Alignment and interpreters
Greetings men! This is an "extra week" because of the way the calendar falls. We will hear from Jeremy Waterhouse in a couple weeks - more to come on that. In the meantime, I wanted to give you something to chew on, either with you foxhole of perhaps in your personal quiet times.
On Friday, our foxhole entertained the "What are you going to do about it?" discussion coming out of Carl's story about trust. We camped on the idea of how we fight/pray, because apparently those two things are one and the same for the people of God. Then we practiced some intercessory prayer. The conversation took us through a few scriptures, which I will share here. Each of them is probably worthy of its own discussion; I will leave it to the Spirit to point you to the one He is revealing to your heart today.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. --2 Corinthians 10:3-5
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” --Psalm 46:10
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.... --Ephesians 6:18-19
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. --Exodus 14:14
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. --John 15:5-7
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. --Psalm 37:3-7
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. --Romans 8:26-27
The questions I was left to wrestle with after discussing with my brothers was "Do these verses change my view of prayer?" and "How will these verses affect the way I pray?" I invite you to work through those ideas with the Spirit. For me, I find myself committed to less talking & telling, more asking & listening.
Have a strong week as you consider the sacrifice and the victory that bought our sonship!