Luke 6:12-19
“Notice what you notice.” Two things struck me this morning and they are strikingly interconnected. At the beginning of our reading we see that …all night He continued in prayer to God (v. 12). Then at the end of this section we read that power came out from Him and He healed them all (v. 19). Prayer in, power out. A really good combination to follow!
I recall a time years ago, probably within the first ten years of our marriage, when we felt like we were no longer growing spiritually. We had left a powerful church in Virginia and moved to Texas – to a good church, but not nearly as strong. Plus we had left behind a strong “cell group” from the University of Maryland that had been strength and nourishment for us for years. So naturally we figured that our spiritual growth might be lacking. Then I realized something else: we had young children, the oldest maybe six years old. It dawned on me that we were pouring so much of ourselves into our kids that we were feeling ourselves being drained. I don’t recall much of what we did in particular to “grow” out of that condition; the one thing that I do recall was Carol joining what became a three-year study of Mark’s Gospel. Eventually the kids did their own growing and we moved on. I’m guessing that a major prayer effort on our part back then could have made a big difference in that spiritual downturn. Prayer in, power out!
Slava Bohu!