Oh, I don't reject
Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike
Christ… If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ,
as found in the Bible, all of India
would be Christian today.
-Gandhi
Ghandi’s
message poses a daunting challenge to Christians- and yet, encouragement can be
found. Last week, I heard that the YWAM staff members receive no salary! They
live lives for Christ- doing service, sharing the Gospel, and actually taking
to heart this message: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and
the body more than clothes?” (Matt 6:25). The staff “really live according to
the teachings of Christ” as Gandhi would have hoped. Lucy, the speaker from
last week and a prime example of someone living her life for Christ, shared
that to know how to follow Christ, we have to learn to hear G-d’s voice.
This was
the focus of last week’s lectures. Lucy challenged us to “not put G-d in a box”
as we explored different forms of prayer and kept our ears (and hearts) open
for ways that G-d might be speaking to us… One morning, we spent 45 minutes in
silent prayer. In the reflection following the quiet time, one staff member said
that often we set aside a small amount of ‘prayer time’ during the day and demand
that G-d will give us all of our answers right then. But why do we assume that we'll get answers exlusively during that short “prayer time” when really, G-d is communicating with us
all day? While it is important to set
aside this time especially for G-d, prayer does not stop there. “Prayer can not be switched on and switched off. Prayer is oneness…
fullness of intention” (Mother Teresa). Playing music, eating dinner, taking
out the trash... I can make it all a prayer if I have the intention. I can listen to G-d at all
times.
It's then- when I take constant prayer into my day- that I really am able to go deeper into knowing G-d's voice. I've known G-d's "voice" as a deep sense of peace. That's how I've discerned G-d. But now I remember Lucy's challenge: Don't put G-d in a box. How else is G-d present in me? As I sat in prayer last night, this came clear in my mind: "In the silence, G-d speaks…"
I loved reading this and it makes me so excited that you aren't just taking the weekly questions and writing one line responses. You are actually creating a journal, something that is going to be meaningful to you and not just an assignment! That was/is my hope for the blogs! Awesome job!
ReplyDelete-Jeanette