Came across this quote today from Sadhu Sundar Singh, and it reminded me of what I've seen in our own grandkids.
"The essence of prayer does not consist in asking for things but in opening one’s heart to God. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. It is the desire for God himself, the giver of life. Prayer is communion with God, receiving him who is the giver of all good gifts, living a life of fellowship with him. It is breathing and living in God. A little child will run to his mother exclaiming: “Mother! Mother!” The child does not necessarily want anything in particular. He only longs for the sheer pleasure of being near her, talking to her, hearing her voice. This is what makes him happy. It is just the same with those who are truly God’s children." As Christians, as humans, we face both ups and downs, gladness and sorrow. The following quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (one who lived what he preached) offers a unique perspective of the resources we have in Jesus Christ. May joy be yours in abundance today!
"Joy abides with God, and it comes down from God and embraces spirit, soul, and body; and where this joy has seized a person, there it spreads, there it carries one away, there it bursts open closed doors. A sort of joy exists that knows nothing at all of the heart’s pain, anguish, and dread; it does not last; it can only numb a person for the moment. The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely there; it does not deny grave sin but finds forgiveness precisely in this way; it looks death straight in the eye, but it finds life precisely within it."
|
AuthorPastor Ward Parkinson Archives
October 2023
Categories
All
|