Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Already ours

Victoria Gaines shares something wonderful she recently discovered about Jesus' promise in Mark 11:24 to give us whatever we ask for in faithful prayer:
Something hit me as I read this verse today. So many times I've prayed for peace, patience, strength, victory - whatever- when all along they're readily available to me in Christ. Fear and pain may cloud this truth, but grace opens our eyes to remind us of His keeping power to sustain us through the most difficult situations.

As I see this more and more, truth changes the way I pray. Instead of begging for all these things - which are never given apart from Christ anyway - my prayers can now acknowledge His Spirit's work in me. Confessing my need and dependence on Him is the first thing I do, trusting His Life to come forth moment by moment, grace upon grace, as I go about living.
Amen.

2 Comments:

Blogger nannykim said...

I really like that idea. At first I wondered how it tied in with 2 Peter 1: 5-11--

But perhaps verse 8 ties it in with what your quote is saying. Really knowing Christ (and that of course means being in Him) will be producing these fruits. How does this relate to verse 5--

Is that how you would tie 2 Peter in with what the quote on the post is saying?

8:49 PM, May 27, 2009  
Blogger Milton Stanley said...

Good question, although I'm not sure I fully understand exactly what you're asking. I don't think Vicki's ideas exhaust the meaning of Mark 11:24, but it looks like she's discovered an important part of it, one that goes along with Peter's words that you reference. If I were trying to connect Vicki's ideas with Peter's, I would say they most closely align with 1 Peter 1:3-4. And as Peter shows, even if we already have these gifts we should be growing more and more into the fullness of their expression.

9:48 AM, May 28, 2009  

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