Training in the "new normal"

Now is the opportune time for training as a man or woman of prayer. The combination of recent events - choosing of leaders, chipping away at legislative and societal promotion of Biblical morality, and the chasm of debt due to enthronement of money as a god - yields golden opportunities for God's people. Now is the time for us to keep our bodies as the Holy Spirit's temple, to praise God for the workings of His hand, and ask for mercy as time rolls on.

Regarding our bodies, Oswald Chambers writes in today's selection of My Utmost for His Highest, "He [the Spirit] will look after the unconscious part [of our lives] that we know nothing of; but we must see that we guard the conscious part for which we are responsible" (p. 313). For, using our bodies as His temple, He prays through us (Romans 8:26)! How do we then keep pure? We trust that Christ's forgiveness is complete, which it is; we love the LORD our God by setting Him above our pride and fear, which He is; and we love all men as Christ loved (agape) us and as our neighbors, which they are. Make God's reality yours.

Regarding praise, I have found that to choose to praise God for all things not only follows what countless saints have done, but also transforms and renews my mind. Yes, many transpirations make no sense from a human's perspective. Yet think of this: the eternal God will reign and guard His saints no matter what, and He both sees and is weaving the inestimably gorgeous tapestry of time, of which we see only the tangle of threads on the back side. That is walking by faith.

Regarding supplication, God hears and answers those who enthrone Him. Isaiah writes (64:6-9): "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look - we are all Your people!" Amen.