How God is teaching me He gives all we need, even for prayer and conversation with Him:
Early morning. Groggy from too little sleep, I stumble around the kitchen, stupid.
I pour myself some blessed coffee, and still bleary-eyed, climb the mountain of steps the stairway’s become, settle into my nook.
I need help just waking up!
Call on God!
I even need help with that!
Scanning Call-on-God Psalm verses… What “resonates”? …
Umm. Psalm 121 speaks to me, because it reminds me God never gets sleepy!
But, that’s not a call…
Aha! Here it is! I start reading aloud… and the words become prayer — for just what I need:
“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel… Let Your hand be upon the (wo)man of your right hand, Upon the (one) You make strong for Yourself. Then I will not turn back from You. Revive (me) and (I) will call upon your name” (Ps 80:1,17-18).Memory verse cards for Psalm 95 lie right at hand. I scoop them up and read their words, aloud…
and find in them an excellent set of prayer guidelines:
“O come, let us sing unto the LORD: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. “For the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand [are] the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills [is] his also. The sea [is] his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry [land]. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker…”So. sing. What shall I sing?
Into my mind comes,
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. O my soul praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation…”And its words make me think Psalm 103. I turn to it
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits…”And the words, His words, awaken my spirit, lift and draw my soul to Him in gratitude and praise, as my coffee is waking my body…
But no, that’s hardly true! For the mug sits here beside me, still near full!
Alert now, I tune my heart to hear His words, hear Him, through His scriptures — or messengers — asking, “What do You have to say to me today?”
I “happen to” pick up an ABS booklet lying on the trunk here by my chair, open it to May 24 (because it’s mid-book), and read,
“Heavenly Father, You are the hope of all who seek You, the joy of all who find You. I bow before You.”
Then I read on… a commentary on Romans 11:1-10, about how God kept a remnant of His people during Elijah’s time, but as for the bulk of the nation who pursued idols instead of Him…
“God honored their idolatrous choices by giving them over to, and making them [like] the very image of the gods they worshiped. They became as sleepy, blind, and deaf, as the lifeless images themselves…”
Yes, prayer begun with a call becomes a conversation, with the very God of gods!
Is it not His Spirit that does this? Himself at work in even a fallible and fumbling, initially sleepy heart, now wide awake.
My coffee sits cold in its mug.
*****
Just love getting a glimpse into your prayer time and how you let His spirit guide you.
Hi Jean,
So good to get your visit and comment. I’m glad you see the process, how it’s His work, our part is to be willing and follow. Growing, here, slowly and stumblingly, but growing. Thanks for good encouragement, and may God specially bless your day!
Dear Sylvia,
Isn’t it amazing how we stumble around, bleary-eyed, reaching for an earthly stimulant in coffee, tea or whatever until…..
we enter the Holy of Holies and eat His word, the living Word from which wellsprings of living water erupt so that we cannot contain them. The song that came to mind to me was “Come Let us Worship and Bow Down”. I’m getting ready to prayer bike, singing because of your post.
Dawn
PS I loved the end. “My coffee sits cold in its mug.”
Yeah, Dawn! Amazing. (But we shouldn’t really be amazed anymore at always amazing Him, should we?) You worded this so beautifully.
It makes me so happy to think of your singing in response to these verses and thoughts as you “prayer bike.” I also love the thought of your prayers going out for people you pass as you bike. Wonderful. I once read something a man wrote about this, and how he taught his kids to “shoot prayers” like that with him for people in the supermarket, on the street, anywhere. God bless it! And keep cool!
Isn’t it amazing how God leads us to what we need to hear, each day?
Thank you, Sylvia, for this glimpse into your conversations with God.
BTW, (off-track-rabbit-trail-ahead) in that verse you quoted from Romans, something jumped out at me that I had not previously noticed: “God honored their idolatrous choices…”
Isn’t that something? God honors our choices…even when our choices are ungodly. Isn’t it amazing how much respect He demonstrates toward us?
Yes, Joe, some time back, when studying Mark’s gospel, I was struck with how the demons had to do what Jesus commanded, yet when he told the human recipients of His miraculous healing to keep mum about it, they freely did just the opposite. It’s sobering to realize the “freedom” we have to obey or disobey, and to bring on positive or negative consequences. In this case, the people’s choice hindered Jesus’ ministry! Sort of astounding.
Oh, all His Spirit! What a wonderful story! (I noticed Psalm 103 in there – one of my favorites!) Thank you for sharing this! So beautiful, the way He works!
Hi Mary,
Yes, so beautiful, how He works, everyday! And what a blessing, when we’re able (by His help!) to open our bleary eyes and see the evidence! God bless you this day!