Dude, I Get It Now!

As I've been looking more into this fellowship thing, I was really thinking yesterday what it is and how do I do it. A few days prior I looked up prayer in the "quotable" to see what Oswald Chambers had to say about it since it's one of the ways we fellowship with God. Here's what I found.

"The time a Christian gives to prayer and communion with God is not meant for his natural life, but meant to nourish the life of the Son of God in him." Also "We hear it said that 'Prayer alters things'; prayer not so much alters things as alters the man who prays. When I am born from above the life of the Son of God is born in me, and I have to take time to nourish that life. The essential meaning of prayer is that it nourishes the life of the Son of God in me and enables Him to manifest Himself in my mortal flesh."

I'll admit I didn't quite understand that when I first read it. Infact I thought prayer was for me, for nurturing me, making me flourish. At the statement of "prayer is for nourishing the life of Christ in me" the What About Me monster reared it's ugly head. I let it go for the time being assuming understanding would eventually come, and boy did it.

As I was laying in bed last night unable to sleep because of the grunting and girgling wart hogg next to me (Jim snoring), I was chewing on my "cud" of the day. Hebrews 4:12 came to my mind - "For the word of God is alive and full of power; sharper than any two edged sword, penetrating to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, exposing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart." I always thought that I wielded the sword (Word of God) in my life to "cut" out all that's not like Christ. But it hit me that Christ is the one who wields the sword of His word, not me. Can you imagine the hack job I would do to myself if it were mine to wield at will? I'd be walking around with a spiritual mullet for all I knew.
 Before hand I found the image of Christ changing me to feel very stifling. I was to take the word of God and use it to create Christ's likeness in me and somehow try to conform myself into His likeness. I felt like I won an all expense paid trip to paradise but could only take one bag with me. (That's a nightmare that can make any woman wake up in the night in a cold sweat) All the things about me that my husband first fell in love with, or makes my friends laugh until they cry, or makes my Dad shake his head as he unsuccessfully tries not to laugh at me (I get it from mom by the way), and one of my favorites is my making my children give me that "what's wrong with you look", Christ is not trying to stifle or smother it with His likeness but perfect it. Make all that's uniquely me even better by having His likeness shine through.

 Christ doesn't want to make me into a colorless drone marching to "Onward Christian Soldiers". By nourishing and focusing on Christ's resurrected life in me through fellowship and communion with Him lets His likeness manifest itself in me while perfecting the person He created and then stripping away all that remains.

So why then do we get our panties in such a bunch when posed with the thought of taking our focus off ourselves and putting it on Christ, when in Reality it brings us so much freedom. If I have any job to do, it is to allow God to nourish and minister to the life of His Son in me.

 I can for the first time say with confidence and understanding, "It is no longer I that lives but He that lives in me".