No prayer time wasted

Many times there are distractions to living in the Presence, don’t to try to resist them, it only makes them stronger.
Just gently focus on them and as they fade, then as gently return your mind to The Lord’s life in meditation.
You might do this the whole time and think it was a waste of time, but it isn’t. For as many times as you returned, you made a loving act of Will towards to Lord. That’s not wasted, He sees it.
You made more progress even.
Besides, every prayer time is a sacrifice of your time to the Lord, He sees that. You could have been drinking beer and watching the monster trucks like everyone else. Many spend their time seeking shallow distractions and stupidities deliberately.
We have a finite amount of time and it is precious and no one knows this better than Jesus.

The fact that you are making the time, is important. Also throughout the day when you are busy you can glance up to Jesus at moments.
Over time it becomes continuous no matter what you are doing, there is this constant fire of love that we tend.
This time we spend in prayer is the oil in the lamp, you can not purchase it when you need it and have run out. The precious oil, is the precious time you sacrificed to the Lord in prayer to be in His Presence.
When the Lord returns by the second coming or by death, He will find you joyfully waiting and your lamp will be lit.

 

Jesus instructs us more in peace and silence, He doesn’t need the noise of words. That still small voice is a voice without words, it’s heart to heart communication, and much more is said. It is poetic, and a far superior way of communication, words are crude compared to this.
That voice is what prompts us to do or stops us from doing or saying when our normal inclination is the opposite.

If you are at peace interiorly, yet don’t have the strong feeling of the Presence, that is Jesus at rest in us. He is embedding Himself deeper in the home He has created in us.

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

We are the place where Lord can rest His head. So much is communicated in Love, Faith and Trust in rest. We rest in Him and He rests in us.
All this in silence, when words and activity would only disturb.

When Jesus rests in us, He is giving us an example of how to Love and Trust, so that we can Love and Trust completely by rest in Him. He is showing us, not lecturing us.

Let Jesus rest, tend him in silence and make sure nothing disturbs His rest.

Taken by Grace and holding infant Jesus at Bethlehem, you aren’t saying anything by words, but everything is being said by Jesus and you, and nothing unsaid.

Taken by Grace and holding Jesus body taken down from the Cross, there are no words, but everything is being said by Jesus and you, and nothing unsaid.

The world does not want that intimacy, but Jesus wants us to Love Him with all our Heart, Mind and persistence, and this is how we do it.

 

This intimacy Jesus has with us is to bring about unity, true unity.

“It is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me “

Jesus thinking in your thoughts.

Jesus seeing through your eyes.

Jesus speaking through your mouth.

Jesus doing with your hands.

Jesus walking in your walking.

Impossible. No. We were made for this from all eternity.

You know when you do and say a thing, and when He says and does a thing, it is totally different.

If you find yourself snarling and unloving, worried and joyless, you back in your human will. Stop, tell Jesus you are sorry, and that you hand over your human will again and ask for His Holy Divine Will to Reign in you again.

“ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.“

Worry, anger etc is all self indulgence, to gratify self. Deny self and your human will like an old jacket, take the old stupid thing off. You have to, to put on Christ Jesus.

Putting on Jesus is a day by day, moment by moment thing, for whatever number of issues each of us has.

There is discipline to being a disciple of Jesus, and this is the constant return from your human will, to His Holy Will. It is the rising from your fall, it is thinking the better of it as a prodigal in the human will, and returning to the order of The Father’s House.

We cannot robe ourselves in His Holy Will, we can only come back with sorrow, and the desire in our hearts and The Father who sees us from a long way off will order that we be robed, adorned, and shod in His Holy Will.

All the allurements of the world turn to pig husks to the son that comes to his senses.

 

There is something that is beyond words that can’t be expressed in our words.

 

When we are taken by Grace we aren’t just meditating anymore, we are experiencing. Love is Light, Joy is a melody for instance.

