Morning Prayer Paradox

In my prayer this morning, the Lord said to me, "You need to come to me each day, so that I can tell you how much I love you."

This word reminded me, yet again, of the way my relationship with the Lord works, how a perfectly loving relationship works.

We come to the Lord in the morning to pray, and it's still so easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that when I come to him in my morning prayer, I am the one doing something and taking initiative. But that isn't true. I'm not doing something truly "for" the Lord, and I'm never the one taking initiative. But it is amazing how quickly I forget such spiritual truth if I'm not finding ways to practice it in my every day life. The paradox is that, even in my worship of him, even if I fool myself into thinking I am truly doing something that benefits the Lord, the reality is that my worship of him is doing a lot of good for me! This is because I am doing something I was made to do, something that, in the best way possible, benefits me. This is incredible!

It was easy to repent this morning of my attitude that "I" do something for the Lord when I come to him in prayer. I think this attitude is something I shall probably repent of until I see him face-to-face for all eternity. :)

By his very nature, he focuses on us, so much so that, even when we turn to him, his gaze isn't fixed on himself but on us. He wants us to learn how to do the same, to fix our gaze on the Other instead of ourselves and to fix our gaze on those who need our particular love, his love flowing through us, each day. That's one reason why we need to come to him in prayer. We practice proper loving; he teaches us through an experience of being in friendship with him how to love and serve others. There is no better teacher.

---

Note:

I had forgotten until recently that I had mainly started this blog because I'd experienced God asking me to in a personal prayer time several years ago.

For however long this lasts and it seems like he wants me to keep this blog active, I will. I pray it's a blessing to others! It is a blessing to share God's work in my life with others.