Human Effectiveness Requires Submission

I wrote this in my journal a few weeks back after having a very busy week and, consequently, spending nearly no time in prayer...enjoy!

This week has been in stark contrast to the preceding couple months; I have been distant from the Lord. This distance was entirely my fault, but I certainly felt it. Coming out of a busy, disconnected state, I am thinking a lot about prayer and what it means to truly know God. The most important part of knowing God (which is the part that I most often see myself and other failing at) is believing in Him literally and actively. I need to believe that God moves through my prayers. I need to believe in the power and authority that I have been given through Christ, who’s spirit lives in me. Prayer is not a rite or a ritual; it is a battle. The difference between me when I am close to God and me when I am distant is the submission to this fact, and the trust that it is true. Faith and trust both require action in order to be real. If I truly believe in God as a living being, I and if I truly trust that He will not break His promises, then I will act accordingly. If I believe in God, I will pray intercessory prayers, if I believe in God, I will pray for healing, if I truly believe in God, even my own prayers will not be my own, but they will be a practice of His spirit interceding and preaching to me and through me things that are true. Miracles happen through those who have faith and trust, because part of what we trust in is our own incapability to accomplish goodness aside from the Lord’s power. It is in this humble recognition that our hope of glory is only through Christ’s spirit in us, that it is by the acceptance of His spirit of sonship that we cry “Abba, father,” and that we do not rejoice in our power over anything, but rather that our names are written in the book of life, that true faith, glory, power, and active redemption are carried out in the life of a human being.