“We are pressing into maturity both in our own character and in our partnership with God.”- John Eldredge
In Chapter 12 (“Listening Prayer”) of Moving Mountains, John Eldredge writes that “the single most-significant decision that has changed my prayer life more than any other, the one step that has brought about greater results than all the others combined is . . . asking Jesus what I should pray.”
If prayer is in fact a partnership with God, John states, we want to be in alignment with God. But how can we know what the will of God is? John assures us that we can know what God’s will is, although it does take a little effort to discern His will. God does not torment us by hiding His will from us.
Part of discovering God’s will is not to assume what the new prayer need before you requires. To pray in partnership with God, ask Him to show you what to pray. Mr. Eldredge notes that is a hard thing to do because a prayer need often pulls on the heartstrings of our deep love and concern for others.
In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers cautions that we must be careful not to start praying our sympathies for a person or his/her needs:
“Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. . . . It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. . . . Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin.”
As John concludes, our posture needs to be “Lord- teach me how to pray about this.”
Today’s question: How does Oswald Chambers’ distinction between identification with God and sympathy for others help you in pressing into maturity in your partnership with God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The voice of God”
