“Relationship… Fellowship” Part 2

    As referenced in Part 1, I find the consideration of God's delight in our fellowship with Him much more motivating than focusing on my own need and desire for His realized presence.

   "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).

  First, how bewilderingly wondrous that the eternal, infinite God should desire our communication to the point of delight.  What could it be that fosters such joy in our Heavenly Father when we approach Him in loving and humble faith?  Perhaps the answer lies in the "upright" reference in Solomon's declaration.  Those who qualify for such a description have not picked themselves up from their fallenness.  Only God can redeem us from our sins.  

   "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings… By faith ye stand" (Psalm 40:2; II Corinthians 1:24).  

    "The upright" thus consist of those redeemed by Christ, and who reflect the glory of His saving presence and grace.  God sees His beloved Son in every believer, shining forth in unique and particular expressions of Christ as revealed in our varied personalities, dispositions, and gifts.  The prayers that delight Him issue forth from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus as He dwells in us - "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).  Accordingly, when we pray in humble sincerity, our words find our Father's ear and heart graced with the living Word, the Lord Jesus.  This brings Him double pleasure, as it were, pleasure in His Son, and in His Son as He uniquely dwells in us.

   Again, this blessed truth stimulates and motivates fellowship with God far more than our personal needs and desires.  We pray in love, that is, in unselfish devotion to our Father's heart.  This does not discount our own sensibilities concerning prayer, of course, but rather puts them in their proper order and significance.  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).  We must establish this priority in our hearts, praying first for the purpose of God's glory, will, eternal purpose, and heart pleasure.  Upon this basis, we shall find our own needs and desires well considered and accommodated by the Father who so loves us.  Yes, through Christ, we possess the capacity to please the infinite and eternal God with nothing more than a sincere word breathed in His direction.  No other truth about prayer equals this blessed motivation to avail ourselves of such grace, as given by so great a Savior.

"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

(I Thessalonians 4:1)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

(Isaiah 55:1)