Meditation for Deacon's at Clevedon Baptist Church

As leaders within this church we ought to model something of the Christian life to others. I think we all agree with this. In the area of prayer what does this mean? What is prayer? How should we pray? I remember that the disciples worried about this question.

The prayer of the people of God has always been and always will be a heart response to God; that we may dwell in His presence. To find rest in Him, to draw near to Him as He draws near to us. This should be the prayer of the children of God. He is the beginning of every good thing, He is the source of all comfort, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last, the living one, the one in whom we live and breath and have our being.

We stand in His presence as sinners, with all our doubts and worries and failings. We are people who have followed too much the desire of our own hearts; we are sheep that have gone astray, each to his own way. But the Lord our God has laid our sins on Jesus, literally on himself.

So, we stand in His presence not because of any goodness or holiness gives us a right to stand; but we stand in His presence because of His great love for us, for he holds us in the palms of His hands. It is love that has called us from darkness into His glorious light. Yes, it may seem at times that we stand at the edge of the light, in the shadows. Yes, at times we stand at the door of the temple looking in as David put it [Ps 81]. Yes, at times we are “like the blind, we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes” as Isaiah [Is 59:10] put it.

But, “ … God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. … 6For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” [2 Cor 4]. Listen to scripture; it is God who gives us light, it is God who shines in our hearts, weak and imperfect as we are, it is God who shows us his glory in our inward parts.

“7We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” The power is God’s power not ours. This treasure in our hearts is God, it is not anything we bring or do ourselves. … “18So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” [2 Cor 4]

So, if we have faith to trust Him, we will see with our own eyes that God who began a good work in us will carry it through to completion.

So the prayer of the people of God has always been and always will be a response to what God has first done in us.

He is the one who called us. Listen to Peter [1 Peter 1:9] “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

He is the one who began the work in our heart. Listen to Paul, [Philippians 1:4-6] “4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

He is the one who loves us first and last. Listen to John [1 John 4:8] “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”

Let us not harden our hearts to what the Spirit is saying. For the promise of entering into God’s rest still remains; this blessing of knowing, feeling and understanding his presence. Today, we can still enter into His special and sacred rest.

Moses says to us “if … you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” [Deut 4:29]

James says to us “7So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world”. [James 4:7-8].

This is a deep work between us and God. Let us wait in His presence. Let us learn from him how to say “not as I will, but as you will”. We will find rest for our souls; we will know Him as we are truly known by Him.