In Jesus' Name预览

Hanging On His Every Word

Imagine Jesus told you He was going to drop by your house tonight for dinner. What would your first response be? Probably something like, “I have to get busy and clean the house! I want it to look spotless for Jesus!” Luke 10 shows us this was Martha’s exact response when she learned Jesus was coming to visit her and her sister Mary’s home. When He finally arrived, Martha was running around serving her guests and trying to make everything perfect while her sister did nothing but bask in His presence.

Don’t we all wish we could claim to identify the most with Mary? Especially since Jesus Himself applauded her actions: “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). However, the reality is many of us connect the most with Martha whom Jesus corrected: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41).

Let’s take a moment to look at Martha’s response and Mary’s response and apply them to our own personal prayer time—the time we set aside everything else to meet with God. If you’re being honest with yourself, how much of your prayer time looks like Martha’s world—busy and distracted with a list of things to do, to pray, to make God aware of and to ask Him to fix?

I’m reminded of a time when I had a very special guest over for dinner ... my dad. I’d found the perfect recipe that would be sure to show him how special I thought he was. I spent hours shoppin’, choppin’ and stressin’ about getting this special dinner put together perfectly. But what do I remember about this dinner? My dad had to keep pulling me away from the kitchen to get me to spend time with him. Even throughout the meal, when I could’ve been enjoying my dad’s company, I kept trying to refine the meal and its presentation.

When you come to meet with God in prayer, He is your special guest. He doesn’t want you to be bogged down and worried about the “Christian duty” and traditions of prayer. When you’re scurrying around, it’s impossible to truly enter His presence and just be still with Him. What God really wants is for you to wait on Him like Mary did and “[hang] on every word he [says]” (Luke 10:39, MSG). He wants your full attention, but you have to decide to be still and spend time with your heavenly Father. Just try it. You’ll like it, and so will He!

Paul did not regard prayer as supplemental, but fundamental—not something to be added to his work, but the very matrix out of which his work was born. He was a man of action because he was a man of prayer.
~ J. Oswald Sanders

Prayer

Father, thank You for desiring a relationship with me. Forgive me for choosing to live a Martha lifestyle in prayer when You desire a Mary lifestyle. Teach me how to come before You, to settle my mind, my heart and my spirit and truly enter into Your presence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activation

• Find a quiet place, away from people and distractions, for your “alone” time with God. Refuse to let distractions, even in thought form, enter into this special time.
• Begin your time with worship. Put on your favorite song and take the time to move from your world into His presence.
• Schedule this time alone with God to not be a “religious” habit but to make yourself accountable. Too many things of this world, good and bad, will attempt to take this time away.

Memory Verse

The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJ)