“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry,’Abba, Father.’ “- Romans 8:15
John Eldredge continues Chapter 4 of Moving Mountains with the assertion that nothing reveals your true beliefs like how you pray. John adds that when he listens to people pray, more often than not their prayers sound like an orphan, crying for mercy outside the gates- not the authoritative prayers of God’s children. He explains.
All of us have heard- and know intellectually- that we are God’s children- His sons and daughters. But the familiarity of those words has dulled us to the truth they contain. The reality of those words has not penetrated our hearts deeply enough. As a result, we pray like orphans ourselves.
Orphans feel desperate. They are not reluctant to pray. Orphans feel there is a great chasm between themselves and God. The concept of abundance is foreign to them. Orphans pray with a poverty mentality. Because orphans expect scraps, they pray for scraps. Not anticipating two-way intimacy, orphans and slaves make prayer speeches. When we pray, John writes, we need to keep clear who we are:
“Just as we have to be careful to keep in mind exactly who it is we are praying to, what our images of God actually are, it is equally important to keep clear who we are in this process. Who are you to God? What is your relationship to the One to whom you pray? How do you conceive of it? . . . What is your heart’s settled assurance on the matter?”
Today’s question: How would you answer John’s questions? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “I have called you friends”
