Hope Does Not Disappoint

"None are completely wretched but those who are without hope."
~ William Hazlitt

Hope Does Not Disappoint

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
~ Proverbs 13:12 (NKJV)

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
~ Romans 5:5 (NKJV)

There's lately been more than one cause in my life for me to think on what hope means.

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, a man in prison says, "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside."

And so it is. When we feel imprisoned in some way—by jail walls, by a hated but necessary job, by sickness, by rejection, by a stigma wrongfully forced upon us, by conflict in a relationship—hope is dangerous. It opens the door to expectation for change, and we know that life is brutal to expectations.

But without hope, we fail to act as our own catalyst for change. We fail to confront the status quo, telling ourselves "it is what it is." We fail to pursue what we are called to do that painfully stretches us. We fail to chip away at the walls we build around ourselves which have come to feel secure in their dependability and protection from uncertainty.

True hope is not expectation for something specific, like to get a new job, or to change the person we struggle with, or to attain a goal we've set.

True hope says, "This pain, this indignity, this labor—this love—is not in vain. It drives me to be a catalyst for change where change is needed. It drives me to cooperate with the plan God has to bless me and work for good. It allows me to surrender even that which I think I need, because God says to do so, and Faith in His Love gives me Hope for something even better."

Genuine hope does not die. But it does cease, as does faith. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Faith is being certain of the unseen. It finds its fulfillment—and ceases—in the seeing.

Hope is waiting for promised blessing. It finds its fulfillment—and ceases—in the receiving.

Love is greatest. And on the day spoken of in Scripture as That Day, love will no longer wax and wane, but will find complete fulfillment, for love cannot cease.

That is true hope.

"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out."
~ Vaclav Havel

Lord, faith does not fail us when faith is in You. Hope does not disappoint when hope is in You. Love always trusts, love always hopes, and love never fails, for You, Lord God, are love.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image Source: cenotemexico.com
#hope

Kindness Says ...

This is a late entry in the blog carnival hosted by Bridget Chumbley.
For more about it, click here on "Kindness."

"The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed.
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
~ Portia, from William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

Kindness Says ...

No task is beneath me, for that would place the one who performs it beneath me.

No one is unworthy of my attention, and therefore everyone is worthy of notice.

Every person is a masterpiece—highly valued by the Creator and therefore valuable to me.

Whatever someone's need, I'm willing to ask the Lord if I should do anything about it.

Those who cross my path should leave me in a better condition than they were before I found them.

There can be no presumption that any person walks an easier path through life than me, for poverty can be of health, love, or soul.

Everyone has something they might teach me if given the opportunity.

Everyone has a valid need to be validated.

For the person who bothers me by what they are, may I remember who they are.

Whatever I do or fail to do to those I consider the least, I do to the One Who breathed life into them.

Lord, I understand the language of kindness. Please help me speak it fluently.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
#discipleship
Image source: forums.macrumors.com

Long Distance Love

"I don't want to go without Your touch
without Your love filling me like an ocean ..."
~ Avalon, from "I Don't Want to Go" (Full lyrics below)

Long Distance Love

And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.' "
~ 1 Samuel 20:41-42 (NKJV)

I read a piece yesterday by Billy Coffey, titled "Love Still Holds On," about a long distance romance in the life of his work acquaintance.

It called sharply to mind how my own marriage began. In the days before unlimited minutes, John and I ran up monthly phone bills which ran over $200 in '89 dollars. We spent enough on airline tickets that we might have received stock rather than frequent flier miles. I'd become certain within weeks of meeting him that this was the man I'd one day marry, so the differences of miles and time zones were trivial deterrents to long distance love.

When I moved to Michigan in 1990, lovesickness obscured thoughts of what it meant to leave behind family. Within a short time I came to appreciate the bonds with my siblings in a way I might have never otherwise understood. We do not simply share the DNA of common parents, but the souls of common experience. We know one another in ways even spouses will not. Long distance love became multiplied exponentially in my life with the births of our own children—who can seem more like siblings than cousins.

