INTENTIONS REVEALED

The beginning of prayer and meditation can seem frustrating many times. The things on our minds appear to have to compete with our daily schedules to have a chance of appearing and materializing at all. This is not a new situation for me. There are many mornings that I have to fight my way into His presence and I have lost many of these fights.

One of the great mysteries is learned here: The desire and effort to be in conversation with the Lord can be as valuable as the very presence. Or is the desire also part of the presence? This is simply because our heart is revealed to the Lord and He sees and knows our intentions. He knows when the “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41), and so in His love for us he rewards the genuine heart. It is this actual struggle that makes us into His image like many other things cannot. We see how our decisions are made, how much faith we have and how long we will be patient and quiet. Even to grab the pen and begin to journal can be a display of impatience and competition. It can be a replacement for the authentic life of silence.

To be in communion with the Lord and spend time in prayer, reading, thinking and meditating causes us to lose our image of our self and take on His. This is not an identity lost as much as an identity gained. It is our intentions revealed.

“Keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Jesus