An All-In Prayer

The All-In Prayer Father God, when I think about your creation of the natural world, the awesomeness of the universe, and the incredibleness of the quantum world, my mind is blown by your power, creativity, mystery, and how beyond me you are! And I begin to realize how small and unworthy I am. And yet you stooped down to what would be lower than ants in comparison to us, to live and suffer terribly below your state to show your love and have a personal relationship with me. It is too much to comprehend! When in the midst of my greatest despair and need, you showed your love in so many ways, that I, for the first time, felt deeply compelled to show love to others who I had previously had not desired to love. God, I have not given my whole life to you or loved you as wholeheartedly as you deserve. I want to do that, I want you to be above all other gods in my life, particularly my materialism, self-centeredness and superficiality. That is not easy, I am so easily distracted by the things of this world. While I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress, I need your help to stay on the course and I need your help in the areas I resist giving up. I want to be all-in with you, please help me in the areas I hold back or that I don’t realize that are preventing me from it. God, as you lead, I want to be able to give more sacrificially. Help me to make continued progress on this. God, you have shown me how terribly superficial I am inclined to be. Help me by your Holy Spirit to show love to others more proactively than my personality would normally allow. God help me to show more and more of the fruit of the Spirit every year as I grow in you. Help me to grow in humility. Help quiet my overactive mind and to learn to slow down and also to really listen to people without being so focused on what I want to say. God, I know this life is a journey and it can be hard at times. Help me not to settle for a ‘comfort zone’ but to be always learning, always growing, and always serving, especially in my relationship with you.

It's a Life-Long Journey of Learning and Growth

As said before, no one is instantly a fully mature Christian. It takes time to get to know God - who in some ways is mysterious because He is so beyond our complete human understanding - and grow to trust him. It is often through difficulties (which all humans face sooner or later) in life that we learn the most (see James 1). Christianity is flourishing in countries where it is persecuted or illegal - where it is very hard. We Americans tend to center on easy living, materialism, or the pursuit of a rich romantic life, but they are not satisfying for long. Even though the authentic Christian life will be challenging, we have an inner need for challenges, and they can ultimately result in the “rich and satisfying (abundant) life” (John 10:10) that Jesus says he wants to give us. Our very deepest longing is one that only God can fulfill. This ‘always growing’ fulfilling life can last through the bad circumstances of life, including those that most of us will face in our later years.

Praying and Really Studying Scripture

God speaks to us in various ways, but two key ones are via prayer and scripture. (See 2 Timothy 2:15). Too often, when we read scripture, we unconsciously tend to gloss over aspects of it without really understanding the true implications, or with an unconscious agenda to reinforce what we want to believe, or maybe to minimize its application to ourselves.

We can sometimes tend to jump to superficial conclusions based on a single scripture when we don't realize the context. You have to consider who was the passage written to and what the circumstances were. Also, we need to consider other scriptures on the same topic (sometimes a scripture will say one thing, while another will provide a different perspective or nuance). And most of all, you have to consider scripture in light of the life and key teachings of Jesus. We are blessed with the ability to easily get answers or clarifications to just about any passage in the Bible, provided readily on the internet. It takes years of study to really get a good sense of what Jesus was all about, what he wanted for us, and how the rest of the Bible fits in with that. Pastors/teachers can offer great insights into scripture and it's applicability, but don't base your Christianity on what someone else told you without studying scripture for yourself. When you appear before Christ, he isn't going to be interested in what you were taught, he's interested in what you did, based on what he said.

As part of a love relationship with God, we need to talk to him honestly and listen to his voice. God doesn't speak with a shout, but with a whisper that requires us to get to know what is his voice and what is just talking in our heads. It's not about coming to him with our agenda, but us getting in tune with his agenda for our life.

So really studying scripture and learning to listen to his voice helps us to ultimately get a real sense of God and his agenda for our life.