living in reality.

this post came from an e-mail i sent a couple days ago, just a culmination of some things that i've been learning about lately and where my heart's been.

"i've been learning so much about prayer lately and what that looks like to really be faithful to the Lord and what is looks like for the Lord himself to be faithful. i for sure do not pray enough, yet i want to live in this reality of a holy God who is continually present in my life and in my actions. to live in this reality means that i must be praying continually, living moment by moment in the supernatural, believing that there truly is this living God that who is always at work.

1 thessalonians 5:16-19 says: "rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. do not quench the Spirit." (ESV)
to do this means that i really am acting as if God is always present in my life, always present in every moment, not just in my morning quiet time or in my quick prayer before i head to bed. and he is present because i need him to be present always, an hour in the morning can't and won't sustain me all day.

be encouraged: "for to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people," (1 timothy 4:10). guys, we are working because we believe that God is going to use that work, because he is a living God and He is working in all of our actions. that is our hope, and that is what keeps us going. we can go on because we know that God is active and is busy at work.

this weekend i started and am almost finished with a book called "L'abri" by edith schaeffer. it is FANTASTIC and i really recommend it to you because it will challenge you so much, and you will be AMAZED at the power of God. here's an excerpt that i really like near the beginning of the book:

"One morning at Chalet Bijou's breakfast table, Fran (Francis Schaeffer) had said to me, "Supposing we had awakened today to find everything concerning the Holy Spirit and prayer removed from the Bible--that is, not removed the way liberals would remove it, but that God has somehow really removed everything about prayer and the Holy Spirit from the Bible. What difference would it make practically between the way we worked yesterday and the way we would work today, and tomorrow? What difference would it make in the majority of Christians' practical work and plans? Aren't most plans laid out ahead of time? Isn't much work done by human talent, energy and clever ideas? Where does the supernatural power of God have a real place?" Challenged by this, we began to think and look over our own lives and work...and, we asked God to give us something more real in our work of the future.""