Murray Meditations: Cause and Effect

Sometimes, I've wondered why we pray. Isn't God all knowing and everywhere at once? He understands what we need even before we speak it. He  knows our hearts, our thoughts, and our longings better than we know ourselves. I know He is able to do all things.

And yet, we repeatedly see in His Word this command to pray.



Luke 10:2
And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

As it turns out, I am in good company with my pondering. Andrew Murray, in chapter Nine of his book The School of Prayer asks similar questions! Murray puzzles over the fact that  the Lord commands his disciples to pray for laborers in the harvest.

 Murray musings:

• Couldn't He have prayed Himself? 
• And wouldn't one prayer of His accomplish more than a thousand of theirs? 
• And God, the Lord of the harvest, did He not see the need? 

Hmmm...it is a mystery! Why does the God of the universe ask me to pray for laborers in the harvest? I am beginning to approach a baby sized understanding of the power that prayer wields here on earth. A small seed of truth is being planted in my heart as I read the Word, and ask the Spirit to guide me. The small seed is starting the slow process of germination. The baby plant that is hidden in the seed pod is growing and cracking open that pod, sprouting little roots into the soil and searching out food, water and sun.

The answers to such questions will convince us that prayer is a power on which the gathering of the harvest and the coming of the kingdom do in very truth depend. A. Murray

In my limited, finite mind, I start to grasp the fact that our prayers are a cause and effect phenomenon. Prayer is an action that demands a reaction. God knows what I need, but He wants me to turn to Him and ask Him to be my Provider. I get to choose. Do I want His help or do I want to figure it out on my own? Or maybe I would prefer the help of my best friend. She has great advice. How many times do I turn to pop psychology for answers, when I should have prayed to my Abba Father?


This Father, that is also a friend, partners with me as a co-creator in the story of our journey here on earth. Our prayers initiate a supernatural partnering with humanity that brings about God's answers. The all-knowing God waits for us to turn to Him, confess the need and believe in faith that He has the perfect solution. The one and only God of the universe has ALL of the answers, if I will just seek Him in prayer.

The veil that hides the invisible world from us was wonderfully transparent to the holy human soul of Jesus. He had looked long and deep and far into the hidden connection of cause and effect in the spiritual world. A. Murray

So wonderful is the surrender of His work to His Church, so dependent has the Lord made Himself on them as His Body through whom His work can be done, so real is the power the Lord gives His people to exercise in heaven and earth, that the number of laborers and the measure of the harvest actually depends on their prayers. A. Murray

Oh, precious child of God, may you know without a shadow of a doubt that you, too, have this authority to call the powers of heaven to your aid. You have the awesome responsibility of bringing forth laborers in the harvest. Upon you and your faithfulness depends the work of heaven here on earth.

Murray Meditations: The Source of Power

Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to wait at the foot of the throne and be trained to the work of intercession. A. Murray

Do you ever feel inadequate when it comes to prayer? As I dig deeper into the topic, I feel a growing sense of my shortcomings. God is calling me to more than I've ever known or experienced.

Prayer in my own strength has been weak and often ineffectual. In my own strength, I easily lose my focus and wander off to make another cup of tea. My goals are often selfishly motivated. And worst of all, many times I simply forget to pray. My justification for an undisciplined prayer life was Paul's words "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17).With this exhortation in mind, I could offer up quick popcorn petitions as my mainstay style of prayer. I was satisfied with my obedience.

But the prayer life that He longs for me to know is a life that is only given through the power of the Spirit. As I spend time with Him, He gives me a taste of what it means to drink of His living water.  I'm not talking about little sips from a dainty cup. I'm talking large gulps from a fountain, drinking long and deep until full and overflowing.

It isn't always easy, but the more I engage in the discipline of prolonged, focused prayer, the more I experience the Spirit filling and empowering my prayer life. Murray assures me that God is continuing His work in my life, even when I feel that my efforts are "stammerings and fears".  Press on, even when you don't feel like it and even when you feel inadequate.


He teaches by giving not only thoughts of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the great Intercessor. A. Murray

Father, breathe in me the spirit of prayer. Give me Your thoughts, Your word and Your holy life filling me and flowing out of me to those that are in need. It is only as I surrender to Your power in my life that I am able to pray for others with persistence. Lord, keep me faithful to pray for those around me and for Your work here on earth.

Colossians 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Murray Meditations: The All Encompassing Gift

Luke 11:13
If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

There is a stretch of the Oregon coast that I have come to know and love very well. On this particular drive, one can catch a glimpse of beauty at every turn. My daughter, Michaela, and I wandered this twenty-five mile route almost every day that we stayed in Florence. 


Part of the allure is the ever present possibility that one may see a whale. Every scenic pull out could be the stage of a grand drama, mama and baby on their migration route to Alaska! It has been said that, during a typical whale watch week, as many as 1,000 plus sightings could occur.  We were there at precisely the prime viewing week and anticipation of catching a glimpse was high.
 
Even deeper than my longing to catch a glimpse of a grey whale was my longing to catch a glimpse of the Holy Spirit. While my intellect knows that I have the fullness of the Spirit living within me and have had since I was a small child, my heart longs for a fuller understanding of just exactly what this filling means for everyday practical living. How does God speak to me? What gift does He plan to bestow and use for His glory? Do I live in the fullness of His power?

Somehow, I think not. I know there is more. In Andrew Murray's book, The School of Prayer, he teaches us that the first, highest, and all encompassing gift that Jesus gives is His Spirit. 

Galatians 4:6
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!"



Surely if there is one prayer that should draw us to the Father's throne and keep us there, it is this: for the Holy Spirit, whom we as children have received, to stream into us and out from us in greater fullness. A. Murray

I am on a quest for a greater fullness of the Holy Spirit. Murray believed that one thing is needed to be complete and whole: to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes, please! I want some more. More of His grace, more of His fruit, more of His gifts, more of His power, more of His peace. You get the idea.  


Even though I am looking for a feeling or a tangible experience of God's filling, I know that this prayer, this longing is a spiritual act of faith. In faith, believing that He will do everything that He has promised abundantly and beyond all that I can imagine, I say with thanksgiving "You do fill me and You will fill me as I surrender to Your leading and cling to Your promises".


Let us continue steadfast in this faith. On the strength of God's word we know that we have what we ask. Let us, with thanksgiving that we have been heard, with thanksgiving for what we have received and taken and now hold as ours, continue steadfast in believing prayer that the blessing, which has already been given us, and which we hold in faith, may break through and fill our whole being. A. Murray

Oh, Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

 St. Augustine