Quote from the radio series, How To Pray and Get What You Pray For. When we come to God He does not scold us, He welcomes us. If anything He says, “Why have you waited so long?” There’s a beautiful picture of how God welcomes us when we come in the 15th chapter of Luke’s gospel. It’s the well-known story of the Prodigal Son who’d strayed away from home, wasted all his living, got himself into real deep trouble and ended up absolutely down and out, totally broke with no resources. And when he came to the end of all that his thought was, “I’d better go back home. Perhaps my father will receive me. I couldn’t ask him to take me back as a son, but I could ask him to take me as one of his hired hands.” And so it says in Luke 15 verse 20: 20 “So he got up and went to his father. [Now I want you to notice how his father received him.] But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (NIV) See what a welcome he got as soon as he was willing to turn around and go back home? He never had a chance to say “make me as one of your hired servants,” because before that, his father was kissing him and welcoming him back as a child. That’s a beautiful picture of how God receives us. He doesn’t scold us, He doesn’t blame us, He isn’t stern and distant. He’s loving and warm and gracious. When we get that picture of God, it altogether changes the way we pray.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 19:00:00 +0000