Dearly Beloved,
Here we are, half way through 2023. How is your courage? Where is your day to day well being coming from? As we enter these summer months; for some it may be a time of slowing down, for others it may be a time of speeding up. Either way, our challenge is to tend to the INNER LIFE over the OUTER LIFE.
Maybe make this a sticky note for your soul: Tend to the INNER LIFE.
The poem below, Prayer, by George Herbert, in this months Prayer & Presence
worksheet, is a beautiful reminder of the depths to which prayer transforms and carries MEANING. At the end of the day, we are all on a quest for meaning. Wisdom says that all meaning is found in KNOWING GOD.
God promises to bless us, and this blessing comes with a promise of multiplication. Sometimes it can be hard to see the fruit of our prayers, at times God feels far away. It's tempting to neglect the inner life at these times. And yet! This is when we press on and we claim Paul's words in Hebrews 6:18-20; to paraphrase:
We claim God's oath he made to Abraham, and secured in Jesus, that by two unchanging things, God has not lied: 1) We who have taken hold of the HOPE of Jesus, are soul-anchored, firm and secure in God's love and salvation. 2) And...This HOPE (Jesus) has entered the most holy place of Heaven on our behalf, and advocates for us, hearing and answering our prayers.
Our prayers become "Reversed Thunder," not heard as whispers, but as Timothy Keller exclaims, as "CRACKS, BOOMS, and ROARS" from the mouth of Jesus.
Lift your voice in prayer, friend. Let's make heaven roar!
-Rachel
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