“Prayer is a conversation of the heart with God.”

-James P. Gills, in The Prayerful Spirit

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed,

…The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.”**

-James Montgomery

…..

“No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

-Jesus Christ, in John 14:6

“Without me you can do nothing.”

-Jesus, in John 15:5

To draw closer to God in this din-filled world, we need help. We need… Himself, the Helper.

Precious paradox of prayer: that even when our hearts are distracted and disturbed, our ADD minds hopping all over the world and space, we have the means to approach God.

~The rent body of Christ rent the veil in God’s High Holy of Holies, opening access for us to enter (Heb 10:19-20).

~He, our High Priest has gone on in ahead of us, leading the way to where He lives on, continually interceding for us and with us (Heb 10:21;7:25; Rom 8:26,27,34).

~He sent His own Holy Spirit, the Helper, Who comes alongside us and walks us into His presence, and speaks of Him and points us toward His radiant face (John 15:26;16:7).

~And we might almost venture to say the two or three that are gathered may be solely our individual selves along with God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt 18:20).

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor can unredeemed fallen flesh enter the presence of the Most High (1 Cr 15:50; Mt.16:16-17).We cannot pray as we should. We know not how. But the Spirit helps us in our weakness with utterings that cannot be expressed by human contrivance (Rom 8:26).

So what do we most need, to draw closer to God?

The help of His own Self!

And how do we obtain that?

Ask. Simply ask (Lk 11:9-13).

Call. “Call upon God” needs must be my first most important step of prayer.

This need not take long, nor many words. One of my most fervent prayers was but three short  words, “God, help us!” And even that reflexive cry contained that initial step of “Call!”

So, the C in my “One Word” C-L–O-S-E-R, stands for Call: on Him, to Him, with or without words. In the uncomplicated humility of knowing my own need and inadequacy to say right words, even know my own heart well enough to express it honestly without the help of Him who is the Truth and Who knows us better than we know ouselves.

Call on Him. Just call.

…..

**From the hymn/poem whose title is this first line. Go to this post on homeschoolblogger.com for all the verses and a good history of and commentary on the hymn.

(All photos displayed above are copyrighted. Please ask permission before using. Thank you. 🙂

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Still Saturday

C-L-O-S-E-R. That’s the “One Word” I chose back in January to give me direction for the year.

C

L

O

S

E

R

It has occurred to me of late that these letters might form a good acronym, or acrostic, with each of its letters standing for something that can help me draw nearer to God.

I got the idea while reading Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God. The C world popped into my mind, and then an L word.

But for right now, just C.

Brother Lawrence mentioned several times that without God’s help he would fail. He said,

“I shall never do otherwise [than fail] if You leave me to myself;”

“Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enable me…”

This post talks about how this is true for me, too. For all of us.

What to do?

Sensibly and simply, Brother Lawrence petitioned God for His help

He “implored”

He “trusted in Him” to help as His word promises,

He “begged” His assistance,

“praying for His grace with a perfect confidence,”

“relying upon the infinite merits of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

At the beginning of his day’s work he said… “O my God,… I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end…  prosper me with Thy assistance.”

Brother Lawrence needed God’s grace to succeed in this.

So do I!

So what to do?

CALL ON GOD to do what I cannot, to help, by His grace.

There’s the C word: Call (on God).

And not as just a one-and-done deal, but a constantly repeating one, to CONTINUE doing through the day.

So here’s my first and most important step to drawing CLOSER:

CALL ON GOD!

And for what do I call out?

Yesterday’s sermon nailed it, spot on, in its scripture text verses:

“My GRACE is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

and

“God is able to make all GRACE abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor 9:8).

His grace, manifested in His help, through the Helper, His Holy Spirit.

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“It was in a little wood in early morning. The sun was climbing behind a steep cliff in the east,… its light… flooding nearer and nearer… making pools among the trees. Suddenly, from a dark corner of purple brown stems and tawny moss, there shone out a great golden star! 

“It was just a dandelion, and half withered — but it was full face to the sun, and had caught into its heart all the glory it could hold, and was shining so radiantly that the dew that lay on it still made a perfect aureole round its head. And it seemed to talk, standing there—to talk about the possibility of making the very best of these lives of ours. 