Facebook has been a Godsend. After nearly two decades mostly away from family members, I'm again a part of their daily lives, their laughs and foibles, their joys and sorrows and wit. A face on the computer screen can never be the same as kissing their cheeks and hugging their necks, but it has closed the gap of time zones and miles with the cost of mere minutes.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
~ Psalms 34:17-18 (NKJV)

This month I've published pieces on suffering and how Christians should treat homosexuals, on the heels of my own stifling pain and months of intense stress. I've learned things in the last year that could fill a book, a number of which have appeared on the pages here. Of all the things suffering has taught me, one stands out.

Relationship with our God is anything but long distance love.

I'd known that. His Spirit lives in me as an abiding presence I never cease to feel. His whispers assure me of His proximity. I wrote an entire novel with a thread running through it that the Lord is near.

But the inability to see my Father's face, kiss my Savior's scarred feet, or touch their Spirit's embrace made my Lord seem like a God too far. It can bring on separation anxiety to rival any infant's with its mother. It can make me long for Heaven with a pain that death cannot possibly match with its own grip, but only release with its interruption of my tears.

I've lately come to know how very near my God is, and that He is very closest when our hearts are broken and we offer them to Him.

My Lord and my God, Your love is higher, wider, longer and deeper than the deepest pain we might know. Thank You for giving us a taste of Your love now, as assurance and hope of the love we shall know.

You changed my world
When You came to me
You drove a passion
In my soul down deep
Lord, to follow You in everything

I don't want to go somewhere
If I know that You're not there
'Cause I know that me without You is a lie
And I don't want to walk that road
Be a million miles from home
'Cause my heart needs to be where You are
So I don't want to go

So come whatever
I'll stick with You
I'll walk, You'll lead me
Call me crazy or a fool
For forever I promise you that...

I don't want to go somewhere
If I know that You're not there
'Cause I know that me without You is a lie
And I don't want to walk that road
Be a million miles from home
'Cause my heart needs to be where You are
So I don't want to go
Without Your touch
Without Your love
Filling me like an ocean
For Your grace is enough
Enough for me
To never want to go somewhere
If I know that You're not there

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
#suffering
Lyrics "I Don't Want to Go" by Avalon, © 2001 Dried Rose Music / New Spring Puslishing

Question of the Week: How to Treat Homosexuals?

"Do not be angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."
~ Thomas A. Kempis

Q: How should the church treat homosexuals? (from Anonymous)

First, God does not hate anyone. God is love, and no matter who you are, He loves you.

"The church" is people—people who have given themselves to Jesus Christ and received forgiveness of their sins through His blood, which pays the death penalty for all sin.

The authority for Christian belief and conduct is the Bible. [Next week's Q&A will explain belief in the Bible in greater detail.] For anyone who trusts it as God's Word, the Bible provides both the Creator's rules for how to live and answers for every question life poses.

The Bible says God created humanity, and created sex as the good and healthy means to not only reproduce human life, but also to bond together a man and woman in the vital relationship of marriage.

Homosexuality, or sexual acts between members of the same sex, cannot be marriage because God instituted marriage and defines it otherwise. God calls homosexuality an "abomination" (Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:27) because it perverts His original intent for sex.

But before you take that thought too far, consider that there are other, non-sexual acts which are so offensive to God that they are also called an abomination. Look at this passage from Proverbs 6:16-19 (NKJV):

These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren [or, in a community].

The Bible therefore challenges us to understand exactly what might be defined as "abominable" sin. It also explains in Galatians 6:1-2 (TNIV) how to treat people who exhibit sin:

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Here is how I apply all that to today's question:

• The Bible's Number One commandment, in all circumstances, is Love.

• Christians must be mindful that every one of us has been guilty of sin which is an abomination.

• Any individual's primary problem is not one particular sin, whether it's homosexuality or pride or stirring up discord. Every person's first need is understanding that they need Jesus to save them from all sin.

• Concerning people who come to church, we should distinguish between: 1) people who come to church to visit, who are asked to respect us, but who don't understand our Bible's "house rules"; 2) newer believers, who need time to learn the house rules; and 3) those who have been around long enough to know the Bible and be expected to live by it.

• When people who have established themselves as part of the church display open immorality, Christians of sufficient maturity are obliged to address it, and to do so with the empathy which views sin as a burden. In cooperation with God's Spirit, we should sensitively work to help people see sin as a burden to themselves—reminding them of the cost for Jesus to carry its full weight to the cross—and help them find greater freedom from sin’s burden, with rebuke if necessary.

