How is my prayer life? This is a something that I should ask myself from time to time and it should cause me to adjust my praying according to God’s response as He answers this all-important question. It is more than introspection. When we pose this question it requires that God also weigh in because it is He with whom we are sharing ourselves.
The day after going to the altar and accepting Jesus Christ as our savior, Satan begins to work at us... will our faith withstand his onslaught? Believing is easy when we are on the mountain, but when we go back to the valley we must reach out to the Lord for help. So as a new Christians we should be prepared for this moment. In Mark 9 we read about Jesus healing a boy who had an unclean spirit and in this account we hear the boy’s father plead for Jesus to help them. In doing so this distraught father relates the boy’s condition and then begs using these words. “”.... But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."” Mark 9:22 ESV
When we are lifted up and standing in that spiritual high place with Jesus do we want to stay there forever? When we are feeling the electric thrill of faith coursing through us and every hair on our body has risen as if in unison to the breeze of God's breath, do we want to remain in that state always? Well of course the answer is yes, but that is not what we are meant to do.
Many devout Christians will reach a place in their faith where they will call out to the Lord asking that they join Him in the suffering He experienced. One feels that if God breaks our bread and pours out our wine that the relationship we have with Him will grow all the closer, but something unexpected happens... it isn't God who breaks us and pours us out.
If our faith is predicated on understanding God then we will fail at it. God is more than the natural things that we can quantify, classify, and catalog; He is spiritual and until we grasp that fact and immerse ourselves in that reality we are doomed to never truly knowing Him at all.
Am I willing to abandon myself to Jesus Christ? Can I put down my own self-interests and pick up the cross? If I can't answer "Yes" to these questions then I am confined, at best, to being an onlooker in the audience as Jesus teaches, and not a disciple that follows Him wherever He leads...
Do you want to follow Jesus but have something you must do first? Has God called you for a specific purpose but the timing is not convenient for you? If that is the case, did you console yourself by saying "God understands that I will eventually come" or perhaps some other rationalization? Well, think again. The table may be cleared when you finally get there.
Do you have a gift to offer God, but you just can't find the right moment to give it to Him? Are you standing before the altar with doubt in your mind wondering if He will receive your offering? Is your spirit unsettled and in a state that keeps you at arm's distance from God's will in some matter? In moments like these there is something not right and we feel an emptiness of spirit... listen as the Holy Spirit directs us in clearing away the obstruction.
Are you working hard to do all the things that Jesus spoke of during His Sermon on the Mount? If so, how is that working out for you? Are you going at it alone, or are you leaning on Jesus for your success? Sometimes we get tripped up by what sounds like the simplest of His instructions, but this happens to us, and we will most certainly fail if we struggle along by ourselves.
How many little things of faith have you left unaddressed? I dare say the major items are either solved or you are working with God on them, but have you overlooked the small and seemingly less important nuances to your walk with Jesus? Is there someone you need to forgive, but that you have been thinking that you will do it tomorrow?
Is your house quiet this morning, and are all others asleep? Can you hear every little noise as the furnace ignites and the walls and floors pop and crack while settling into their new warmth? Can you hear your spirit whispering deep within you as it calls out..."Father, Father."? When we are still, and the world is hushed, the sounds of heaven become audible to us... this is the time for intimate conversation and spiritual embraces; this is the realm of eternal prayer.
Who is Jesus in relation to God? Is He a servant, a slave, a son, a prophet, a high priest, a tool, or all these things? If you are having trouble answering this question then perhaps you can more easily answer the same question regarding yourself and your relationship to Jesus... No? Well, Jesus is before all else the Son of God. We read the account of Mary and the birth of Jesus, but then at His baptism God Himself speaks and calls Him Son in proclamation to all in attendance...
Once we accept God as our creator and the God of our lives, and we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, we receive by grace the gift of eternal life, but is that gift absolute? Is it a firm commitment on God's part? How about on ours when we receive it? The discussion of topics such as this can either divide us or bring us together.
Jesus is without sin, and perfect, but is there any hope for us to become as perfect as He is? Is perfection something that we are even capable of? The glorious surprise of faith is that we are transformed not into men and women seeking to behave as God, but into God flowing from man.
Are you being tempted with Jesus Christ even today? In that temptation do you continue following Him, or do you turn away from Him and leave? This is a question Jesus asked His disciples at the last supper, and which is still valid today. Let me ask you one more question... when we give into our temptations are we saddling and shaming Jesus with our sin again?