Keeping the wonder alive
The central doctrines of the Christian church couldn’t really be any more exciting!
We are uniquely created by our heavenly Father, who loves us so much that he gave Jesus to take away the sins that would separate us from him. Wonderful as that is, there’s more to come! God has put his own Spirit within us to keep us close to him, and to enable us to fulfil what we are called to do. What’s more, we are his deeply loved sons and daughters, not simply slaves following orders, and he wants relationship with us.
We are uniquely created by our heavenly Father, who loves us so much that he gave Jesus to take away the sins that would separate us from him. Wonderful as that is, there’s more to come! God has put his own Spirit within us to keep us close to him, and to enable us to fulfil what we are called to do. What’s more, we are his deeply loved sons and daughters, not simply slaves following orders, and he wants relationship with us.
Yet, despite all these incredible truths, how often do we approach times of prayer with a little less enthusiasm than we probably should? Or on occasions, we may find ourselves singing hymns and choruses with none of the celebration than the words deserve, or approaching some of the tasks God has given us to do with a sense of duty rather than joy.
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Perhaps our sense of relationship with God is one of the first casualties of the tension between our Christian faith and the world around us that so often seems quite godless. This can happen for any number of reasons, ranging from simply being in a hurry and rushing to get to the end of our prayers, or not feeling his love as much as other times. However, whatever our circumstances, our relationship with God is as important as ever and needs guarding as closely as we can. It is the basis of all he has done for us, and the reason why we come to him.
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. . . our encounter with God always begins with a time of resting in Father God’s love for us |
In encounterprayer, our encounter with God always begins with a time of resting in Father God’s love for us. Even if we were to miss out on everything else in our prayer times, this is the one area that we need to feed as much as we can, every day.
One final thought is that if prayer is about relationship, then it isn’t simply about how we feel or what we get out of it. It is also about what our heavenly Father gets out of it as well. When a child sits on their parent’s lap, it isn’t just the child who benefits from that encounter – it gladdens the parent’s heart as well.
John Ryeland
One final thought is that if prayer is about relationship, then it isn’t simply about how we feel or what we get out of it. It is also about what our heavenly Father gets out of it as well. When a child sits on their parent’s lap, it isn’t just the child who benefits from that encounter – it gladdens the parent’s heart as well.
John Ryeland
