being ONE

In the last couple of weeks of trying to figure out what the next step of my life will be, I will admit to moments of exasperation, frustration and indifference in my prayer life. As the days draw me closer to making a decision, and the friendly suggestions increase, I hardly know anymore if I'm coming or going!

It's been in this season of long, drawn-out decision making that God has sent "gentle" reminders to me of where my focus needs to lie. There's a book that has been a constant bedside companion throughout the years, and on the random occasion I pick it up, I always have to laugh that what it has to say is exactly what I need (but not always want) to hear...

"If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in the Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, "I wonder why God allowed this or that?" And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.

"Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." (Matt.6:8) Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God's grace.

It is definitely a journey to be forged into a trophy of God's grace, and although the seasons of being shaped into His purposes may seem long and drawn out, they will be but a breath in the glimpse of eternity when God will greet us...

"Well done, good and faithful servant..."