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A Praying Life
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).
For it is the God who commanded (spoke) light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The term prayer life describes prayer as an activity among many other activities in life. In contrast, the term praying life testifies that prayer is an on-going relationship with God.
A person with a prayer life seeks to do his duty. Some say "You need to have a good prayer life." In contrast, a praying life seeks to hear the voice of God. Faith comes by personally hearing God, not from hearing about God.
So a praying life is rooted in God's word. A praying life reads the Bible as living words to learn how to discern the voice of God. And hearing God is a spiritual face-to-face encounter with God.
And when God speaks to us and we hear by faith, the light of the face of Christ shines forth from our lives!
A praying life grows in discerning when impressions that sound so right may not be from God. 2 Corinthians 11:3 reveals that Satan tries to pervert God's word to subtly corrupt a Christian's mind with such impressions in order to lure us away from "the simplicity that is in Christ."
I have occasionally said, "I sense God telling me this or that." However, some of these impressions were actually birthed in my subtly selfish desires (i.e., how I would like for things to work out) and not in God's word. I even sought to find Scriptures to prove my impressions right (proof texts).
However, the gospel says that God does not want us to do the most right thing! Now this radical truth will certainly turn the world upside down (see Acts 17:6)!
God leads us to do the most loving thing! And the most loving thing is a miracle...the miracle of the love of Christ flowing through our lives to others in response to hearing God's voice in our hearts!
We no longer have to seek to find proof texts to prop up our selfish agendas. With the humility of Christ as our true nature manifested through a praying life, we can always find God faithfully and constantly speaking words in our hearts by His grace!
Scripture verses that come to our minds in our praying lives are not proof texts, but are living words from God that give a name and a face to truths God is indeed implanting in our hearts. They affirm the reality of God, not prove we are right.
Christ breathes words of life into our hearts, and we relate with Him by breathing prayers out of our hearts through the face of Christ for others.
This newsletter is a prayer written out for you and for me!
PS, In Acts 6 and 7, we see Stephen testifying of God's words in his heart while being falsely accused, and his accusers "saw his face as the face of an angel."
Thanks to Jennifer Kennedy Dean for her God-given term "praying life." See her discipling resources on prayer at www.prayinglife.org.
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LINKS AND MESSAGES |
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Your friends can subscribe to
Gregg's Weekly Rest Stop
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I am a missionary
with Journey in Christ, Inc.,
a discipleship counseling
and training ministry.
Please contact me if you would like to know more about being a ministry partner with me.
(864) 483-3201 (Gregg cell)
JOURNEY IN CHRIST
Attn: Gregg Gibbons
926 NE Main Street
Suite F-155
Simpsonville, SC 29681
Click here for
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Next week:
Testimonies from the
Ministry Celebration
on October 21, 2010!
JOURNEY IN CHRIST
UPCOMING EVENTS
Gregg chaplain at Boys Home of the South
Chapel on Hwy 25 near Belton, SC
Tuesdays 7:00 to 8:00 pm
Visitors welcome!
Gregg attending men's Bible study
Haven of Rest Men's Training Center Belton, SC
Thursdays 6:00 to 7:00 pm
Men being set free from addictions.
HIMSELF
sermon excerpt by
A.B. Simpson (London, 1885)
I once saw a picture of the Constitution of the United States, very skillfully engraved in copper plate, so that when you looked at it closely it was nothing more than a piece of writing, but when you looked at it at a distance, it was the face of George Washington.
The face shone out in the shading of the letters at a little distance, and I saw the person, not the words, nor the ideas.
And I thought:
That is the way to look at the Scriptures and understand the thoughts of God...
...to see in them the face of love, shining through and through; not ideas, nor doctrines, but Jesus Himself as the Life and Source and sustaining Presence of all our life!
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