Receiving God's Thoughts

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."   Ephesians  4:31

     "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,  declares the Lord."                                                                                                                                                Isaiah  55:8

     A mother was tucking her young son into bed.  "Have you said your prayers?"  she asked.  "No," the boy replied.  "Why not?"  the mother asked.  "Because there was nothing I wanted."

     We may smile at that story, but children aren't the only ones to treat prayer as primarily a way of getting what they want.  God does want us to bring our needs to Him in prayer, but prayer is more than that.  We come in prayer not to get God to do our will, but to open ourselves to doing His will.

     Our time of reflecting on God's Word is a chance to get away from our own words and thoughts to receive God's thoughts, to learn from Him.

     In prayer we open ourselves "to a transformation of conscience and consciousness with all that can lead to.  One's life will never be the same again"  (Basil Pennington).  Our time of prayer may lead us to see ourselves or others in a new light.  We may receive a new insight, or peace of mind, or a call to a specific action.

     Sometimes it may seem that we receive nothing from our time of prayer.  That's all right too.  Sometimes it's enough just to be close to God, just because we love Him.