9th day to PRAY for 2015!
Posted by karlahagan on Jan 18, 2015 in A Community, A Story, Blog | 0 comments
Ron sat in his respective place at breakfast yesterday morning with granola and flakes to eat, grapefruit juice and coffee to drink and his phone in hand opened to Bible Gateway for a daily devotional by A.W. Tozer. My mouth hung open as he read it to us around the kitchen table, and I have been thinking about one word ever since, but to keep it crazy, I counted 15 words in the devotional that begin with “P.” If you are on the 15 day journey with us, you will understand the crazy – 15 words that start with P! Are you kidding me???????
But the word that Father and I have been discussing ever since – “poised.” The prayer for today is specifically for us as parents, and I am praying that we begin 2015 “poised and prepared for the people [our children] when they come” (from Faith Beyond Reason by A.W. Tozer).
First, Tozer words from his book Faith Beyond Reason:
And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples (John 6:3).
Just prior to this miraculous multiplying of the bread and fish, Jesus ‘went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples’ (6:3). That fact is noteworthy. It seems plain that Jesus withdrew purposely from the great press of people who had been pursuing Him.
There are some things that you and I will never learn when others are present. I believe in church and I love the fellowship of the assembly. There is much we can learn when we come together on Sundays and sit among the saints. But there are certain things that you and I will never learn in the presence of other people.
Unquestionably, part of our failure today is religious activity that is not preceded by aloneness, by inactivity. I mean getting alone with God and waiting in silence and quietness until we are charged with God’s Spirit. Then, when we act, our activity really amounts to something because we have been prepared by God for it….
Now, in the case of our Lord, the people came to Him, John reports, and He was ready for them. He had been quiet and silent. He had sat alone with His disciples and meditated. Looking upward, He waited until the whole hiatus of divine life moved down from the throne of God into His own soul. He was a violin tuned. He was a battery recharged. He was poised and prepared for the people when they came.
Some of these words by Tozer could make you pause. They did me. In fact, the day Ron read this to me, I was in my respective spot at the kitchen table with my head laying on the table not sure if I was going to make the next step. I was fighting allergies and recovering from single parenting as Ron had been out of town for a few days for business. I had a full day of homeschooling in front of me, and fatigue was chasing me. Actually, it had caught me! So, “poised and prepared” was a distant idea, far from the reality of the moment!
How can I live “poised and prepared” when I am so tired? It takes a relentless decision to care for myself and do just as Jesus did – go to the mountain. All of our mountains are different, but we must go and go regularly. These are the places and moments we commune with Father and find the stillness past the noise of the busy. These are also the places and moments we care for our “earth suits” as my friend Pres would say. If our temple is in shambles, fatigue will always win the chase. It can even be a “both/and.” Some of my best conversations with Father happen on the treadmill listening to worship music. You have just got to figure out your mountains and go – just one step, but go!
Going to the mountain will never be easy! You will never have time, and there will always be another option that sounds better! But remember – relentless, you must be relentless in your decisions of discipline. It is these decisions that provide the opportunity Tozer spoke of today – “to be poised and prepared for the people when they came.” You must also remember that these steps can be small – just make the next one.
I am praying that you find your mountain moments and go just as Jesus did! I am praying you are relentless to care for yourself – your mind, heart and body in this year of 2015. Find the next right thing and make that step! Just one step today! Ask Father to reveal those steps and empower you to move forward! These steps of discipline actually free you! Steps toward Father in communion with him as well as steps toward health that keep the “earth suit” running. There is blessing in these steps!
