knowledge

The usual rule is that the more we really know the more conscious we are of the littleness of our knowledge.
—C.H. Spurgeon

Persistently

Children instinctively know how to beg. They are experts in persistence and persuasion. They understand that loving parents cannot long ignore their consistent pleads.

I don't pray like a child.

I don't like to be annoyingly persistent or rude. If I don't get an answer right away, I just take a step back and gradually move on. After a while, it gets tiring of praying and praying and praying and praying. Not to mention that begging is impolite. I don't want to keep asking God for something that He may have already said "no" to (but I just don't know it yet). Plus, I begin to wonder if there's really a need for redundancy. God already knows what I want, right? And I've already prayed for it several times. Is there a need to continue?

Usually, I don't consciously make the choice to give up on prayer. Over time of unanswered prayer, I begin to lose all urgency or passion and, after a while, my faith kind of dies.

But the real issue is this head and heart struggle between what I know is true and what I actually believe. When Luke 11:9 says, "ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you," I know it's true. But do I believe it?

I often forget that God is my Father, and I am His child. He is a Father who delights in giving me every good thing. He desires to lavish on me every good and perfect gift! 

God is good.

And He has good things in store for me because that's what He delights to do. God wants me to be persistent in my prayer life. But I give up too easily on prayer. When I don't get an immediate answer, my prayers fizzle, my faith loses fire, and my passion burns out. But this shouldn't be. The longer I'm waiting for an answer, the more persistent and aggressive my prayers should be!

Of course, God doesn't answer our prayers based on the amount of faith we exert or by how hard we pray. Sometimes He answers no, and sometimes He answers yes. My responsibility is to faithful to the God who is always faithful. He has promised to answer. And I don't want to give up. I want to pray like a little child.

Give Him time to do great things. The greater work He plans, the greater the prayer preparation that may be necessary, including prayer for guidance. God often waits so that He can be even more gracious.
—Wesley L. Duewel

 The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. —R.A. Torrey

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Hopeful Thoughts

Honestly, I don't know what to think right now. I've been wrestling with so many conflicting feelings that I'm not even sure what I'm feeling. I'm at this place where I know I'm trusting God with my life, but I'm still wrestling with this fear of my uncertain future looming ahead of me. (I'm so thankful that God has a plan for my life... because I don't!)

Enough of my complex emotions. I want to share some hopeful thoughts that I've been musing over lately.

"You will not gain holiness by standing still. Nobody ever grew holy without consenting, desiring, and agonizing to be holy. Sin will grow without sowing, but holiness needs cultivation. Follow it; it will not run after you. You must pursue it with determination, with eagerness, with perseverance, as a hunter pursues his prey." -- Charles Spurgeon

"I'm an imperfect vessel who gets to be a conduit of perfect grace."

"The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer." —R.A. Torrey

"Care more than some think wise.
Risk more than some think safe.
Dream more than some think practical.
Expect more than some think is possible."

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)

‎"We will be dead a lot longer than we will be alive. Doesn’t it make sense that we would invest more of our time in eternity?" -- Rick Grubbs

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. 

(Isaiah 40: 27-31)

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God is Too Good

“God is too good to be unkind.
He is too wise to be confused.
If I cannot trace His hand,
I can ALWAYS trust His heart.”


-C. H. Spurgeon

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So He Can be Gracious...

Give Him time to do great things. The greater work He plans, the greater the prayer preparation that may be necessary, including prayer for guidence. God often waits so that He can be even more gracious.

~ Wesley L. Duewel

The Point of Waiting

Swamped. That's what I've been. Constantly searching for scholarships, writing essays, and trying to squeeze in some school. I feel so bad that I haven't been able to comment on any one's blogs lately... but I've just been so busy. But you all know what that's like, right?

As I am in this season of "waiting" in my life, I thought it appropriate to share this poem. Read it. It's amazing.

What's the Point?

By Josiah Schwartz

The point in waiting is
to enjoy
To love and worship God
In act of your life

Including the waiting.

And in the waiting
Remember His nature
That He is the Giver of every perfect gift
That He desires to lavish on you with such treasures
Treasures that are worth the wait
Solely because He is in them.

Rest in this:
He is going to give you
Exactly what you need
At exactly the time you need it.
That is reason to smile.
That is reason to breathe easy
And rest in Him.

Let go of "when" and "if"
Because His ways
Are so much higher than yours.
His thoughts
Beyond what you could ever fathom
Because He loves you.
Oh, how He loves you.
And that is the point
of your entire existence
To experience His presence
His love
Inside every moment.

Especially in the waiting.

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