What the praying man does is to bring his will into line with the will of God so God can do what He has all along been willing to do. This whole idea of prayer and God leading us into things that we could never accomplish on our own simply stuns me. Honestly, I don't want people to be able to explain my life. Beyond that, I long for things to be happening beneath the banner of Emmanuel that are simply inexplicable apart from God's life and presence living through us.

So, I want to make the most of every opportunity. I want to seek to know God, so much so that my reaction and my life is a 'gut reaction'. What flows from my life and my decisions and my relationships and my expenditures and my passions and my pain are visceral statements about the core of who I am in Christ. It seems to me that this capacity to grow into a tree and to lend shade to the weary (spiritually and physically) and life to the soaring is directly correlated to my willingness to know God. I want to know Him. As the Emmanuel family, I want to explore the depths in Christ together. I want to be known for knowing Him!

The aramaic word for prayer can be translated 'to set a trap'. Being a person who pursues Christ and pursues His Word allows me to 'set the trap' in order to catch every opportunity that God sends our way. As the writer of the book of Chronicles states, the eyes of the Lord scan the land searching for those whose hearts are radically turned on to His heart. When He finds those people, He will invite them to join Him in what He is already willingly doing.

So, seek God. As Matthew 13.31 - 32 unpacks for us, the Kingdom of God looks like a bunch of people who really can become a bunch of scrub bushes. Yet, when Christ steps in, we can become trees SO THAT those around us who are weary or those who are soaring might find life! May we be a people who have found, in Christ, more than enough. May we rest there, in Him! May the weary and the impassioned find sustenance in Who they find is in our life and IS our life!

I love these words from the interview with Dr. Bill Bright.... I am a doulos (a bond servant) of Jesus Christ. The overarching goal of my life is to simply know the will of my master, Jesus Christ, and to align my life with His will. I don't have to be successful..... I simply must know Christ and that knowledge eliminates problems. All that is left is opportunities to see and join God at work.

God is willing and He is acting. Prayer invokes our lives into His will and His actions. Let's chase the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Jesus Christ), so that He can guide us toward other lions worth chasing!

Give chase. Feel free to comment below.

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark