06/13/2024
Molding our souls into the image of God through prayer is the topic for this morning's devotional thought. Pastor E.M. Bounds says this of prayer... "It has everything to do with enriching, broadening, and maturing the soul's experience of God." He stresses this point further by writing this about the Christian... "Therefore, if he does not pray, he is not of the household of faith." Second Corinthians chapter 4 is a wonderful source for studying the change that is occurring within us as we mature as Christians. A verse which summarizes this conversion is verse 16...
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV
And this transformation of our souls has everything to do with the hardships we face in our lives. Paul writes about our growth in Christ through experiencing affliction in this way:
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-12 ESV
This is the fruit of prayer as we face the daily troubles of life. We are being molded in each unpleasant circumstance to become more like Christ, and being drawn closer to eternal life which is in Him. None of this is accomplished without prayer, and seeking God in times of stress, while opening ourselves up to spiritual consultation and instruction.
I was asked to pray by someone who was learning to speak English. They were asking for God to help them master the English language. It made me think back to my childhood and learning the German language. My instructor reiterated over and over that "when you begin to think in the language then you will have perfected it."
Perfecting our faith is much like learning a foreign language... Something is changing within us until at last we are thinking and feeling the world around us in and through, the language of God. In prayer and hardship we are learning this language as God molds our souls to conform to His image. There is no substitute for prayer in this process.
In learning a language our instructor begins by saying "repeat after me..." And then begins to teach. Jesus did the very same thing when he taught us to pray; his words in Matthew were "pray like this...", and in Luke he says "when you talk with God say..." And then He speaks the words of the Lord's Prayer. When we are maturing our soul in prayer, we are learning to think and speak in the language of God.
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.””
Matthew 6:9 ESV
“And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.”
Luke 11:2 ESV
Without prayer we can't learn the language or ever hope to think in it. Without prayer we are watching faith, but as we pray, we are experiencing it and being taught the very essence of this new tongue. Prayer is the vehicle of communication and instruction; we might think that it is all about us speaking our concerns to God, but it is much more than that... prayer is when God lets us voice our lives and then says... "Live like this..." And teaches us to speak faith and life in our new language.
This morning let's begin a new habit of prayer. Let's pray with the full understanding that God is allowing us to convey to Him our view of the world and the trouble we are experiencing there, but then let's listen as He says "live like this" or "pray like this." Today let's begin a process of prayer which will change our very soul and teach us the heavenly language of God... Not just the words, but how to think in them.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for teaching us how to pray, and to eventually think in the spiritual language of Heaven. Thank you Father for bringing us closer and closer to you until at last we not only know who you are, but we can speak to you in a new heavenly language, and to think heavenly thoughts without even realizing we are doing so. Help us Lord to not only recite prayers, but to speak them from our hearts, and within your will. Help us to reach that place in our faith and belief where our will has become yours, just as it has for Jesus, and we are transformed into new creatures with new voices. Take our will and reshape it, and reform it, until at last it is conformed completely to yours, and our minds are made to think righteously as you do… as citizens of Heaven. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who was, and is, and is to come, and who takes the lost souls of this world who have lost their native tongue of Eden, and is bringing them home once more by redeeming them, and instructing them in the language they lost long ago. Praised be your name Father, because you are amazing in your ways, and your ability to remake us, redeem us, and teach us the lost language of creation that once was ours when we walked with you in the garden. Hear our prayers Father as we lift them up to you, and open us to the movement of the Holy Spirit as he helps us to pray as we should in a spiritual language known only to our hearts, and souls. Find us as we walk along the paths of righteousness, not as we hide from ourselves from you. See us once again stripped bare of our sins and embarrassment, not clothed in leaves of shame. Hear our voices Abba as we call out to you in the ancient tongue of Heaven, and sing eternal praises to you with all the heavenly host. That will be the day when your mercy and grace will have reached their crescendo, and we are at last found worthy, and welcomed home to eternity in your presence.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen!
Rich Forbes