You Remain - My Personal Wrestling Match With GodSample

A Recipe For Peace

When was the last time you prayed this prayer: “Jesus would you be with me/him/her today?” Think about it. What kind of theology or understanding of God does this promote?

If it’s true that the presence of God is always at work in, through and around us, then this is indeed a misguided prayer. So what happens when we pray this type of prayer and the outcome doesn’t go as we planned? What happens when we get into an accident, experience defeat, lose our job, get a diagnosis of cancer? If our prayer is for God to come near, then in our minds, there is an option for Him to not come near.

Recently, Malia, my 7-year-old, was praying and asked Jesus to be with a friend of hers who had just moved. Her heart was so beautiful in this prayer, and that is one of the most important postures to foster in her. Yet, as she grows in her faith, how do I invite her into the actual Truth of the nearness of God?

As followers of Jesus, we need to shed, or better yet, delete some of our religious mantra that will continue to lead us astray from our pure and simple devotion to Jesus. Paul talks about false teachings and warns the people to be cautious of what they are accepting.

2 Corinthians 11:3 says, But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

The point here is not to go out looking for people who pray wrong and correct them. The invitation for you and me is to be aware of how and what we pray, of the things we believe and teach. The more that I have been diving into Jesus’ heart and teachings, I am finding more and more things that I believe are incongruent with the way Jesus taught.

Another example is Jesus’ invitation into the Gospel, the Good News. Take a moment and write down what you’d say the Gospel message is. Try it! Then look up where Jesus talks about the Good News. According to Jesus, what is the Good News? It’s probably not what you think!

If we are followers of Jesus the Christ, then let’s seek first to know Him better than anything else. So that when stuff hits the fan, our perspective is JESUS!

 

-TIM