REVERSING THE ORDER

My heart is painfully aware today of how often we, in our human endeavours, get things back to front.  We reverse the order of things and then begin to believe that the result is wrong because the process doesn't work!  What if we have got the process the wrong way round?

Those who know me will know at this point I'm about to have a bit of a rant about something! :)  But when you have a total passion in your life, something that goes beyond good ideas and intellectual understanding, it is hard to remain silent in the face of these reverses.  How I long to see the right order that I KNOW will bring spectacular results.

We seem to have lost the understanding that prayer is not the add-on to ensure our good intentions bear fruit.  It is not the 'lucky rabbit's foot' kind of insurance that makes everything ok once we have embarked on our venture, neither is it a work that will pick up and make Godly that which has been birthed out of the heart of man.

This kind of thinking totally reverses all that is good and fruit-bearing, and is born out of our 'do it now/instant fix or success' mentality. 

The greatest of endeavours that continue to give testimony today of what can be achieved and leave lasting results, have been birthed in prayer, carried and built in prayer, had the way for them broken open in prayer, and finally carried forward to be outworked and bear great fruit.

The question seems to be, what are we willing to invest?  Surely we are going to see results that are proportionate to the time invested into foundations that cannot immediately be seen; into making a way that is not immediately apparent; into a greater, higher, wider good than is accomplished by good ideas and quick fixes?

There is an exciting challenge to us by E.M. Bounds in "Purpose in Prayer"  "... men have, in the past, changed the whole force of affairs, revolutionised character and country by prayer.  And such achievements are still possible to us.  The power is only wanting to be used.  Prayer is but the expression of faith."

This great prayer and writer encourages us with the statement that "Great things for God are done by great prayers.  He who prays much, studies much, loves much, works much, does much for God and humanity."

Way beyond our current focus on 'social justice' there is a great and just God waiting to show his strength in response to those who turn their hearts towards Him in prayer.