What I Learned in 2010

Matthew 21:21-22 (AMP)

21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. 22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

Needless to say 2010 has been a very different year for me.  For the first time, really, I've had to deal with the frailty of the human body.  The parts sometimes wear out and need repair or replacement; like the frame on my 2001 Toyota.  Or the retina (repair) and lens (replacement) in my eye. 



In spite of it all, I don't think I'd ask for anything different or seek to change any of the events of the past year.  God has been good to me; I mean really, really good. I've had lots of quality quiet time to spend with Him.  I feel like I'm just learning to study God's Word and interact with it.  This blog has been part of that experience.  If it has been a blessing to you, the blessing is from God.  My blessing doesn't mean much in the scheme of things.

If there is one big lesson I've learned, it is the correlation between being a student of the Bible and confidence in prayer.  I've learned that often we don't know how to pray because we don't fully understand how God acts or what He wants for us and others.  I can easily fall into the trap of making the will of God into a huge mystery.  When we study scripture, we know that we are naturally separated from God and that it is His will to redeem us through the giving of His Son on the cross.  It is His will that we should love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as much as we love and care for ourselves.  It is God's will for us to meditate on His Word, and to pray about everything with thanksgiving in our hearts.  We are to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth and speak the truth in love. 

This is part of the revealed will of God.  There is no mystery here.  He wants us to know clearly His plan for us.  While God has some plans that are still hidden from us, like when He will return to earth, much of His will is made plain if we take the time to look for it.

E. M. Bounds said, "Unless the power of prayer is supplied by God's Word, prayer, though earnest, is empty."



That is what I've learned.  Knowing God's Word and prayer go hand in hand.  Knowledge of God through scripture breathes life into prayer.  Now the challenge for me is to know God so intimately that prayer becomes second nature to me.  To be at a place where I don't have to wrestle with how I should pray is what I really long for.  My desire for 2011 is to witness the power of God in answer to prayer.

I want to declare, "That's something only God can do.  No plan of mankind could produce that result."

Have a Merry Christmas.  God bless us, every one.

Quantity or Quality Membership

18 “Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind! 19 Who is as blind as my own people, my servant? Who is as deaf as my messenger? Who is as blind as my chosen people, the servant of the LORD? 20 You see and recognize what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but you don’t really listen.”

Isaiah 42:18-20 (NLT)

I was given a copy of a collection of writings by E.M. Bounds on prayer.  The entry for November 16 caught my attention.

"There is a blindness in the church with regard to members choosing a life of sin over God's way of life.

The truth is, there is such a lust for members in the church, that the officials have entirely lost sight of the members who are living in open disregard of God's Word.  The idea now of quantity in membership, not quality.

Prayer can change this.  Through prayer, members would either confess their sins, or leave the church."

"I pray, God, that you will open the eyes of Your people.  Especially those in leadership positions in Your church so they will focus more on quality than quantity of members.  Amen."

-- taken from The Power of Prayer by E.M. Bounds, compiled by Kobus Sandenbergh, published by Christian Arts Gifts