it had possibly driven Christ away also.
God is calling up a rag tag group of people and He plans on using them to change the world for Him and I feel blessed that I may, possibly, be being given the opportunity to take part. I reflect back on the comment that was brought up by Jessica and how negative this whole homosexuality issue is because it deflects the attention away from Christ and hides the truest issue that we face as a church. The pragmatic thinking that permeates our church that becomes scrambled up in emotion has closed off ears to discussion and I guess the only solution is to pray. Not praying against one another or for one another, but with one another. I mean, let's set aside agendas or most importantly let's set aside OUR agendas and pray together for God to reveal His agenda. I know that many feminists would raise issue with the masculine use with God, but let's even set aside this agenda, who cares, it is moot -- God is above male and female. We have one side that is caught up in the emotion and appeals to the emotional end of salvation and the other appeals to sin and the black and white, in and out argument that comes across as judgment.
Let's wipe that slate clean... sin is the state of being that plagues us all in humanity, it is not a judgment and it is not for one to hold over another as a weapon. The connotation sinner is one that describes each and every one of us in the world. We are all caught up in sin and we sin one way or another every day. What we are called to do is to repent. What does that mean? Well, we are to ask God for forgiveness and that He guide us away from those sins that plague us. As we wake up in the morning we awaken to the cleanliness and promise of our baptism and throughout the day we are bound to get a little of the dirt of sin on us. What are we to do? God doesn't want us to be caught up in our sin, we repent and lay it down to the Lord and let Him wash us clean therefore we can awaken each day cleansed.
Does this mean that we are free to continue to sin and should not worry about it? No, we should not revel in our sin, but we shouldn't beat ourselves constantly for our sinfulness. The Holy Spirit is powerful and when (S)He works in your life and in your heart changes WILL OCCUR. No doubt about it! Becoming a Christian and finding salvation are not a one time event that just occurs and here you are, tada, a whole new being. It is a continual process that occurs within you each day, there will be struggle, there will be pain, but there will also be greater freedom and newness.
So, it's time to pray. It's time to stop praying AT one another, but to pray WITH one another corporately for God's guidance and FOR one another quietly that God will strengthen each of us in our faith. We need to quit focusing on differences of theology and OUR understanding of God's plan, but focus on looking to God to reveal to us the path which we are to take within HIS plan. The most important question that can bind us together in faith is our confession of our Triune God revealed to us in the personae of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if you confess that we can agree on the most important question.
God is calling up a rag tag group of people and He plans on using them to change the world for Him and I feel blessed that I may, possibly, be being given the opportunity to take part. I reflect back on the comment that was brought up by Jessica and how negative this whole homosexuality issue is because it deflects the attention away from Christ and hides the truest issue that we face as a church. The pragmatic thinking that permeates our church that becomes scrambled up in emotion has closed off ears to discussion and I guess the only solution is to pray. Not praying against one another or for one another, but with one another. I mean, let's set aside agendas or most importantly let's set aside OUR agendas and pray together for God to reveal His agenda. I know that many feminists would raise issue with the masculine use with God, but let's even set aside this agenda, who cares, it is moot -- God is above male and female. We have one side that is caught up in the emotion and appeals to the emotional end of salvation and the other appeals to sin and the black and white, in and out argument that comes across as judgment.
Let's wipe that slate clean... sin is the state of being that plagues us all in humanity, it is not a judgment and it is not for one to hold over another as a weapon. The connotation sinner is one that describes each and every one of us in the world. We are all caught up in sin and we sin one way or another every day. What we are called to do is to repent. What does that mean? Well, we are to ask God for forgiveness and that He guide us away from those sins that plague us. As we wake up in the morning we awaken to the cleanliness and promise of our baptism and throughout the day we are bound to get a little of the dirt of sin on us. What are we to do? God doesn't want us to be caught up in our sin, we repent and lay it down to the Lord and let Him wash us clean therefore we can awaken each day cleansed.
Does this mean that we are free to continue to sin and should not worry about it? No, we should not revel in our sin, but we shouldn't beat ourselves constantly for our sinfulness. The Holy Spirit is powerful and when (S)He works in your life and in your heart changes WILL OCCUR. No doubt about it! Becoming a Christian and finding salvation are not a one time event that just occurs and here you are, tada, a whole new being. It is a continual process that occurs within you each day, there will be struggle, there will be pain, but there will also be greater freedom and newness.
So, it's time to pray. It's time to stop praying AT one another, but to pray WITH one another corporately for God's guidance and FOR one another quietly that God will strengthen each of us in our faith. We need to quit focusing on differences of theology and OUR understanding of God's plan, but focus on looking to God to reveal to us the path which we are to take within HIS plan. The most important question that can bind us together in faith is our confession of our Triune God revealed to us in the personae of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if you confess that we can agree on the most important question.
It is best stated by Zinzendorf's motto for the Unitas Fratrum of the Moravian Church given in 1727, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, love."
No comments:
Post a Comment