Enjoying God!

This is Amy Thomas from the masculine journey podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting in just seconds.

Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing The Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network encouraging prayer, God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything, and encouraging prayer Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling product and many other books on prayer provides weekly biblical insight help you learn to mom and now days, encouraging prayer and James want to share with our listeners is Lewis you share with me right before we went on the air okay will rob just yesterday Lewis book letters to Malcolm chiefly on prayer is writing about why we don't pray more and he says now. The disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer really disquieting thing that should have to be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

And if you do very few minutes we now spend in conversation with God our burden to us rather than the light.

What I love that because now that we should not see prayer as a duty we need to see it really is in the light exactly it. What I thought would be a great topic for us to discuss today. First, just ask do you enjoy God when you break it, if you do, how do you do it Lewis was quoting the Westminster divine 20 said that we were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever and what they actually wrote the Westminster catechism was that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. So it's not just what we were born for its what were meant for every day as we live.

Why don't we see it that we mean why do we sometimes are more often than we care. We make prayer out to be some kind of a chore really Lewis made that same observation rally in that same letter he wrote this very on Well let's now. At any rate come clean. He says prayer is irksome an excuse to admit it is never unwelcome when it is over.

This cast the feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day we are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer not what were reading a novel or involved in a crossword any trifle is enough to distract us and we know that we are not alluding is a great description of how we can do so many things other than just pray it. Lewis points out that one of the main reason for this is the sinful nature that we struggle with, and alludes to the fact that this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid themselves from God so you know we don't like to be naked if you will port and yeah if we were perfected. Prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday please God. It will be so his point in all of this is that we are meant to grow into this more and more into him more and more delight in him. This is a part of what Jesus said about being our friend Chrissy tells us to pray that if we do, he commands. We will be his friends but just look at the language he uses. You are my friends and you know we enjoy spending time with our friends and that's the very thing really. He wants for us exactly that's a great way to put it.

Lewis is right that this is something that God is working out tonight.

I just want to encourage our listeners investigate work on enjoying God when you pray tell him you want to. Usually when Christians talk about delighting in the Lord to go straight to obedience, which of course is vital. They don't belong to the next step of just being a friend to him in his presence.

Some like to talk about the serious duty of the later theologians might put it, but I think that Lewis is right that we need to see it as less of a duty or chore and just embrace it for what it is a blessing you just think of all the Psalms talk about being joyful and rejoicing in him that that's really what they're about just being a friend to God enjoying him. That's what Jesus is going when he says you are my friends and it doesn't dishonor him. This is neutralizing God and seeing him as a body, it's about boiling our response down in the simplest way to loving him, treasuring him wanting to be close to him and that actually exalted Sejanus but my fist look like when we spend time with God in prayer. You talk about the how of this. I think it helps to think about something else. Jesus said about true false disciples in Matthew seven.

Some who did all these lofty things in his name came to and then he says I never knew you.

So that's got to be our goal right knowing him.

That means not only spending time in his word just learning to be with him. So we start there. Were we are and then we think of him as our friend and by the way that that friendship will lead us to greater obedience because we won't want to hurt our friends heart right but this is where it gets very childlike, very simple. Let your heart be happy because of the tell them you want to ask for his help with it. But just do it just go there, you know, anything that this way may sound like a funny analogy, but imagine if your dog could talk.

If I were to say to my 90 pound chocolate lab Max Max. Why do you love me you might say that I love you because I love you I love you because you're you know it's just… Nature to love and that's our new nature in Christ so you know the lower animals have wrist is simple but profound in its own way and I think we can look up a lot from how we can think about the way they like to be is right no matter where we are. Yesterday I was standing up on the tall ladder cleaning a roof and I looked down and again a tall ladder and there is Max just sitting there looking right up to meet his. He just enjoys being with me and and that's where we need to grow in God's simplest and most simple ways. So some days are better than others, but God will help us in and one day we will see Jesus face to face and then you know it should be just like continuing the conversation we already started and I have a feeling it'll start with this.

This laugh of recognition and a smile.

Really looking forward to that we do.

But you know because were still learning how this works. Let's run doing now and and asked for his help. Father, help us Lord Jesus helpless Holy Spirit help but we want to ensure you and we do Lord we love you all, we want to enjoy you more and more. Thank you. One, thank you want to be our friend. Thank you for us. Help us to hear more from Pastor James by visiting the website James Banks.org or by visiting these church in Durham, North Carolina.

May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network