Be strong and courageous;
for you shall put this people in possession
of the land that I swore to their ancestors
Joshua 1:6
God is a God of order. Would you agree with that?
So where do mourning, crying, pain, and fear come from?
In a sense, disorder is a human invention. Biblically, it comes from sin.
What can you do about this? In one sense, nothing. As our liturgy depressingly admits, “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Fortunately there’s a hopefilled “BUT” in this midst of this confession … “BUT GOD!”
Prayer author John White reminds us that “[God] orders the affairs of the universe.” That’s basic and obvious, but read that again as we add one more line! “[God] orders the affairs of the universe, and he invites you to participate through prayer.”
Read that one more time! God wants to order and reorder. He wants to renew, redeem, and restore. And “he invites you to participate.” How? Say it with me: “through prayer”!
Here’s what prayer does. It turns us – a bunch of weak and defeated sinners – into valiant explorers. It’s like we’re the first ones off the sailing ship. We plant the flag and claim new – and renewed – territory in the name of the true King.”
It’s not that God can’t act without us!
It’s that he often waits for us.
He wants us to participate. Through prayer, God wants us to help reorder creation by putting people in possession of our own promised lands. Indeed …
THROUGH PRAYER, God wants us to
1. engage the darkness … and then …
2. watch his victory … and thereby …
3. experience his power … and as a result …
4. grow in faith and relationship … so that we will …
5. engage the darkness again …
6. and again …
7. and again …
8. and again …
9. growing every time!
In Christ’s Love,
an old-fashioned explorer who wants
to learn to go more boldly wherever
the wind and the Spirit send me,
to claim new territory through prayer
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