Prayer as a spiritual discipline seems to have fallen on hard times, as it were. At least that seems to be the view from my own life more often than I'd care to admit. Last week some friends were pondering the significance of the intercession of Christ on behalf of the believer. We recalled that from time to time believers like to quote 'The prayer of a righteous man availeth much' (James 5), but if this is true (and it is), then what can we say about the prayer of Christ Himself, who ever lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7)? Someone shared a quote from RC Sproul which I can't seem to find at the moment, but it went something like, "If the prayers of a righteous man availeth much, what on EARTH can the prayers of Christ Himself avail?"... 

God became man not only to show me how it's done, but to do for me what I am incapable of doing ON MY OWN.    

We were made to be held, and to pray through our brokenness with the knowledge that we are helpless, is to be held in the arms of God Himself.    

Thoughts on Grace

God's grace is the preeminent element empowering the life of a believer, yet I often take its power, and indeed its very presence in my life, for granted.  Such inability to comprehend the obvious often hinders me from the real work of this life, which is, ultimately, preparation for the next.  God's grace as it moves in us and through us is doing more than effecting our sanctification; it is fitting us for a future glory that is  incomprehensibly greater than anything we are capable of imagining in the present.  It is no wonder that we'll need new bodies in which to house this glory that awaits us.    

I have discovered that my mind wanders from this grace that has wrapped itself around my soul precisely because it is otherworldly, and, to my shame - foreign.   Foreign because I am often too well and too firmly established in this world to live in the mindful awareness that God is purposing to do His work in and through this decaying vessel that I currently call home.  

I pray for a grace that runs through me like electricity, so that when the cares of this world  get in the way, when patience is tested and strength is depleted, I may instantly recognize the real foreigner, and seek the renewing power of His mighty grace.  

The older I get, the more sure I am that prayer is not just a necessary part of the Christian life, but prayer is the essence of the Christian life.  It is a means by which God in His providence interconnects our own life with His.  It is the magic wardrobe through which we are invited to touch another realm, and while we enter now through the instrument of our imagination and the exercise of our faith, it is as solid and real as the chair on which I now sit, except more so.  It is a realm to which we are called by name; a kingdom that will remain when all else fades into oblivion and the temporal gives way to the eternal.  

Through prayer I profess my understanding of God as He is revealed in His Word, and He in turn diffuses His truth into the far reaches of my heart. Prayer is an unadorned room, into which I can bring the stresses of my daily life, my failures and my fears, my sorrows and my tears, and lay them all at Jesus' feet.  There is no greater unburdening for the soul than to pour out its cares into the faithful arms of the Friend of man.  Prayer itself is an instrument of God's grace.

I have learned  that while my comprehension of it remains among the 'mysteries to be revealed', grace is not the static, steadying force in my life that I have previously understood it to be.  It is electric and dynamic and powerful, as it must be to capacitate human beings to accomplish God's work on earth.    

I pray that God would enlarge my understanding of His Amazing Grace, such that I may be animated by its very presence in my life, as I endeavor to step ever further into the wardrobe.