• Did I mention that the Number One rule for treatment of all people, whether outside or inside the church, is Love?

I'd like to close with an apology.

To homosexuals, and to every person who has been hurt by the misguided Christians who remember that sin is abominable but sometimes forget that love is far greater ...

On behalf of my fellow Christians, I admit we are wrong when we get our priorities out of order, or when we attempt to address sin of anyone else before we adequately address our own sin. I confess that we struggle against our own abominable sins, including sexual sins. I ask you to forgive us and be patient with us as we grow to be like Jesus our Lord and learn to live like He asks us. God loves you more than you can possibly imagine. I also love you, very much, as do a great many Christians who remember the importance of love. Please give us the opportunity to better learn how to show you that love.

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy
Image source: tedsoqui.blogspot.com

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This post originally appeared at Bullets & Butterflies. To see additional comments, click here.

The Overcoming of Suffering

The Question of the Week for Bullets and Butterflies last Saturday was "Why Suffering?" The answer is expanded on this week's posts here.

"Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive."
~ Josephine Hart

The Overcoming of Suffering

"Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament ... and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy... These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
~ John 16:20,33 (NKJV)

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty...
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
~ Psalms 91:1,4-6 (NKJV)

The "overcoming of suffering" does not mean that we overcome suffering, but that suffering is the impetus by which we overcome all else.

Survival is motivated by visible threat. In times of horrendous crisis we are compelled to overcome. When faced with an attacking enemy we do not hesitate to fight.

It is amid the drudgery of tasks just as necessary to survival, in the oppressive mundane of the every day—where we are stared down not by visible foe but by the unrelenting erosion of trivial vexations—that we are more likely to succumb to defeat.

Suffering rescues us from this more dangerous threat. It compels us to rise to our potential and makes us strong so that we do not merely withstand, but we overcome life’s challenges.

The cuts which suffering inflicts upon us can be deep and painful. We understand when we receive them that they will leave scars. Those marks will prove to be the work of a Master carving a masterpiece if we accept them rather than resist His hand or flee His presence.

The soul which stays close to the Most High God remains in the shadow of His wings. This person may not understand the cuts of suffering, but feels the assurance of the Lord’s companionship as He shares our suffering. This soul does not forsake hope.

The soul which is far enough away from the Almighty to escape His shadow will languish in suffering. This person will know doubt and despair, and will allow hope to slip away.

We are easily distracted sheep and prone to wander. But in the moment we discover that our attention has left the Shepherd, memory should serve well to draw us immediately back to the safety of abiding with Him.

Almighty God, You are only good, all the time. You do not willingly afflict the children of men. Though You cause grief, You are full of compassion. Please draw us close to You. Please assure our insecure hearts of Your constant love.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
#suffering
Image source: thewe.cc

The Discipline of Suffering

The Question of the Week on Bullets and Butterflies last Saturday was "Why Suffering?" The answer will be expanded on this week's posts here.

"No pain no gain."
~ Mantra of Athletes

The Discipline of Suffering

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He whips every son whom He receives." ... If you do not receive discipline (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are bastards and not sons.
~ Hebrews 12:6,8 (author)

In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
~ Hebrews 5:7-8 (NKJV)

Depending on motivation, the discipline of suffering is seen as either desirable or undesirable.

Discipline is defined as training, and the controlled behavior which results from training. When athletes train, they inflict pain on themselves that would be considered cruelty from anyone else. With motivation to attain a goal, discipline is valued.

Discipline can also refer to chastening for the purpose of corrective training. When an authority wishes to motivate us to achieve a goal we’ve yet to make our own, correction is at best humbling, and at worst painful. The discipline of suffering is rejected.

The Lord’s goal for us is to humble us so we are able to know Him, able to love Him, able to be like Him. He wants us as His disciples. A good disciple requires both self-imposed and God-imposed discipline.

When yielded to the Holy Spirit, we may experience pain, but it is possible to embrace that pain with faith that it is God’s instrument of training. But if we doubt God's goodness, cling to pride, or make pain avoidance a higher goal than discipleship, we will not only resent suffering, but may even find that doubt or pride or pain avoidance becomes a god which usurps God.

