prayer: nourishing the life of God in us

10/19/2006 · 4 comments

in books, meditations

If You Will AskI just got Oswald Chambers’ If You Will Ask, and I’m already loving it, one chapter in. According to Chambers, prayer “develops the life of God in us” and “nourishes” that life; in other words, if we don’t pray, we are starving ourselves. That’s a sobering thought!

He goes on to say the life of God in us

is nourished by refusing to worry over anything, for worry means there is something over which we cannot have our own way… Never let anything push you to your wits’ end, because you will get worried, and worry makes you self-interested and disturbs the nourishment of the life of God. Give thanks to God that He is there, no matter what is happening.…

He concludes his discussion of worry with this beautiful thought:

The secret of Christian quietness is not indifference, but the knowledge that God is my Father, He loves me, and I shall never think of anything He will forget, and worry becomes an impossibility.

I shall never think of anything He will forget: this is one of those Selah moments. Pause, and calmly think about that!

The chapter ends with a prayer from Chambers’ journal:

O Lord, this day may your beauty and grace and soothing peace be in me and upon me. May no wind or weather or anxiety ever touch Your beauty and Your peace in my life or in this place.

  • Rich

    Chambers has become my favorite Christian author; I soak in his writings almost daily. His “Biblical Ethics” and “Biblical Psychology” are awesome.

  • Rich

    Chambers has become my favorite Christian author; I soak in his writings almost daily. His “Biblical Ethics” and “Biblical Psychology” are awesome.

  • http://danbutcher.com Dan

    Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! I’m a big fan of “Utmost,” but I’m not familiar with the titles you mentioned.

  • http://danbutcher.com Dan

    Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! I’m a big fan of “Utmost,” but I’m not familiar with the titles you mentioned.

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