Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Why do we wait?

I have been pondering the past couple days. Pondering after watching a video at church Sunday night from Pastor Jim Cymbala on prayer. The importance and power of prayer. After the video there was discussion on why do we hesitate to pray and ask others to pray for us. Several good and right answers were given by a very wise and godly man at church. These quotes I found at Girl Talk summed it all up I think.

"What men do by themselves they do for themselves. They eat their own fruit, devouring the praise of what they do. Only the Christian who does everything by Christ does it all for Him. He takes his nourishment from Him into whom he has been grafted; and this is what makes him fruitful." –William Gurnall (The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume 2, p. 49)

"If he can do any duty, he acknowledges it is Christ's strength more than his own. As the ship gets to the haven more by the benefit of the wind than the sail, so when a Christian makes swift progress, it is more by wind of God's Spirit than the sail of his own endeavour." –Thomas Watson


We struggle with the inner man. We still want to do it all ourselves. We don't want to need the Lord. I think it all comes down to pride. What do you think?

4 comments:

Tracy said...

Good thoughts. I find that I am quick to ask for prayer for physical needs, or decisions that need to be made, but don't usually for issues I may be struggling with inside. Interesting.

Tracy said...

...and yes, I do think it is pride. I don't love for people to know I am struggling with something.

Lori said...

hey Jill,
yes, it is pride and quite simply;
we love ourselves more than we love God.
Following God means dying to our flesh, not a suggestion, but a command.
I love Todd Agnew's new song that says," If you wanted me to put you first, then why did you make me, me?"
Oh that classic conflict.....

Tricia said...

That was a great video! And very thought provoking personally. So, I'll step out on a limb and ask for your prayers over my inner struggles, although, at this time they remain unspoken. One I can share is my dislike of my husband's traveling job. I haven't quite figured out how to overcome this issue. Is it me wanting my way and my husband home, or is it really God's will for him to be gone so much? Anyway, it is good to be back home and I'll talk to you soon!

Love, tricia