Meditating on the word goes so far, because it’s our effort, but Grace carries us far beyond.

 

Trust Jesus to act as He desires to act, not as you desire Him to act.

If we have handed over full sovereignty, then it is Jesus acting freely, we aren’t cramping His style in anyway.

Jesus is very sensitive to this. Are you trying to take back over, are you looking over His shoulder to inspect whether He is doing things properly.

This is distrust. Total Trust doesn’t do that.

No half measures in hand over, or even 99%. Total Trust.

That Great Peace is what we must maintain by Trust.

Jesus thoughts and ways are above our thoughts and ways.

People get disheartened because they go out with the wrong expectations and feel let down.

The simpler the person, the easier this lesson is learned. No over thinking, just a deep abiding trust that Jesus will do as He intends to do.

When a child practices on training wheels to ride a bike, he starts totally relying on his outriggers to keep him upright. He trusts what he has been told that one day something like magic will happen and he will be able to ride without training wheels.
One day something like magic does happen, all the child’s trust in what he was told is totally vindicated. He finds himself riding the bike and his training wheels are no longer touching the ground. He is proud of himself that he persisted in trust, even after so many tears, failures and doubts. And orders that those redundant vestiges be removed from his bike immediately.

As we get older and cynical, the less we can be inclined to truly believe. We’ve lived life, we’ve seen things right, we have given up our childish illusions but have we also thrown out our childlike trust with it.
We have shouldered great responsibility, inflicting our wills on the world to conquer and accumulate by force of our will.

So accustomed have we become to our will being in charge, that we don’t leave anything to chance or trust.

We think in terms of not leaving to ‘chance’, but we never leave anything to Divine Providence either.
Our disposition is always wary to some degree.

When we go out with the disposition of a child, that Jesus can and will act through us, He will act through us.

Is that too simple? Then why is it so hard. We make it hard by the terms, conditions and stipulations in our hearts.

Practice Trust, constantly tell Jesus you Trust Him, and go out with that singular thought in your heart and mind. Nothing else.

Then one day you will see Jesus act and do with His power, it will no longer be you that lives, says and does, but Christ who lives, says and does in you and through you. You will see the big difference between the way you operate and the way He operates.
It will be that great moment when your training wheels are no longer touching the ground, and you understand the disposition you must maintain as the child understands the balance he must maintain on his bike.

Trust further, Trust deeper in Jesus.

 

Jesus directs everything if we trust, and that trust is no better manifested but being in His constant Presence with no thought or awareness of ourselves, or our cares.
Our souls are fixated on Him.

Feeling sorry for ourselves is the opposite disposition, it has everything wrong with it.

“ Make no provision for the flesh “

Feeling sorry for yourself, is your discontent at God and His care, it is proud, it is ungrateful for the blessings He has already given you, blessings you still aren’t nearly worthy of.

‘ Things could be better ‘ yes, but things could be far worse.

Many people never get to understand why they even exist, they never know Jesus, they live by their wits and appetites, the shallowest existence of all.

Our Trust is an ever thankful Trust, not desiring to be anywhere other than where Jesus has placed us to do His Will.

Without Jesus, we were already condemned from the start, think of that often. Without Jesus, this world would only be a foretaste of the hell to come.

Knowing this is the humble baseline fallen creatures need to approach with, not take for granted the incredible goodness, mercy, love and blessings that have already been given.

It is very unpleasant when Jesus shows us ourselves and what we actually deserve. We see Him in a much more radiant light however. We ask how He could even look at us, let alone love us.
We love to gaze at His endless holiness, virtues and perfections, but when we see ourselves in front of that, we have a total collapse of pride, and it humbles us to under the dust. Very painful to see how lacking in love we are, how cold we are and lacking in virtue. Exposure to raw love and perfection would make this life a misery, we can only get glimpses of it. It shows us how low we actually are.

“ what is mortal man that you should care for him.” We honestly and from the depths of our soul ask this question when we are shown.

