One thing that being here has taught me is how to pray and read the Bible. By this point, you are all thinking, you are a good Christian girl. You've followed God to Lancaster, PA! You know how to do these things. In theory yes, but I am finding that in my personal walk, I did not. There are all kinds of things that ministers have told me to use over the years to "improve" my praying. There is the ACTS acronym, the PRAY acronym, and even the one where your prayer corresponds to your fingers-all ways to make a prayer more efficient. I'm not sure that's the point though. Until I started this internship, I didn't realize that the best way to pray was from God's Word. I'm not saying that all the ministers that have told me to use the other methods listed are wrong. Many people do have trouble praying, myself included, and sometimes using one of the methods is the best. However, when the disciples did not know how to pray, Jesus taught them this:
Luke 11:1-13
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
In this teaching, one of the main points that Jesus makes is that when you pray, God just wants you to knock and to ask. This is where most people come into trouble. What should I ask for? How do I know that what I want is what God wants? Now, I will be cliche, but I have heard many pastors over the years call the Bible "God's Instruction Manual."
Hello!!!!!! Why didn't I see this before? What God wants for our lives is right in front of us. In every passage of scripture, he is revealing to us what he wants us to know. In the past few weeks I have learned one of the most valuable things that this internship could give me. Now, when I read the Bible, whether at home or at work, I pray in response to the scripture. I thank God for the wisdom of the words, and I reflect back to Him what I have learned from his word that day, and what I want to know more about. This response often leads to confession and peace.
Which leads me to....
Today, in our afternoon prayer time, we read Luke 9:1-27 and Proverbs 8:22-31. These passages are vastly different, but together were incredibly enlightening. What is amazing is that there are several different scenes in these verses, and they are often read separately, but together, paint a beautiful picture of God as Jehovah Jireh, our Provider. He provided for the disciples as they went from town to town spreading the gospel with nothing, not even their extra tunic. He then provided food for the five thousand with 2 fish and five loaves of bread, but what this all leads to is this:
Luke 9:23-26
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
We just got through reading through so many examples of God's provision, and then Jesus, with His perfect timing, says this, which is often a curveball of a verse for many people. However, when read in the context of Luke 9, we see that this verse is obvious. God is Jehovah Jireh. If we have faith that He will provide, these verses should be no trouble to act out daily. It is our desire to control our own lives and our own fate that make this verse so troubling. This brings me to Proverbs 8:22-31. Wisdom is speaking.
22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,[c][d]
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30 Then I was constantly[e] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
The fact that Wisdom is speaking here was hard to wrap my head around at first. I did not understand how Wisdom came into play, and I'm still not sure that I thoroughly understand it, but as we were praying in response to these scriptures, I began to understand that the wisdom here for us, and for me today, was that this was OUR GOD that was creating this world. OUR GOD who is so big, so omnipotent, so omniscient, that he "marked out the foundations of the earth." This is God, OUR GOD, that wants to provide for us as we take up our cross daily. Who am I to want to control my own life, when the God that created the universe, OUR GOD, has a specific plan for me? I have no right to want to know immediately what his plan is for me. I have no right to worry about my daily activities when the God that created the universe is my provider.
If you are still with me, thank you for sharing in what God provided for me today. Thank you Kara for setting me on this path of revelation today after reading your blog this morning.
Join me next time for Marble Runs and Nerf Guns.
You are showing such great maturity. I only pray that I am doing the same. Your being in PA has really opened up my prayer life, too!
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