“For if the Sun of Righteousness has risen upon our hearts, there is an ocean of grace and love lying all around us, an ocean to which all earthly light is but a drop, and it is ready to transfigure us, as the sun transfigured the dandelion, and on the same condition — that we stand full face to God… intent on Christ.”

–I. Lilias Trotter

…..

“They looked to Him and were radiant…” 

-Psalm 34:5

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It drives me: a desire.

I expressed it here, at 2012’s beginning, in the “One Word” I chose for the year: CLOSER. I long to live and walk in closer communion with my Savior.

But how?

“I can’t!” I claimed, back in this post. My fleshly efforts alone lead only to eventual frustration. Still, scripture commands me to “draw near to God,” and there “abide.” And my desire to do so burns on.

What to do?

I am rereading The Practice of the Presence of God because its focus character, Brother Lawrence, seems truly to have attained this blessing. I’m studying His example, paying closer attention to all he said there, and considering the context of His life.

I see repeated patterns in his words. One is about “can’t” — and what to do about it.

And the idea arises that I can make an acronym of C-L-O-S-E-R, each letter beginning a key word about the drawing nearer process. At least the C has lots of possibilities…

Can you think of any as you read his practical insights?…

When an occasion of practicing some virtue offered, he addressed God, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enable me; and then he received strength more than sufficient.

When he had failed in his duty, he only confessed His fault, saying to God, “I shall never do otherwise  if You leave me to myself; it is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss.” After this he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.

[He said] that we ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly, and imploring His assistance in our affairs, just as they happen. That God had never failed to grant it, as he had often experienced.

“When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, ‘I am used to so doing; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself.’ If I fail not, then I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him. “

After he had not thought of God for a good while, he did not disquiet himself for it; but after having acknowledged his wretchedness to God, he returned to Him with so much the greater trust in Him as he had found himself wretched through forgetting Him.

[He said] that the trust we put in God honors Him much and draws down great graces.

That we may beg His assistance for… rightly performing [what] we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.

That, without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should pray for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the infinite merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. That God never failed in offering His grace at each action.

When he began his business, he said… “O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end… prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections.

…My common practice… I have done very imperfectly, yet I have found great advantages by it. These, I well know, are to be imputed to the mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can do nothing without Him, and I still less than any.

…..

And Jesus says, “Without me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5), and…

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mat 7:7; Luk 11:9)

And Galatians 3:3 says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh?” 

…..

COUNTING REASONS TO PRAISE HIM

(FROM PSALM 90)

• 234 – Because He has been our available dwelling place throughout all generations
• 235 – Because He has been God from before the mountains were brought forth or ever He formed the earth
• 236 – Because from everlasting to everlasting He is God
• 237 – Because He transcends times, because although our lives are imprisoned in a mere blink of it, yet it nothing to Him. A thousand years to Him are but yesterday past, or a past watch of the night.
• 238 – Because He has total power over human life, turning, returning it back to dust
• 239 – Because nevertheless His infinite love invests us with (incomprehensibly) great worth. (“For God so loved…” “I have loved thee with an everlasting love…”

  (From Psalm 98)

  • 240 – Because He has done marvelous things — often in the past, right up to the present
  • 241 – Because His strong right hand and arm gain Him the victory
  • 242 – Because He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations
  • 243 – Because the ends of the earth have seen His salvation
  • 244 – Because He is coming again to judge the earth
  • 245 – Because He will judge the whole world with righteousness and equity

   (From Isaiah 1)

• 246 – Because He is the ultimate heart-broken parent Who grieves over His children’s turning away from Him
• 247 – Because He it is Who nourishes His children
• 248 – Because it is He who brings them up
• 249 – Because it grieves Him to see them make themselves sick and fainthearted, wounded and bruised and covered with putrefying sores
• 250 – Because it grieves Him to see His children’s rebellion bring collective destruction, invasion, seige, and overthrow 
• 251 – Because He is the only reason they are not totally destroyed 