Discipline can be given to not only individuals but also groups of people, such as when natural disaster occurs. If—if it seems that areas hit by disaster are characterized by flagrant immorality (such as New Orleans and Haiti), I would contend against anyone who cries “Judgment!” that God’s judgment is reserved for a time yet to come. Disaster is simply God’s discipline, to train those yielded to God, to chastise those who need to be humbled, to warn those who will not be humbled that judgment shall be more painful than discipline.

If inclined to complain “Not fair!” about the discipline of suffering, it helps to remember that the only righteous Person undeserving of suffering was Jesus, and His is the greatest suffering of all—not just the pain of Calvary, but of all suffering every human has ever known.

More on that for Friday’s post, “The Overcoming of Suffering.”

Lord Jesus, please let us ever be grateful for the great suffering You endured to prevent our eternal suffering. Please help us to believe that our Father loves us when He chastens us. Please let our love for You motivate us to cooperate with Your Holy Spirit.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
#suffering
Image source: iowaprepsports.com

Question of the Week: Why Suffering?

Q: "Why does God allow suffering—for example, in Haiti?" (from Daniela Holloway in Florida, formerly of Berlin, East Germany)

If there is a question asked about God more than any other, it is why a good God allows suffering. Volumes have been written in response. This article can't adequately address such a big question, but it may provide enough basis to reconcile the presence of suffering with the existence of a good God.

Foremost, suffering is a necessary element of free will.

There are those who believe we are no more than puppets upon the world’s stage, our every movement controlled by the sovereign God pulling our strings. If such were the case, suffering would indeed be a cruel element of the drama because it is forced upon us by God.

Because we really do have free will—to be exercised within the limits our sovereign God has set—our ability to choose between good and evil is real. God’s will is always good, but it is not forced upon us. It is right (or righteous) when we choose his will. It is evil (or sin) whenever we choose what is not His will. Sin will always result in suffering—to ourselves, to others, and to all creation.

Suffering does not exist because a good God causes it. Suffering exists because a good God allows mankind the freedom to choose the sin which causes suffering. And because He is good, God uses the suffering we choose for ourselves to achieve good anyway.

"The world owes you nothing; it was here first."
~ Mark Twain

Here are some ways God uses suffering for good:

• Suffering causes us to evaluate and determine what is most important in our lives.

• When suffering exists, and yet love, sacrifice, and compassion endure, these attributes of good and of God are shown to be more powerful than suffering.

• Common suffering draws people more tightly together in unity than does prosperity and ease.

• Suffering draws us to depend upon God, humble ourselves, and make peace with Him.

• Suffering proves what kind of person we are, which in turn brings us to discover our strengths and weaknesses.

• Suffering is not God’s judgment—yet. But suffering is a component of God’s discipline, to warn us to repent of sin before judgment is faced.

• Suffering compels us to rise to our potential to overcome it, and makes us strong to better contend with life’s challenges.

My plan is to discuss these last three points at more length on my blog "Building His Body" next week as follows:
Monday: The Test of Suffering
Wednesday: The Discipline of Suffering
Friday: The Overcoming of Suffering

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Psalms 119:75 (ESV)

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy
Photo sources:
Fire in Haiti street: komonews.com
Aid to boy in Haiti: guardian.co.uk
Katrina flood: faves.com
Katrina: Body Count swamppolitics.com

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This post originally appeared at Bullets & Butterflies on February 13. To see additional comments, click here.

The Test of Suffering

The Question of the Week on Bullets and Butterflies last Saturday was "Why Suffering?" The answer will be expanded on this week's posts here.

"A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time
— pills or stairs."
~ Joan Welsh

The Test of Suffering

Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"
So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
~ Job 1:8-11 (NKJV)

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD."
~ Job 1:20-21 (NKJV)

It is not only Job, but every one of us who is tested by suffering.

Job came through Round One clean. He was tested. He worshiped. He blessed the LORD rather than cursed Him.

Round Two attacked Job with greater suffering. Still he did not curse the LORD—but he also no longer blessed the LORD. He failed to fall down in worship, but rose up in pride and dared to question God. He said that given the opportunity, he would ask Almighty God to explain his suffering.

Job called God into account.

God's answer? The Almighty's discourse goes on for four chapters of Scripture. It begins thus:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind [tornado], and said:
"Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding."
(Job 38:1-4 NKJV)

Job now responds with humility. He acknowledges his pride with repentance. (And God returns blessing to Job which exceeds the test.)

