Steve Brown has recently re-released his book Approaching God (Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God) it's a great book on prayer and how we all struggle with praying to our Father.
In the first chapter, Prayer 101 there's a great quote from John Bunyan "The best prayers have often more groans than words." Steve sets the tone of the book pretty early on being as transparent and honest as always..(one of the many things that I love about him and his writings) stating that "A number of years ago I came to the awareness that God wasn't very real to me." he goes on to talk about the fact that that's a problem for someone who at the time was a pastor!
So many times we get so caught up in knowing about God that we forget that God is not a thing, He's a person who longs to have fellowship with us. We get so hung up on our doctrine, which is very important but the main thing is God desires relationship with us.
I love the way Steve puts it, "However, I was only a tourist describing a country I had never visited. I was convinced that the country was there, I had read the travel brochures, and I had worked hard at learning the language of that country. I had even met people who lived there, and I had listened to everything they said about the country. The problem was that I had become an expert on a country I had never visited."
Steve goes on to talk about the prayer that changed things for him, I love the way he puts it, " So I prayed. Not the cold, formal prayer of the liturgy but the prayer of a child in pain reaching out to Daddy. It was the cry of my soul for intimacy with the God of my life. I didn't bargain, i didn't pretend (I did enough of that with people), I didn't come with preconcieved ideas of whatGod would do, and I made no demands. I simply came and asked to know him."
I want to simply know my daddy, my father who already knows me better than I know myself. I long to have an intimate relationship with my father in heaven and not just merely know things about him but to truly know him.
Do yourself a favor and Mr. Brown too ..(cause' he needs the money, He wouldn't want me to tell you that but it's true!) and pick up a copy of Approaching God, you'll be glad that you did and you might even sense your daddy's smile after you read it!
No comments:
Post a Comment