To Think...
To think
about the splendor and majesty of God’s Holy throne is something amazing.
The Bible
talks about it being surrounded by worshipers and light, gems of great worth
and best of all—God sits there.
At the youth
group that my younger brother JD and I have been going to, the youth pastor
asks this question before worship starts: “Where are we going tonight?” The
expected response is “To the throne of God.”
The first
time this exchange happened, I was floored. When we worship, pray, do our
devotions ect, we are going to the throne of God. We are seeking his
face, and looking for him.
To put your
mind there, it’s insane.
I want to
seek the face of God in a way that I remember who he is. That I remember that
he is mighty King, and that I don’t take that I can worship him for granted.
Because I do that a lot.
So often
when I pray, I’m like, “Hey dear Jesus, thank you for this day and that the sun
was shining and that my makeup was on fleek. Help tomorrow be as awesome as it
was today, amen.”
It’s a
prayer that, yes, God hears, but to be honest it’s not from my heart.
I want to
pray from my heart.
There are
people all over the world who have to pray like they mean it. On bended
knee, because their lives literally depend on it. When they pray, they mean
business.
When I pray,
I’m praying that my coffee won’t burn my mouth.
Prayer is
something I take for granted. #confessions I don’t always pray as much
as I would like to. I don’t really tend to get on my knees and pray like I mean
it.
Yes, I pray
for people—when I say I’m praying for you I do pray! But it’s not from my heart
as much as I wish it was. Sometimes it’s more of an “I want to sound
smart before God, not like I’m just rambling like I do on my blog and I don’t
want to say anything dumb” kind of prayer. A Peanut butter jelly prayer, as
I once heard it called.
But I
wonder; if one prayed like they were praying to a Holy God, who is sitting on a
majestic throne, would they pray the same way?
If someone
was praying as if God was holy and mighty, as if he created the world
with the sound of his voice, and who sent his son down to die for us, would
we honestly pray the same way?
Would we
start praying as if God could move? Would our “Peanut Butter Jelly” prayers
turn into the kind that could move mountains as we sought after the face of
God?
And not just
the way we prayed how about the way we worshiped? Instead of just following
what the worship leader did, and just mouthing along with the words, would we
start singing like we were singing to our King and Creator?
I don’t
know. I don’t make the rules and I can’t see the future. I’m just thinking out loud here.
Sometimes I
have a watered down view of Jesus.
I tend to
think of the “cute and cuddly kid friendly” Jesus. Not the Splendor and
Majesty, Creator and Sovereign over everything, all knowing, also makes thunder
and lightning kind of God who holds storehouses of snow and has cattle on a
thousand hills. (That was a horrible run on sentence and I’m sorry if that
didn’t make sense.)
You see what
I mean?
Although God
still hears my “PBJ” prayers, I want to start avoiding them—the same way I do
real peanut butter.
I want to
start praying and worshipping like I mean it. Not like I have to or else I’ll
get hit by lightning; but like I love God and truly want to grow closer to him
and to seek his face.
“ “Then
you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to
you. You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart,
you will find me! I will let you find me,” Says the LORD, “And I will bring you
back from your captivity.”“ ~Jeremiah
29:12-14
~Rachel Joy