Unscatter Your Thoughts

Prayer is often a problem for us. We begin with all good intentions, but before long, especially if we are not using a list of some sort, our minds wander off into whatever is occurring in our own lives and we simply do not seem to “connect” well with the Lord. We rise from our knees (figuratively speaking for some of us) and sense no release nor progress in what we have just done. As a result, we have many, many Christians with only a dialogue with the Lord as they move. Their time in quiet frustrates, or else puts to them sleep. So around and around we go - seemingly with no way to break the ineffective cycle. 

Our Lord is gracious and loving - always, so there is no condemnation in the above action, nor is there any progress really. For those who really want to move forward in their lives in Jesus and His word, this is a real frustration. A new book on prayer might help, for a short period of time. But nothing seems to conquer this dilemma for very long. What are we to do? 

I am not a big one for “how-to’s” for they all seem to how-to for a short period of time, fading away into another how-to that works for a short period - on and on it goes. So how do I relate what is inside me this morning without just producing another such “hot-to?” Well, maybe I can’t, but I will try. Last night in our Psalm 19 Friday Fellowship teaching, we worked with Colossians 1:1-14 in an understanding of “Increasing in the Knowledge of God.” The passage had a progression in it that we worked with in depth. 

  “6 The One being at hand into you as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit,

      as also in you from the day you heard and fully knew the grace of God in

      truth; . . .

   9 Because of this, from the day we heard, cease not praying for you and asking

              that you should be filled with the full knowledge of his will in all wisdom and

      spiritual understanding;

 10 for you to walk worthily of the Lord, into all pleasing, in every good work, 

              bearing fruit and growing into the full knowledge of God;...”    

You will not recognize the translation, because it is my own. I am sorry for it’s sometimes stilted language - I am just attempting to allow us to see some things contained within the text that we sometimes miss in our easy English. The portion underlined is all the same work root in the Greek and carries the idea of a knowledge of items and persons that is based not on what has been read or related to us, but on our own experience with the person. Please notice the progression. 1. We relax into the full knowledge (the total receiving and trusting) of His grace in and through our lives; 2. We have in that rest of grace the potential of becoming filled with the full knowledge of His will (in all wisdom and understanding). That is just another way of saying His heart. For the word means will, bent, inclination etc... So it is not at static word, but a personal one. We can in this grace become so acquainted with Him that His will is known instantly within us at all times. Amazing! Then, 3. the potential is there for us to know Him deeply and “fully” as we grow in this personal, experiential knowledge of Him.  

What an amazing progression! Notice that it begins with the “full knowledge of His grace.” As we trust Him and rest in Him, these matters begin to unfold in us. What a satisfying prayer-life: to know He has heard and is answering, long before anything is ever seen. To grow deeper and deeper in Him in every portion of our lives - what a marvelous invitation. 

As we purposely enter this rest of grace, we can “unscatter” our thoughts as we work in Him. I use journaling. Oh not the typical type of journal, but a prayer journal, where I write our my thanksgivings, and adoration and requests. But I don’t just write them out, I use this to share them with Him, and then He begins to share with me, and wonder of wonders, my (our) time becomes one of deep peace, rest, acceptance and revelation. Journaling might not be what you would choose, as it is just one way to concentrate with Him in quality time. Also I purposely hear Him and interact in that space. I am finding it wonderful. In the rare time my mind does wonder, He is always gracious to wait for me to return my attention to Him. Sometimes, even in that “dreaming” of scattered thinking, He will share and intersect. He is so very gracious. 

So how long does such a time take each day? Well that just depends on what else is assigned for my day. I am learning to make space for my time with Him in this way as it is so fruitful between us. This type of interaction does not happen without studying the Word. For me the Word is a platform upon which to concentrate for a few minutes before “we” begin to talk. However, just the study of the Word will not produce the progression the passage reveals. It involves the Word very much, because He is revealed there - first and always. As the scriptures begin to be unfolded - we find our Lord Jesus, in a way we may not have seen before. 

Anyway, this was on His heart as well as mine this morning. Enjoy the Lord today. He is delighting in you. “God so loved the world ...”