"One of the main reasons so many of God's children don't have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don't want to, but that we don't plan to. If you want to take a 4-week vacation, you don't just get up one summer morning and say, 'Hey, let's go today!' You won't have anything ready. You won't know where to go. Nothing has been planned.
But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing's ever ready. We don't know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut."
I was deeply challenged by this devotional, by the urge and encouragement to make plans both in prayer and in other areas of my life. I've always been a planner in some things, but this gives new importance and encouragement to the idea. I hope that spending time blogging about it today will make it harder for me to ignore it. I tend to remember what I write about here. Because I know it would be so easy to keep prodding on in my happy rut. That's the hard thing for me, I like my rut. I fear change. I fear the sacrifice of time. That's where my real challenge will be. Am I willing to devote time to making and keeping new plans?
John Piper ends his Plan for Prayer devotional like this:
"... My simple exhortation is this: Let's take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer- for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy."
There! Doesn't that get you excited about change? About making a plan? I know it does me. I need to remind myself of this when I get too comfortable in my rut.
4 comments:
Love it. Just what I needed for today.
I have been thinking about this quote since you posted it on IG. It is a post-it on my cupboard.
Summer!
I'm finally commenting :)
This was lovely. And a great reminder and encouragement, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Summer. I'm a newer reader to your blog (stumbled over from Rachel's Heart of Light) and have been reading your blog in nearly every spare moment I can. While I am not overly religious, I can relate to your mantra and have decided to start planning various aspects of my life. Who knows what may happen? I have felt as though I have been in such a rut for the past several months and this post made me want to change it. Thanks so much for the inspiration and dedication to start something DIFFERENT instead of not making plans and waiting for things to happen. Much love x