• 252 – Because He hates empty material sacrifices
• 253 – Because He cannot bear “iniquity and the sacred meeting” wrapped up together
• 254 – Because, even thought our sins are as scarlet, srimson, He can make them white as snow, as white wool
• 255 – Because He hates injustice, bribing, cheating 
• 256 – Because He hates oppression of the weak
• 257 – Because He promises the good of the land to the willing and obedient 
• 258 – Because He promises those who stubbornly refuse and rebel that they will be sword-devoured 
• 259 – Because He will rid Himself of His adversaries 
• 260 – Because He will Himself overcome/take vengeance on His enemies 
• 261 – Because His hand will be against the wrongdoers  
• 262 – Because He will purge away the dross and take away alloy
• 263 – Because He will restore right judges and good counselors 
• 264 – Because those who forsake Him will be consumed
• 265 – Because they will be ashamed, embarrassed, over their idols
• 266 – Because the strong rebellious against Him will be made weak as tinder before a spark

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There it is, lying there, in pieces on the ground (floor). And I’d just been thinking about my Mom’s death. The edge of the counter caught it as I lifted it, and down it went — in slow enough motion to give me time to hope desperately it wouldn’t break, but, well, you can see.

That dish cover wasn’t worth much money. It was just one of those items full of love memories —  the memento I chose when we sibs went through her things before the auction.

It just said “Mom.”

It was always there, a constant. Though our home was less than posh or over-fussy, after each post-meal clean-up Mom always made sure the dining table sat ready for the next gather-round: covered with tablecloth, each place set, centerpiece at center, and just to its right, the butter dish, neatly supplied with fresh butter and wearing that ever-present cover.

So, when it crashed, multiple memories hit the floor with it, and a few tears.

But Mom’s been gone for almost three decades! So what’s the big deal?

Well, I was going through my springtime funk.

A few years ago I figured it out: why this happens, amid the fresh promise of scintillating springtime, when daylight increases in bright blue skies, doors open outward, birdies sing, and gentle breezes caress…

I was reading, in Harriet Braiker’s Getting Up When You’re Feeling Down, about “anniversary phenomena,” emotional slumps triggered by dates of sad events, bringing on the blues, irritability, unsettled emotions, in the weeks around those dates — slumps we might not consciously connect with the past. What sat me up straight was examples she gave:

death of a loved one

date of a marriage break-up

date a job ended

things like that.

I started checking documents and journals…

That was it! Spring had been hiding multiple losses beneath her flowers and flowing fogs. Spring turned out to be my “time of many endings”:

my Mom’s passing,

my first marriage ending (that’s when that dreadful oversized divorce certificate was hand-delivered to my door!)

school years closing, my classes moving on, often to other schools, “Good-bye.”

homeschooling ended with graduation, 

nest emptied out.

And a couple other (huge) traumas I’m not even going to mention.

All in the spring! I’d never realized how many ending dates had ganged up together on the calendar within a few short weeks!  

In recent years, the spring-loss rhythm has continued. In spring we found it needful to leave our decade-long “church home,”  ending multiple church ministries, “friendships,” social network, even “sure-fire” book publication prospect. In spring they said I’d lose my eyesight…

So… no wonder my inner woman wants to slump! I have to admit to sometimes even dreading spring’s approach, wondering what looms ahead this year! 

But that’s life. Things break. Our world can shake. Loss comes, whatever the season. 

But the “negative” memories bring with them reminders of God’s great grace, His presence, His amazing intervention.

In fact, the times of loss brought the greatest spiritual blessings, whether or not I could discern them at the time.

Realizing my spring blues are only reasonable forearms and reassures me. Seeing how God’s used past springtime “losses” to prune, grow, and bless me helps allay my dread of more to come. And the whole business nudges me back to Him, to connect with His presence and draw on His strength and peace and overflowing love.

So right now a broken dish lid seems a very insignificant thing.

…..

Do you get undefinable blues at certain seasons, that might have an “anniversary phenomenon” trigger, or find that certain dates or objects lead you to “revisit” grief?

…..

COUNTING RELATED (God-Centric) REASONS TO PRAISE HIM

(From 2 Corinthians 1:3-5,18-22)

• 243 – Because He is the Father of Mercies
• 244 – Because He is the God of all comfort
• 245 – Because He comforts us in all our tribulation
• 246 – Because He does this so that we can comfort those who are in any trouble, with the same comfort with which He has comforted us
• 247 – Because as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
• 248 – Because all the promises of God are “Yes” and Amen in Christ
• 249 – Because He establishes His own together in Christ
• 250 – Because He has sealed us who are His own, and given His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

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