The Lord in His great love and mercy sees the fallen creature, wings mired in mud, sinking to its doom and He lifts it out, cleans it and plans a happy eternal future for it, giving His own life’s blood to it.
He wants the creature to stop struggling in His hands, and look upon His Face to submit to His care completely in Trust.

 

Jesus knows when we get very weary and run down, but each time in prayer He builds us up with His Love and Grace.

Meditating on Jesus Life, I was taken again by Grace to breakfast with Him on the shore of Galilee.
Been through an ordeal or two and running on autopilot and really feeling my human weakness, Jesus shows up unexpectedly to console and just be with me in loving friendship.

Even when we don’t feel that He is near, He is even nearer. But because we are weak and weary from labour and because of His Love, He will cook us breakfast and serve us and tell us to simply rest. Just go with the flow when it happens, recognise it and don’t resist, don’t let your will resist the winds of Grace.

Jesus isn’t just the King of kings, Lord of lords, He is the Friend of friends. He is the best Friend we never deserved.

The Joy Jesus brings, even in sad times is amazing, He blasts dejection and lifts us far from the drudgery of everyday life, illness, worries, and grief.

When He takes us away by Grace, we should be so thankful to Him, He doesn’t owe it to us, it’s only because of His Great Love. Jesus thank you for everything.

We are nasty and unloving of ourselves, but His Presence animates is to be like Him, He powers us by just who He Is.
We have to refuel from the source, Jesus is the source of all Love, Peace and Joy.

I have been crying a lot after this last time. I have been asking Jesus to accept my thanksgiving as if He had made perfect thanksgiving for me in my place. Thanksgiving for all His Love and Goodness and Mercy on me.
Only Jesus can make perfect thanksgiving. I think it is very important, but I also think we are given Eternity, because we need Eternity to be able to thank and praise God for all He has done for us.

 

After we have offered all of ourselves to The Father through Jesus, all of our work has Jesus perfection on it.
Jesus does, not us. Jesus does, not us, we are not acceptable to The Father, only Jesus is acceptable to The Father, The Father only sees Jesus, only in and because of Jesus, and in Jesus Holy Name can we approach The Father.

Jesus is in us, and we are in Jesus, we are sons and heirs because of Jesus. When The Father sees us, He sees Jesus, all that belongs to The Father belongs to us through Jesus.

“ and greater things shall yea do, because I go to The Father “

Your life is not your own, your works are not your own, all belongs to Jesus.

 

Don’t worry about the future, have a joyful expectation of Jesus blessings.
Don’t fret over the past, but be thankful for what you have received.

Right here and now, Jesus is present with all His Love and Grace.

Be present with Jesus in you, say Jesus I love you, Jesus I trust you.

Saying Jesus Name makes Him present and nearer to you, your soul perceives Him far clearer, even if your mind does not.
He is always there in our hearts, but we are not always there with Him.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

Saying Jesus Name in prayer often, our hearts become fixed on Him and we perceive Him, we recognise Him.

That moment of recognition is the pure heart, a heart that has no other object of its affection other than Jesus.

“ It is The Lord “

In that state we are taken by Grace, time doesn’t matter anymore, whether a second has past or many hours, we are with The Lord. He sustains us and fills us up with His Love and strength that radiates from Him.

We seek always to return to His Holy Presence because we grow cold and dark and of the world if we don’t.

When we meditate on Jesus life in the word, Jesus comes off the page and into our hearts. We aren’t just reading about Jesus, Jesus becomes present to us.

We are with Jesus in His agony on the Cross, not just reading about what happened to Him, we are truly there with Him.

His Love draws us to Him.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

By Love we are made present to Him, Love is Eternal, time and space doesn’t bar it or diminish its power.

Even when we sleep, our hearts are awake and continue in contemplation and love of Jesus. But we must actively maintain time daily to return to Jesus Presence.

