I've been learning a ton this semester, but sometimes it is the basics that need to be revisited and often missed. One of these lessons came recently from a new friend that I made at my local Starbucks. Let's call him Tim. It's his name, so I think it's appropriate to call him that. So Tim and I were talking about God after he got off work and he was telling me of a recent revelation he had (forgive me, he said it better than I will). He said "You began the Christian life on your knees and you live the Christian life on your knees. It is only when you move from that position that you get it trouble."
Wow. The reason why we follow Christ in the first place is because we can't do it, and what sense does it make for us to think that we can do it after? This got me thinking about my dependance on God and my constant need for Him.
This morning I went to a book called The Valley of Vision, which is a collection of old Puritan prayers, because in the past they have helped me in my prayers to God. When going through them I found one called A Convert's First Prayer. Please take a minute to read this and see that whether you have been following Jesus for a day or for your whole life, this prayer is always relevant and needs to be on our lips. . .
My Father,
I could never have sought my happiness in thy love, unless thou had'st first loved me.
Thy Spirit has encouraged me by grace to seek thee, has made known to me thy reconciliation in Jesus, has taught me to believe it, has helped me to take thee for my God and portion.
May he grant me to grow in the knowledge and experience of thy love,
and walk in it all the way to glory.
Blessed for ever be thy fatherly affection,
which chose me to be one of thy children by faith in Jesus:
I thank thee for giving me the desire to live as such.
In Jesus, my brother, I have my new birth, every restraining power, every renewing grace.
It is by they Spirit I call thee Father, believe in thee, love thee;
Let the Spirit continually reveal to me my interest in Christ,
May he abide in me that I may know my union with Jesus,
and enter into constant fellowship with him;
By the Spirit may I daily live to thee,
rejoice in thy love,
find it the same to me as to thy Son,
and become rooted and grounded in it as a house on a rock;
I know but little--
increase my knowledge of thy love in Jesus,
keep my pressing forward for clearer discoveries of it,
so that I may find its eternal fullness;
Magnify thy love to me according to its greatness,
and not according to my deserts or prayers,
and whatever increase thou givest, let it draw out greater love to thee.
