The purpose of Monday Manna to get together and get to know Christ more through His Word. The main purpose is to chew on the same Scripture and learn from one another. This week's verse is:
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my
heart responds,“Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8 (NLT)
But my heart and my actions do not always follow this desire. I have often lamented that I do not spend the time with God that I desire to spend with Him, the time that I know I should spend with Him. I go through spurts where I either read my Bible and neglect to pray, or I pray and neglect to read my Bible.
I remember lamenting about this in small group once and the group leader told me that he viewed me as the type of person that lived with God as the focus of my life constantly and to not worry that I was not finding a set time of my day to spend with God. After all, my husband traveled four days of every week and I had two elementary boys at home. While I appreciated the compliment of how he viewed my spiritual walk, and I do desire for that to be true, I really did not and do not believe it can be without spending time in the Word.
Nor do I believe that it is possible without an active prayer life. In discussing our lack in the area of Spiritual Disciplines, another friend told me that another co-worker and I had been instrumental in her life in that we taught her that you a can pray anywhere, as she walked for exercise, as she drove a van full of preschoolers, doing housework While I feel this is an important part of my prayer life, an important part of my relationship with Him, an expression of intimacy with my Savior, I still desire a longer, unadulterated time with Him on a more regular basis.
Many times we tell people that we are praying for them, but then forget. We get so caught up in our own lives, our busy schedules. I have stopped telling my friends, especially online, that I am praying for their prayer concerns because I know that most of them I will forget to pray for. I pray for them when I read the concern but that may be the only time I pray for them or that concern. My friend Tammy recently posted about this on her Facebook status. She wrote:
I felt convicted by this because, like I said, I typically pray silently when I read the request, but forget to afterwards.
My heart would like to respond, “Lord, I am coming” but it does not always come. I have not yet arrived at a place in my spiritual walk where I can say that I consistently live my life in such a way that God is always at the center of my focus. But I do so welcome the invitation from God to “Come and talk with me.”
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my
heart responds,“Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8 (NLT)
But my heart and my actions do not always follow this desire. I have often lamented that I do not spend the time with God that I desire to spend with Him, the time that I know I should spend with Him. I go through spurts where I either read my Bible and neglect to pray, or I pray and neglect to read my Bible.
I remember lamenting about this in small group once and the group leader told me that he viewed me as the type of person that lived with God as the focus of my life constantly and to not worry that I was not finding a set time of my day to spend with God. After all, my husband traveled four days of every week and I had two elementary boys at home. While I appreciated the compliment of how he viewed my spiritual walk, and I do desire for that to be true, I really did not and do not believe it can be without spending time in the Word.
Nor do I believe that it is possible without an active prayer life. In discussing our lack in the area of Spiritual Disciplines, another friend told me that another co-worker and I had been instrumental in her life in that we taught her that you a can pray anywhere, as she walked for exercise, as she drove a van full of preschoolers, doing housework While I feel this is an important part of my prayer life, an important part of my relationship with Him, an expression of intimacy with my Savior, I still desire a longer, unadulterated time with Him on a more regular basis.
Many times we tell people that we are praying for them, but then forget. We get so caught up in our own lives, our busy schedules. I have stopped telling my friends, especially online, that I am praying for their prayer concerns because I know that most of them I will forget to pray for. I pray for them when I read the concern but that may be the only time I pray for them or that concern. My friend Tammy recently posted about this on her Facebook status. She wrote:
“OK.... here is the skinny. From now on, if you ask us on FB
to pray.... I am gonna pray ON FACEBOOK for you! too many of us say "praying" and are we? Most likely not. So, I challenge each of you, if you say you are gonna pray.... PRAY... Where two or more are gathered!!”
I felt convicted by this because, like I said, I typically pray silently when I read the request, but forget to afterwards.
My heart would like to respond, “Lord, I am coming” but it does not always come. I have not yet arrived at a place in my spiritual walk where I can say that I consistently live my life in such a way that God is always at the center of my focus. But I do so welcome the invitation from God to “Come and talk with me.”
Please go to Joanne's blog An Open Book to read other Monday Manna entries.
1 comment:
I feel like you were in MY head and MY heart as I read this. I can completely and totally relate to this. Thanks for participating.
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