ListenDaily – 09 April 2010: Discernment – a checklist: Step 1
We have been talking about discernment, sometimes using the word, sometimes not, for several days now. It was prompted by several conversations and has led to several more, via phone, email, Facebook, and yes, even face-to-face. This is a struggle for many of us. How do we know what God wants us to do? How do we determine if a specific activity is what God wants? How do we know if struggles are from the enemy or if they are God's ways of saying "Stop!"?
I'm going to refer to, what I like to call, Jim's Desert Island Theology.
Let's suppose that you were shipwrecked, all alone, on a desert island. No other people, no Bible, no church.
Could you be a Christian? If you could not go to church, could you be a Christian? If you could not read the Bible, could you be a Christian? If you could not do good works for other people, could you be a Christian? Could you? Absolutely!
If you were the only person on that island you would still not be alone. God said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5) God is always with you, and wants to communicate with you. If we are not hearing from God, it is not because He is withholding His words from willing ears, it is because we are somehow closing ourselves off from Him. When Paul said to "pray without ceasing" he did not mean that we should be on our knees, eyes closed, hands folded, talking to God. Prayer is talking, and listening, to God. It is awareness of His presence.
To pray without ceasing means to be always aware of God's presence. Always. All the time. God present with you.
Pray, church...pray.
NEXT: Step 2...
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Questions:
1. What is prayer, to you?
2. When you pray, what do you do?
3. How do you pray without ceasing?
INTERESTING THOUGHT:
"Prayerlessness is a sin." Corrie Ten Boom
"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him." Hudson Taylor
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