GOD NEEDS TIME

“If you are seeking, it is because he has found you, it is because he has begun. If you happen to go somewhere and pray, you should burst with joy, saying, “God is so alive in me that he has already led me this far.” And God knows how many obstacles had to be overcome! Then if you sit down and stay long enough, you are finally going to know what he wanted to tell you, what he wanted to give you. To pray is to put yourself at the disposal of God for him to be able once to do in us what he wants to do all the time. For him to be able to say once what he wants to tell us all the time and what we never leave him the time, the leisure, to say. God needs time, a great deal of time, because he has much to tell us and much to do in us,” wrote Louis Evely (1910-1985).

One of the most profound things I have ever learned concerning prayer is not that I prayed… but that the Lord is pleased when I simply show up to be with him. Most of “the prayer” is the presence. Once we taste the presence it does not seem so important to say anything or hear anything. Beyond the presence all else seems to be a bonus.

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Jesus