Keeping the Wonder

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

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This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything.

On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. James, did you see the great conjunction the other night, the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn last Monday?

I did, Ravi. It was amazing. What a great reminder in a difficult year that our hope is in Jesus. I felt the same way. I had to drive way out of town until I could find an open field to see beyond the tree line. And there was a field beside an old historical church, and I stood out there gazing across the horizon at what looked like this multi-pointed star. You can imagine how the wise men must have felt as they saw it and were looking for Jesus.

That was the thing. As I stood there looking at it, I was convicted about wonder. I felt God's Spirit speaking to me, James, are you open to the wonder of my presence in your life? There's such a wonder about this cosmic event and the realization that we are so small and God is so great, and yet He cares for us. And that's what I want to talk about on this show right after Christmas, because it's so important that we keep the wonder of Christmas as we go about our everyday lives. Yeah, and I can't help but wonder.

Last week we were talking about the telescope, and it would have been handy. You know, wonder is such a good word. I mean, it can communicate surprise and discovery, and we really do want to live that way with God. But you're right, here we go back out of Christmas into everyday aspects of our lives, but the truth of Christmas really never changes.

So let's talk about how we can live there more. Well, you know, on a show like Encouraging Prayer, you'd know we'd come to this, so here we go. This does bring us right back to prayer. And I'd say, first, we need God to help us live with wonder in our hearts, because when He's there living within us, we can. And that's one of the things that I love most about prayer. God has a way of drawing us close to Him and showing us that He's right here with us as we seek Him.

He's promised us this, and it doesn't mean that we continually get all of our prayers answered the way we wonder or don't encounter difficulty, but He has a way of walking with us as we do this so that we know, we know He's there. Yeah, you were telling me about this place your son visited when he was at the Grand Canyon a week ago on his honeymoon, I might add. I mean, what was it called? Ooh-ah Point? Ooh-ah Point, right.

There's a place called Ooh-ah Point at the Grand Canyon. You think about, you know, when people look at fireworks and you always hear that, ooh, all that kind of thing. And I think we want to live that way with God, but we can't always live at Ooh-ah Point as much as we might like to. We have to be careful not to keep our hearts focused on our experiences of God, but rather just on Jesus. And as we do that, we can live in this simple place of calling on Him, being dependent on Him, and then we really find something else happening.

Yeah, there really is a wonder in the quietness of life with Him, isn't there? Yeah, and that's where I'm going. That's what I was thinking about the other night as I stood out in that field and looked up at the stars. I was thinking about the difference Jesus makes for us.

Are we open to that, you know? But I was also convicted about the number of times I've been distracted by the latest shiny object so that I lose my focus. And I think the key to keeping the wonder, keeping our focus, is to just keep coming back, to pray about everything. Yeah, I think about how easy it is to compartmentalize our lives, right? Dickens talked about that in the Christmas carol. I think even Scrooge himself commented that people are nice to each other for a few weeks, then go right back to being the way they lived before.

You're right, he did. And here's the thing. The more we let Jesus in each day, the better our work will be, the more effective we'll be in the things we do. We'll treat others better, we'll get a front row seat to the things only he can do, and we'll recognize them because we were praying about them. This is the kind of thing that Brother Lawrence talked about in practicing the presence of God, that great little devotional. The goal is to stay so close that we're having a continual conversation with God about the smallest things happening in our lives, as well as the big ones. But what do you say to the person who feels like they shouldn't bother God with those small things?

Well, just look at what God did. Almighty God bent so low to us that he became a baby. Think of how Jesus humbled himself to do that, but he did it because he loves us so that we could know that and know him, and that shows us that he really does care about the tiniest details of our lives. And the beautiful thing about running to him and keeping the conversation going is you are saying it doesn't have to be all about us, right, when we're praying about the smallest details.

We let him in, and we end up dwelling on him more. And remember, he is Emmanuel, God with us, and that has practical implications. He did it, became a baby, walked with us, lived with us, died for us, rose for us, because he wanted to be with us, and he wants us to be with him as we live. And so the more we pray, the more we do that, the more we walk into that wonder. Yeah, I think of the Jewish proverb that says, answered prayer is like heaven touching earth. And not just answered prayer, just being in his presence through his Spirit, the Spirit that testifies that we are God's children. These are the things we can treasure. This isn't a matter of prayer and work being separate.

They're meant to be together. You want your surgeon praying while he holds your heart in his hands, don't you? You want your mechanic, yeah, I mean, you want your mechanic keeping God in his work while he tightens the lug bolts on your front wheel.

Yeah, you really do. As a Christian car guy, I will testify to that. Exactly. I mean, prayer and work were never meant to be separate, but always joined together. And I love what Bernard of Clairvaux wrote about this. He said, he who labors as he prays, lifts his heart to God with his hands. And when we do that, we let the wonder in more of his presence, more of his peace, more of his help in every moment, just more of him.

Yeah, I remember I was being interviewed by Gordon Liddy one time, which Gordon was Jewish. And he says, Do you mean to tell me that you think God is right there underneath when you're turning the wrench to let the oil out of the car? And I said, Oh, I bet I can assure you he is. And that's a delightful thing.

And I could tell it really tickled him. So, you know, we need to pray to be able to live there. I mean, don't we? James, would you wrap things up so that we can just keep the wonder by living in his presence through prayer? Lord, we can't do this unless you help us. And we ask, Oh, Holy Spirit, lead us, encourage us in this, bless us in this. Lord, help us to keep our eyes on you. We praise you, our beautiful Savior. We look forward to you.

Help us to look for you more and more every moment as much as we can. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.