"“It is more than comforting to realize
that it is those who have plumbed the
depths of failure to whom the Father
invariably gives the call to shepherd
others. This is not a call to the gifted,
the highly trained, or the polished as
such. Without a bitter realization of their
own inadequacy and poverty they are
quite unfitted to bear the burdens of
spiritual ministry." From the "None But the Hungry Heart" devotionals by Miles J. Stanford
I have been learning a lot from his works over the years. It doesn't seem to me that I have been growing though, until lately. Miles suggests that there are 3 things a Christian needs for growth in Truths, a hungry heart and prayer are essentials and then meditation is critical. I am working to increase my prayer life. It's odd how my whole life I kind of expected to just get into a season where praying was unavoidable. I think this is because my mom is an avid pray-er. She always said she prayed for us everyday of our lives because she loved us so much. What a saint! But I pridefully misunderstood that once I was a mother I would just be on auto-pray for my child. The same thing happened with getting married. I was so passionate before marriage, that I assumed I would just pray like crazy when I was married too. Lately, it hit me. I'm never going to get to heaven and have Jesus surprise me by saying, "I know you didn't realize you were a diligent pray-er, but all those thoughts you had counted, and indeed, your prayer life was huge." No, praying is a work. It is something you do out of love--true prayer.
I love the beginning quote because non-Christians always think Christians have such bad self esteem. This passage says it perfectly. No flesh is prideless. Everybody either pridefully esteems themselves better than they are or pridefully extinguishes themselves as worse than they are. The appropriate viewpoint is to humbly perceive others as more important than yourself (Phil. 2:3).
Sundays are interesting because I always see so clearly (now that I actually enjoy church). Then the rest of the week, I am either forgetful or depressed and the evil days just swallow up my life. This is so annoying.
I know I haven't really said anything, but this is all I have. If I say too much more, it will just--
that it is those who have plumbed the
depths of failure to whom the Father
invariably gives the call to shepherd
others. This is not a call to the gifted,
the highly trained, or the polished as
such. Without a bitter realization of their
own inadequacy and poverty they are
quite unfitted to bear the burdens of
spiritual ministry." From the "None But the Hungry Heart" devotionals by Miles J. Stanford
I have been learning a lot from his works over the years. It doesn't seem to me that I have been growing though, until lately. Miles suggests that there are 3 things a Christian needs for growth in Truths, a hungry heart and prayer are essentials and then meditation is critical. I am working to increase my prayer life. It's odd how my whole life I kind of expected to just get into a season where praying was unavoidable. I think this is because my mom is an avid pray-er. She always said she prayed for us everyday of our lives because she loved us so much. What a saint! But I pridefully misunderstood that once I was a mother I would just be on auto-pray for my child. The same thing happened with getting married. I was so passionate before marriage, that I assumed I would just pray like crazy when I was married too. Lately, it hit me. I'm never going to get to heaven and have Jesus surprise me by saying, "I know you didn't realize you were a diligent pray-er, but all those thoughts you had counted, and indeed, your prayer life was huge." No, praying is a work. It is something you do out of love--true prayer.
I love the beginning quote because non-Christians always think Christians have such bad self esteem. This passage says it perfectly. No flesh is prideless. Everybody either pridefully esteems themselves better than they are or pridefully extinguishes themselves as worse than they are. The appropriate viewpoint is to humbly perceive others as more important than yourself (Phil. 2:3).
Sundays are interesting because I always see so clearly (now that I actually enjoy church). Then the rest of the week, I am either forgetful or depressed and the evil days just swallow up my life. This is so annoying.
I know I haven't really said anything, but this is all I have. If I say too much more, it will just--
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