Ruth's Ramblings

Brokenness

Seems to be a theme for me lately. Not brokenness of spirit, mind you, but brokenness of my will. Sometimes God may have to break my spirit to get to my will, but I'm hoping with maturity, He can skip that step and go straight for my will (it's less emotional that way anyways). =P

I had difficulty figuring out how this happens though. How do I take my proud heart and surrender it under God's authority/sovereignty (beating it to submission sounds very painful and difficult)? It dawned on me why it is so important to regularly take up the cross (daily deny myself!) and follow Christ. If I don't do it on a regular basis, by default I would go astray and my heart would grow strong-willed and independent of God again. How do I die to the self on a daily basis?

For me, perhaps it may begin somewhere with regularly meeting/connecting with God. In the mornings, before I start my day, daily submitting myself to God in my quiet times/devotions through prayer. It's through prayer that my heart will be lead to submission, brokeness, and ultimately, worship.

Discipline of Prayer: Submission's Lifeline

Why must we pray? Apart from the well-known scriptural calls to prayer, there are two great human reasons why we ought to pray. The first is found in the fact that prayer is the source of power for growth and perseverance in our spiritual lives. Just as newly planted seeds need exposure to the sun in order to grow to maturity, we need exposure to the Son of Righteousness, or our growth may be stunted; we are left with pygmy souls.

The second reason is that prayer bends our wills to God's will, which is what submitting our lives is all about. I never fully understood this until I heard an explanation by E. Stanley Jones, a missionary and man of prayer: "If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God." Prayer then is not about getting God to do my bidding, but the shaping and bending of my will until it aligns with His.

What tantalizing benefits! Yet how few of us capitalize on this opportunity to draw from "home base" the power we need to press on or to have our wills bent to God's. Why do so many women fail in personal devotions and prayer? Primarily because they do not know how to go about cultivating the disciplines of the interior spiritual life.

Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), p.41-42.

Posted by Ruth at 10/22/2004