I subscribe to John Piper's podcasts. This sermon could not have come at a better time. He describes the difference between disciplined and spontaneous prayer. He proposes that most of our generation has been falling away from disciplined, private prayer. Piper believes both types of prayer are important, and that there is a place for both. One interesting point he brought up was that he hears people say "Spontaneous prayer is more aligned with what the gospel teaches." And the Gospel does teach about this type of prayer. But it also leads us to disciplined prayer. By doing it, we are obeying Him, we are desiring to receive more, and we are acknowledging that we know that all of our NEEDS are met. He said, "Jesus didn't come as the basis for some things we need, he came because he is all we need."
I have to know that when I give everything to God in prayer, I have to believe and trust in Him, to do whatever is best for me. It was such a great reminder of the fact that God is 100% on my side. He wants me to learn through trials and things, but he is always for me. Lately, I've been wondering why I feel like I don't know what God wants me to do in some situations. It is obvious now that maybe I haven't really been praying like I should. I yearn for that type of connection with God, and I am excited to try to be more disciplined in my life. At the end, Piper encourages everyone to incorporate some type of "closet prayer" in your life. The amount of time is up to you and God.
After the podcast, this song by David Crowder came on my ipod. God is there, and isn't letting go, ever. Because of this, I am excited to be more disciplined in my prayer life in 2010!
I wasn't planning on actually posting this, but I'm hoping you'll check out the podcast, too. It's a good one. :)
2 comments:
Ooooh! That sounds like a good sermon. I'll have to check it out and download it to Tim's ipod so we can both enjoy it. We, too, want a deeper,more intimate connection with God to hear from Him what He wants in our lives. I'm eager to share some real prayer time with you next time you visit!
Your trip to India has really stoked your spiritual fervor and that is fantastic. Stay with it-- the enemy will attack, hard, as he doesn't want you to be effective there or HERE, in your very own mission field.
Hugs to you...
Today was the first time in ages that I actually got up before the sun and just sat down to read the Bible. I want to be more deliberate about doing that and your post just got me thinking about prayer time, too. I'll go listen to the podcast for sure. Anytime you want to post what you've been learning, go for it! It's encouraging and it also gets it down for YOU to see later as maybe an extra reminder. Thanks for sharing and glad you're home.
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