Prayer And Comfortable Living Are Incompatible

August 4, 2015

Prayer And Comfortable Living Are Incompatible

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“It’s hard to grow your faith inside your comfort zone.” So true! It has been my experience that when the Holy Spirit leads, he leads us out of our comfort zone. St. Teresa of Avila once noted that “if we forsake God when He wants us, we shall not find Him when we want him.” That truth is not God being mean; rather it is God’s discipline teaching us to be sensitive to the promptings of His Holy Spirit. That truth led St. Teresa to make another observation: prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.

Our natural instincts for self-preservation resist moving out of our comfort zone. St. Teresa suggested two prayer requests to help us align with God’s purpose to lead us into the realm of abundant living, which is decidedly outside of our comfort zones: “Lord, reveal to me whatever is keeping me from loving You without reservation; and “give me the courage to relinquish it.”

We cannot discipline ourselves into submission to God’s will. Remember, it was because God loved us that He sent Jesus to be our redeemer. It will be through our love for God and His coming Kingdom that we cultivate a desire for God’s Kingdom above all else. This was the heart of Bruce Wilkinson’s teaching in his book, The Prayer of Jabez. When we have a burning desire to be used by God, we will ask God to expand our sphere of influence for Him. When we do, we’ll be led to leave our comfort zone, at which point we’ll encounter the ‘border-bullies,’ those natural instincts that try to convince us it is not safe to venture out into unchartered waters. Love for God will empower us to overcome our border-bullies.

When you sense the Holy Spirit leading you out of your comfort zone, remember you can always be joyful because you are going where your Abba wants and needs you. Therefore, never stop communing with your Abba in prayer. You can be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.     

    

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.