Prayer and Soaking (pt.3) Discipline

Well this got neglected and sat in my drafts folder forever... Oops.

Discipline.

It sounds like a bad word, doesn't it?

We cannot discipline ourselves to be better and make God love us more.
Nor will a lack of discipline make God love us any less.

HOWEVER.

Don't you think good stuff comes from discipline, too?

"God doesn't care about the work and the discipline you put into it. He doesn't love you for what you do, He loves you for who you are."

Okay, yes. God does love us. Unconditionally. That means that nothing we do or do not do will make Him love us less.

BUT.

Have you heard the phrase "Faith without works is dead" ? (James 2:20) Maybe... Just a little bit... It IS about the discipline. 

Soaking feels great. To quiet yourself and listen.

But there needs to be both...

Discipline will not save you, but neither will sitting and simply believing.

See what I'm getting at?

God can and does speak directly to us, but we shouldn't just sit and wait for Him to do so.

We need to seek and pursue with all our hearts - put in a little effort.

Eric Samuel Timm posted something on Instagram the other day that I loved. I didn't agree with some of the ideas presented, but the main message was to be an intellectual Pentecostal - devoting your passion to both the intellectual pursuit as well as the emotional response.

Isn't that what we should strive for?

Awaken Love

If I could have a soundtrack to my life, all of September and most of October would have been Tides. (Bethel Music)

There's one chorus that goes, "Lord God, come awaken love. Come stir my heart to long for all You are. I'm desperate just to have more of Your heart. Come awaken love."

I love that.

I love the idea of asking God for a longing.

Lately, I've been finding myself in that situation more and more often. "God, make me hungrier."

My word writing ability is lacking. I fell asleep this afternoon after finishing school. I'm not a napper... And it kinda ruined me for the rest of the day.

Enjoy Hunter Thompson.

Night

"Why do you cry when you pray?" he asked, as though he knew me well.

"I don't know," I answered, troubled.
I had never asked myself that question. I cried because... because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew.

"Why do you pray?" he asked after a moment.

Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?

"I don't know," I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. "I don't know."


Taken from Night by Elie Wiesel.

Words.

I'm a words person.

Maybe that's why I can't usually enjoy secular music.
Sure, she has a pretty voice... But those words... Catch in my throat.

I can't get these lyrics by Audrey Assad out of my head.

Yeah, maybe she's not your style...

But there's no way that you can say her words aren't lovely.

Scripture based, worship based, prayer based...

And I'll take that over the most talented musician singing about money, lust and highs.

From the love of my own comfort
From the fear of having nothing
From a life of worldly passions
Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood
From the need to be accepted
From the fear of being lonely
Deliver me O God
Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

From the fear of serving others
From the fear of death or trial
From the fear of humility
Deliver me O God
Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

No, I shall not want, I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

Prayer and Soaking (pt. 2)

Soaking in the Presence of God feels good. Doesn't it? To let His Spirit wash over you is such an amazing feeling.

But I think we need to talk about the dangerous stuff, too.

God's voice, though we'd like it to be, is not the only "supernatural voice" out there. And if you sit and soak and listen... Yes, you'll hear God. You will hear good.

But there's also someone who can, and will, make bad sound pretty dang good, too. We need to know that.

And we need to know who God is.

Just "following your heart" and relying on your instinct and wisdom is one of the most dangerous things to do.

Do I believe that God can and will speak directly to you when you choose to listen? Yes.
Do I believe that an evil, crafty, sneaky liar will also try to get your attention? Again, yes.

And how do we discern which is which?

When you hear such a strong voice saying words that sound good... It's SO easy to jump to the conclusion that it's the Holy Spirit. But what about when it's not?

How do we know?

I heard a speaker the other day who had a lot of good things to say. Things about spending time in God's presence, being a real friend of Jesus... All good things. But, in my opinion, he kind of down-played the value of scripture.

He didn't say it wasn't important... But he forgot to say it was.
And it scared me for all the new believers that were listening.

One of the biggest thing my mentor has taught me is to compare things with the Bible.

No matter how good something might sound, if it contradicts anything in the Bible, it's not from God. Because He'll never contradict Himself.

All this is NOT to say that listening for God's voice and simply letting yourself *be* in His presence is a bad thing. Farthest thing from.

I think that it is immensely valuable. To sit. And listen. And be. And soak.

But you can't be completely blind, either.

(There IS a part 3 coming. Sorry for dragging it out. ;)