Abiding Fellowship, part 8

Jesus once said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10 
 

I had a minister friend once that died of cancer. His death was long in coming and so, in the midst of dying, he wrote his memoirs. He wrote all about his ministry in Africa and various parts of the world, but when it came to writing about his prayer life, he said this: “I was never the type of person to actually spend a lot of time in prayer. But rarely was there a moment in my life when I was not god-minded.” In other words, he was saying that he thought about God all the time, but never really sat down to spend time with Him. 
 

It sounds good to be god-minded, however, how would that sound if he were writing about his relationship with his wife? Suppose he wrote, in regard to his marriage and said, “Concerning my wife, I was not the type of person to actually spend time with my wife, but I rarely found myself not thinking about her.”  You can be married and not have a closeness with your mate at all, just like you can be saved and not actually desire to spend any time in Christ's presence.
 

This is a very common attitude. Somehow, we have come to believe that reading the Bible is the same as prayer. We somehow think it accomplishes the same thing in our relationship with God as prayer does – but it does not. There must be more than just knowledge of God and theology, there must be a knowing of God that can come by no other means than spending time in His presence. 
 

I have a friend who has been reading a book called, “Like a Mighty Wind,” by Mel Tari. My friend is encouraging me to get I a copy to read as well. The book is about the revival that swept through Indonesia in the 1970’s. Mel Tari was only 18 years old when the revival hit but God used him mightily. Eventually the Lord sent him to the US to preach and share about what was going on in his country. 

I’m going to share something from a chapter in that book (which my friend shared with me) because it relates to spiritual capacity. We’ll start with that quote tomorrow. 

Continued tomorrow