Week I

To reach the goal of trusting God, we must consider the process of relinquishment. Evidence from our five senses often indicates that God has vacated the premises and has chosen to work on other projects for His universe. Perhaps we may feel abandoned, here, on this earth. This sense that we are all alone is something we must critically examine, because it is not true. We make it seem true, however, by our own manner of seeing. We want things to move a lot faster than God would have them move, so if there are quiet times, times when no activity seems to be occurring, we are apt to feel frustrated and shunned by Him. This is not the time to get mad at God. This is the time to relinquish it all to Him. Our hard-headed flesh wants to tell us we are here to be in control. But this is not why we are here.

Relinquishment may rank in the top ten of difficult things we do here in this world. Our culture stresses that we move, we achieve, we plan, we follow through, we expand, we manage, we distribute, we find new territory, we dig, we pan for gold, we work our buns off doing, doing, doing. A common quote used at many graduations state that we are the masters of our fate. That is a stressful burden, however. I prefer that Christ be the master of my fate. He knows best. When I stopped being in charge, God put me in a very fast lane, one I could never have created on my own. He began to show me His plan, once I decided I wanted nothing more to do with my own plans.

I've always been one to focus on my spiritual path. The world would try to interfere with it and conditions would seem to block it or cloud it over with other concerns, issues or conditions, but my spiritual path has always re-emerged and become dominant again. Ultimately this is because God knows my heart and He knows this is all I really want. So, freshly married to a wife who went off to work everyday in order to support her college son who lived in town, I found myself with time on my hands. I had a regular retirement fund income that meant my family and I were adequately supplied for, so I did not have to go to work in the usual sense. I toyed with the idea of entertaining myself with videos or DVDs, or listening to music, or reading entertaining stories, or surfing the Net, but those ideas left me feeling empty, even as I tried them.

Then I remembered how much I loved God. Oh, yes, I thought, God would be wonderful to get to know even better! Once I realized that this was truly what I wanted to do, the world began to pull me to do something else, instead. I say the world did this, but of course you know it was Satan, king of the world, who did not want me treading on Holy ground and the flesh is all too willing to agree. "If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." For him, this was getting too close for comfort. But, over the years, I have developed the ability to focus and go after what I desire. My mind was firmly made up that I was going to get to know my Father, whose spirit dwells within me.

Even as I made plans to pray, something would come up to tempt me, dissuade me, and move me in another direction. Recognizing this, I sat down in my prayer chair anyway, ignoring the world's plans to keep me off my knees and proceeded to pray on a regular basis, ignoring inner urgings to do other things. I did not want to pray for anything in particular. I just wanted to know my God. The Bible says that since I've accepted Jesus as my Savior, He dwells within me. So I wondered how He was doing in my residence. Was there anything I could do for Him? I particularly wanted to just “know” Him. The only way I could think of to do this was to sit quietly, close my eyes, and recall those times when there was no doubt God was there for me in some magnificent way. By holding onto these thoughts, a deep emotional and spiritual connection with my Lord was brought forward in my heart and made dominant. It is a powerful thing to recount one's testimonies and revisit those times and places that stand as holy altars to a mighty God.

In this dominance, I dwelt, knowing God and literally feeling His presence. There was no question, so no answer was sought. There was no need sought, so I did not have to use words in this prayer. However, at other times, if I did have a question, I knew it was imperative that I not try to force my will on God, thereby fruitlessly trying to make Him come up with an answer that fit my schematic of how things were. I realized that my opinion was of no value. I feel I got good results when I posed my question or comment then dropped all attempts to “hear” what God had to say about this. Instead, I went straight to the Lord by the above method and basically curled up in His lap, recognizing my dependence on and my love for Him. My answer would come, not by some revelation at this time, but generally a little later when I least expected it.

The tendency with many Christians is to lay the appearances the world presents out before the Lord and pray, asking His help in correcting what seems obviously very wrong. Jesus gave us two hints as to why we shouldn't do that. 1.) He said for us not to judge by appearances and 2) He told us to focus on God, not mammon (or the things of the world). Here area those verses:

Joh 7:24 Do not judge according to sight, but judge righteous judgment.

Mat 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

When we lay the things of the world before God, all too often we are focusing on them, not Him. True prayer involves a focus only on Him and His Word. He, then, will bring His light into the world through us. Remember His ways of seeing are not like our ways of seeing, so it is worthwhile to allow God to share His tremendous insight regarding any situation we might face. He cannot do this when we pray, insisting that what we see is all there is, or that what we understand is all there is to understand. Isaiah stated this truth well:

Isa 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says Jehovah.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Therefore, it does no good to pray, believing that things are completely messed up and the world is going to hell in a hand basket. This defeats the whole reason for coming to the Lord. I never want to come into the Holy of Holies with my own preconceived ideas of how things are. What if my understanding of what is going on in the world is incorrect? Imagine, me, thinking I knew more than God and that I could tell HIM how to fix things? My goodness! If this were truly my goal, in prayer, then my God has no power separate from me. But, in truth, I have no power separate from God. So, by logic, I conclude that God does not wait for me to tell Him how things are, but, instead, God waits for me to wait on Him and to ask from the very depth of my soul, how things are. This is prayer fodder.

When I first sat down in my prayer chair to pray, I was not convinced that this was the appropriate thing to do. In fact, it seemed awkward and a bit like I might be “pressing in” where I had no business pressing in. My background in New Age causes me to be ever wary of bringing anything that resembles that practice over into my Christian faith. Since “meditation” was such a big part of that life, I wanted to be assured what I did now was truly God speaking to me and not me orchestrating a manifestation of God, by my will. I found the truth throughout the Bible. Here are a few verses that encourage us to meditate upon God's precepts, laws and ways.

Psa 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways [the paths of life marked out by Your law]. [Ps. 104:34.]
Psa 119:20 My heart is breaking with the longing that it has for Your ordinances and judgments at all times.
Psa 119:23 Princes also sat and talked against me, but Your servant meditated on Your statutes.
Psa 119:24 Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
Psa 119:27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on and talk of Your wondrous works. [Ps. 145:5, 6.]

1Ch 16:8 O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!
1Ch 16:9 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them!
1Ch 16:10 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
1Ch 16:11 Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually!
1Ch 16:12 [Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered [as in Egypt], (AMP)

It is imperative that we find a quiet place where we can, in private, think of our God, how powerful and gracious He is, how able and desirous He is to help us at any time. It can take a while to reach a space, a frame of mind, if you will, in which true trust and real knowing (faith) is in place, but reach it we must—and I dare say, reach it we will! Just be still and know that Jesus is there.

In the two years I sat and prayed as much as time would permit, it did turn out to be the right thing to do. God did set me on a path in the fast lane, spiritually, because I chose to seek Him with all my heart. And Jesus encourages us, in the Word, to seek Him. This may be the most neglected area of Christian life, hindering our growth. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6). So, sit down and seek Him. What are you waiting for?

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