Jesus is the greatest teacher who ever lived. One of Jesus' techniques was to relate spiritual ideas to common everyday life. Pensamientos (afterthought) is an attempt to follow Jesus' method of teaching. Its title is in Spanish because we recognize the importance of multi-culturalism. We hope to translate some of these messages into Spanish soon.

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Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)

Autumn Meditation

I took most of the day Wednesday for a day of reflection and meditation. I went to a park and spent time praising God and reviewing his work and leading in my life. God is good. He is a powerful God, and if we will take time to listen to him, he will speak to us. As I walked beneath huge oaks and maples in full autumn splendor, listened to the wind gently rustle the leaves, and felt the warmth of the sunshine on my face I confessed to the Lord that it had been far too long since I had communed with him in such a deep and meaningful way.

I first began meeting with God like this in 1980 in California. I would take my Bible and walk out into the hills and fields that surrounded the town where I lived. God became very real to me during those walks and times of meditation. Alone with God I could praise him at the top of my voice. I could shout his praises. I could jump and dance with praise and exaltation. I also would fall on my face in humility and confession. Through the years as I moved from place to place I found other places of quiet refuge. In Dallas I would go to the soccer fields at a local community college. In Florida I walked the fire trails among the slush pines on property that belonged to the paper company. In Wisconsin I discovered paths through a small patch of woods behind the high school where huge rocks gave me a clear spot from which I could view the stars on a cloudless night to meditate on God's awesome power and splendor. In Ohio I walked lonely country roads and escaped into gullies made by small streams where I could sit for a quiet hour of undisturbed prayer.

God did not make man to live isolated from his natural surroundings. God made us from the earth. The Bible tells us that "the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7)." ¹ The Bible says that Jesus often prayed outside. We read that "in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there (Mark 1:35)." The Bible says that this was Jesus' normal and usual place to pray. Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness and pray (Luke 5:16)." At times Jesus would go outside and pray all night. We read that Jesus "went off to the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12)."

Not all of us, however, can so easily find a place outside to meet with God. Those of us who live in a crowded urban area may find that it is difficult to get outside to pray. So we pray when and where we can. We can pray in the shower as we get ready for work or school. We can pray in the car as we drive to work. We can read our Bible on our lunch break or during our commute as we sit on the bus or on the train. We can pray almost anywhere, anytime. Yet as important and significant as these times can be we need regular doses of quiet time in a quiet place alone with God in prayer and in his word. So we need to find a special quiet place in our home or apartment. As Jesus said, "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:6)." This "inner room" was a secluded storage room or closet that was closed off from the rest of the house and used to store private and valuable treasures and belongings. Into this "secret room" is where Jesus told us to meet with our heavenly father.

The most important lesson for us to learn about a place of prayer is that we need a place to get alone with God. My hope for each of you is that you can find such a quiet time and place where you can commune with the Almighty and allow his spirit to speak to you during your private prayer time.

Pastor Steve

November 4, 2006

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Footnotes

¹ Genesis 2:7, NASB (New American Standard Bible). Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

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Find more afterthoughts at Mas Pensamientos
(more afterthoughts)

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