 

Surrendering to God as you are, all your faults and failings, is the best start to prayer.
Humility invites Grace to flood us, it stirs the heavens to form enormous clouds. Humility is the season of rains, it calls out for help and salvation from on high like nothing else.

“then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”

Pride is the dry season, the heavens close, the land drys up, justice scorches relentlessly and without mercy what remains, with only terror at the prospect of night.

When we finally kneel before The Lord there is distant thunder, bowing our heads in contrition there is a cool fresh breeze, with our tears of remorse at who we offended comes the rains of Grace.

When we humble ourselves before The Lord, that is the season He sends His rains. That is when we will yield fruit.

 

Our smile is from our mouth, Jesus smile is from our soul, His genuine Love and Mercy goes out with it.
Just Jesus Presence in us calms people’s storms, raises people’s hearts and minds to eternal things.
Jesus does not need vast armies of zealots to proclaim Him, He needs humble nothing donkeys to bear Him to others.

Unless we become as little donkeys, we cannot bear Jesus to others.

Jesus has our reigns and directs us by His Providence when we are fully disposed and docile, everything is by His Providence and is perfectly anticipated by His Love.
We could never arrange circumstances and timing as He does. He is truly in charge.

Jesus visits this world by our humble carriage, and by the same humble means He fixes things unseen by the world. Quietly and humbly working through the nobodies, not the powerful, proud, loud rebellious men, with their own ideas and ways.

When we bring ourselves we bring a diseased beggar, when we bring Jesus, we bring Love, Peace and Joy, we bring the Kingdom and Treasure of Heaven to Earth.

 

Pray with Jesus Confidence and Love to The Father.

“ Lord Jesus, I only have human confidence and love, I am very poor, I appropriate your confidence and Love of The Father as I pray with your merits and your righteousness ”

Our love is weak and inconstant and divided. We see the difference between our love and Jesus Love, so does The Father. There is no comparison.
Jesus is Singular in His focus,

The spiritual economy runs by appropriation, we have to borrow the amount to give the appropriate Love back to The Father.

We are cold, judgemental, cruel and brutal, and we have no understanding of others, we give one small scrap at a time compared to Jesus, and that’s on our best day.

The trade off of appropriating from Jesus is we receive His sensitivity as well. We see how horrible we are. We see the people we always ignored and neglected.
Seeing ourselves is very painful, but we have to do it before we are sent.
We are scourged and beaten by memory of our own sins.
We can’t be sent unless we see others and ourselves.

Jesus sees the one lost, we don’t, Jesus loves the one lost, we don’t.
Jesus sees everyone’s life from conception, His Knowing infuses us like His Understanding and Love.
Jesus Loves everyone like they were the only ones created and redeemed. Hard to understand, for us impossible, but with Him NOTHING is impossible.

We are given a beautiful opportunity and a terrible responsibility, that none entrusted to us by The Father is lost.

We cry Jesus tears and sweat His Blood when He lives in us. Life takes on a much higher gravity, our lives begin to imitate His, we become a living Sacrifice in this time now.

Our subordinate Cross is in imitation of His, it is our sacrifice of self made with Jesus our High Priest to The Fathers Glory.

“ Deny yourself, take up your Cross and come follow me “

 

Lord Jesus I don’t have any good in me, I lack all the good things and tend towards nothing. I have no right to complain if you didn’t answer my prayers, or left me alone. Unless I have your loving presence, I have no strength and become lukewarm and have no confidence.
When you turn to me I am strengthened, you never change Lord Jesus, always good, always just, always Holy, always wise, doing everything in wisdom and confidence and Love.
When you reach out to help Lord Jesus, everything gets better. When there was no human help you fixed everything effortlessly and only you were there in my darkest suffering. I only want to depend on you, and not trust others for consolation.
When I had no help from others, I had to cling to you Lord, but what is their help compared to the consolations you bring.
Lord Jesus I love you, I trust you, thank you for everything.