So it is with each of us. The gap between what we think we are and what we really are is revealed in the test of suffering.

When disaster such as a mighty earthquake or Hurricane Katrina strikes, would we be found among the looters, those who go AWOL, those who search out a hiding place to look out for number one? Or would we be found among those who sacrifice their place in line to one less fortunate, drive themselves tirelessly to help others, cling to hope as we pull living victims from the rubble four weeks later?

If the suffering of indignity, annoyance, or discomfort strikes on any ordinary day of our lives, will we respond with love and patience? Will we strike back with irritation and complaining?

Such is the test of suffering.

Father God, we are not worthy of Your blessings. We are vile when we question You and think we are in a place to call You into account for the suffering on the earth. Please help us rethink pain as Your agent of testing. Please help us see clearly who we really are.

Wednesday: The Discipline of Suffering

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
#suffering
Image source: injuryboard.com

WHATEVER

The below post is a rerun from June 2009. Enjoy! ~ Anne

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music,
or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well
that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say,
‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ ”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

WHATEVER

And I answered and said, “So be it, LORD.”
~ Jeremiah 11:5 (NKJV)

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
~ Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)

Whether saved or unsaved, happy or discouraged, I believe human response to God can always be summed up in the word “Whatever.”

If rebellious, we will say it with a sneer and disgusted snort, head tossed back, incredulous that anyone presumes to suggest what we should do: “What-EH-ver!”

If resigned to God’s will, understanding that He is God and we are not (and thus we must accept His will, no matter how painful or distasteful), we sigh heavily (perhaps sniffle) and mutter, “WHAT-ever …”

If we accept how very infinite is our Father’s love for us, and how much He longs to bless us if we will but believe He means all for our good, we can receive every single situation or word from Him with a nod and a smile (maybe a laugh), and say, “Yes, Lord. So be it. Whatever You say I will do. Whatever Your will, I accept Your good purpose in it.”

Joy in the Christian walk is found when one knows the proper way to say “Whatever.”

Ah Lord God, Your love and wisdom are beyond comprehension! We do not understand why You do what You do. Please assure us that we do not need to. Please increase our faith and love for You in and through every situation.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Question of the Week: Why Pray?

"Why Pray? If it changes God's mind then he is not sovereign. If it does not change God's mind then it is superfluous."
(from exchristian.net)

sovereign >adjective 1 possessing supreme or ultimate power

superfluous >adjective exceeding what is sufficient or necessary

The fact that God is sovereign means He sets limits on what He allows. It does not mean that He will not share control with us over what He allows. He is a macro-manager who both cares about the details and helps us manage them.

Because He really, really loves us, God genuinely wants the companionship of our cooperation as He accomplishes His will.

Like a mother baking cookies with a four-year old, God doesn’t need us to accomplish His will, He wants us. The beloved child is the whole point of baking cookies in the first place, and we are the whole point of His will. While the mother wisely sets limits on what she allows the child to do, the child is also allowed to make choices like chocolate chip or oatmeal, add or omit nuts.

Prayer can be for things like praise, thanksgiving, or confession of sin to ask forgiveness. Today’s question is about asking God to act in a situation. In this case, prayer is an amazing privilege of being allowed to participate with God as He shapes and applies His will.

"I pray because ...
God always intended to bring humans in on the act without letting them get proud in the process."
— Tom Wright

Here are three things that can happen through the kind of prayer that asks God's intervention:

• By our fellowship with God in prayer, He may be moved to change our circumstances.

• Through fellowship with God in prayer, we better understand His will and accept it.

• The very act of prayer is a humble acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and our dependence on Him. This opens the doors for us to receive His spiritual gifts, which enable us to both to change ourselves and be able to face our circumstances.

The most profound example of human participation in God’s sovereignty is the creation of life. Our Creator’s will is for humans to reproduce. He put in man and woman the strong desire for each other that leads them to act according to His will. It is the will and physical union of a man and woman which opens the door for new life. But it remains within God’s power to actually create life.

Prayer is the spiritual union between God and humans which opens the door to the creation of spiritual life in our souls. It is anything but superfluous.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." ~ Jesus (John 15:7 NKJV)

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy

This post originally appeared at Bullets & Butterflies on February 6. To see the comments, click here.