When I went on a...
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When I went on a retreat to a monastery once, I sat looking out a window wondering what I should pray for. How many good Christians I have talked to who weren't sure what to pray for. Sometimes just a few minutes seems too long after we have made OUR list of requests, and then we quit. In other words, just stop and listen to what God is saying! It is not OUR minds that we are opening to the Lord. It is the mind of the Spirit that God has put within our heart. There is no course offered in our churches that can TEACH us how to pray in the Spirit. God is the only teacher. He talks to us through His word, but also can come to us in ways that go beyond logic and can't be explained like Jacob's experience in last week's lessons.
But when He does put those heart-felt yearnings in us, we can feel the Spirit interceding for us. We know that when He does intercede in His good time it will be according to His will.
What a comforting passage that assures us that God will work for our good if we love Him! Haven't we all felt a call to serve God in some way? When we see someone in our family or on the streets suffering and in need, don't we feel a call inside ourselves to help them? Sometimes it is just a picture of a suffering child in a magazine. It is true that it can be overwhelming when we see so many that we just give up. My mailbox is flooded with appeals for gifts to help the starving here or in some other country, but if we open our hearts to God's Spirit, He will lead us to a responsibility small and specific enough for us to handle. Our church can often help.
The more we look at what Jesus did for us in His life on earth, the more we feel that He will guide us to repay Him in some small way.
That word predestined has been misunderstood to mean that God has already determined where we will end up. I think of it as God "foreknowing" what decisions we will make. He has left it in OUR hands! He has called each one of us to some task for Him, but He knows which one of us will accept our assignment and claim our reward.
It is comforting to know that God will forgive us, even if we fail in our assignment.
The most comforting sentence for me is: "Who will separate us from the Love of Christ --?" NOTHING! It says, "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!" Love is the key elements in our faith that separates us from all other faiths!
As we love our children, He loves us even more. It is our reason for praying!
But when He does put those heart-felt yearnings in us, we can feel the Spirit interceding for us. We know that when He does intercede in His good time it will be according to His will.
What a comforting passage that assures us that God will work for our good if we love Him! Haven't we all felt a call to serve God in some way? When we see someone in our family or on the streets suffering and in need, don't we feel a call inside ourselves to help them? Sometimes it is just a picture of a suffering child in a magazine. It is true that it can be overwhelming when we see so many that we just give up. My mailbox is flooded with appeals for gifts to help the starving here or in some other country, but if we open our hearts to God's Spirit, He will lead us to a responsibility small and specific enough for us to handle. Our church can often help.
The more we look at what Jesus did for us in His life on earth, the more we feel that He will guide us to repay Him in some small way.
That word predestined has been misunderstood to mean that God has already determined where we will end up. I think of it as God "foreknowing" what decisions we will make. He has left it in OUR hands! He has called each one of us to some task for Him, but He knows which one of us will accept our assignment and claim our reward.
It is comforting to know that God will forgive us, even if we fail in our assignment.
The most comforting sentence for me is: "Who will separate us from the Love of Christ --?" NOTHING! It says, "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!" Love is the key elements in our faith that separates us from all other faiths!
As we love our children, He loves us even more. It is our reason for praying!
