when i was cutting my teeth on the faith as a growing believer in college and beyond, i knew about grace, but i still lived by works. (((now grace without works is dead but that's a whole nuther ball of wax. i'm talking about being free from the law of sin and death that beats you over the head with the shoulds and oughts or else God doesn't love you kind of rules and regs and i'm not talking about never reading His word and never having a qt or studying His Word.))) i thot "i must read my bible and pray every morning for so many minutes or else.....God will be mad at me, i'll be a bad christian. i won't be successful. i won't be as fruitful." you fill in the blank. i have struggled for years with this one and still do to some extent.
the Word says and i paraphrase "this book of the law shall not depart from you but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do all that is according to what is written in it for then your way will be made prosperous and then you will have success." it says Jesus "rose up early to go to a quiet place to pray." and "pray without ceasing" and "the Lord inhabits praise."
but have you ever found a place that says from 6 to 7 am, thou shalt study the Word and then pray in the format of ACTS? and if you're married, thou must be praying with thy spouse for part of the time or thou is in sin? Jesus scolded the folks he was around for adding to the Word and for following the traditions of men. i think i've done this for years!
when i do have what you might call a "quiet time" i am always blessed and it is rich to sit still before God with His Word and to pour out my praises and petitions before Him. but i fear telling you how i do it, because i'm afraid you'll think THAT is how it oughtta be done and you'll go right back under the law and feel guilt and shame and the enemy will say to you: see, you don't do it right, you're 2nd class.
but mostly if i'm honest, i'm afraid to tell you how frequently/infrequently i do it for fear you might judge me and think i'm the 2nd class citizen of the kingdom. and i'm sort of afraid for all the same reasons to know how you do it. now that's just too much fear, don't you think?
so i'm thinking this: if you and i are meditating throughout the day on His Word, singing praises and hymns when they come to mind and we're praying without ceasing and as often as possible on a regular basis having more formal sit downs with the Lord, then i'm thinking we're following the "whole counsel of God" (a seminary term my husband taught me, meaning keeping in mind all of His Word, not picking and choosing one verse/passage over another).
i just don't want you or me to beat ourselves up for something that's made up by man in the form of what someone calls a "quiet time" any more ever again. i rest my case but i hope i can leave it there.
1 comment:
Amen...well said!!!
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