A great deal of the TIME of prayer, of the one in whom God is producing a prayer life, is used in changing the "tides of the soul," so that all the powers of being are flowing God-ward. We are CREATED to GIVE God the
Glory for His Works. This giving is generated in the gratitude of the heart aware of the Mercy and understand- ing of its source.
We are BORN AGAIN to bear the Glory of God for the covering of other souls. The Glory covers the Mercy. We are created in Mercy. We are born again unto Glory; but we have no more REALITY of the Glory of God than we live of the Truth of His Mercy. For God in contact and fellowship with His Creatures is pure Mercy.
That Mercy is Love, portioned into the forms of "Truths," that fulfill and complete the being and the life of the "needy" and the "poor." It is according to how Poor I know myself to be, that I am capable of receiving the "riches of his Mercy." God is RICH IN MERCY. We are to be LIKE HIM.
But we do not become like HIM by our own efforts, nor do we produce anything God-like by our own "minds'' or "works. " We ASK and RECEIVE.
Now, the Pray-er finds himself in an apparently endless volume of self-purposes, and self-thoughts, and self-plans, which all claim precedence over the rights of God. He finds himself in a contest as to whether "SELF" is all important in the temple of his body, or whether God is all important. He finds that in comparison with "SELF," God is almost an UNREALITY - almost, if not quite a nonentity.
Instead of GOD being a Ruler, to say nothing of being a SUPREME RULER, He is ALLOWED a tiny corner from which by "self's" special and expressed permission, He may occasionally venture some slight suggestion concerning the "propriety" of things - providing He does not try to actually upset our own well arranged and adjusted order of things.
Contrary to the idea, often expressed by those who do not understand the deeper levels of the prayer life, that one is seeking and finding great "blessings" and experiences on "mountain tops," the PRAY-ER who sets out in earnest to find the Secret Place of God, finds himself involved in a conflict between his own thoughts and ways, and the Heaven-High Thoughts and Ways of God. He finds himself involved in a process of
transformation from the "strength" to "weakness," from "greatness" to "smallness," from "possessions" to "nothing." AND, if he can "take it," he will some day find himself so "microscopically small," or "little," that he can pass through the "eye of a needle," with SO MUCH ROOM TO SPARE that he never scrapes or bumps anywhere.
That is the "labor" of "entering into rest," and many and varied are the struggles and wrestlings, most of which are due to the utter unlikeness of the "self-mind" to the "Sweet Will of God."
The "Abiding Place" of the triumphant Pray-er is in Matthew.5:3, Poverty of Spirit.
When he eventually learns this first lesson on the "entrance" to the Kingdom, he finds his feet on solid heavenly Rock, with "God Before," "Behind," "Over," "Under," and most glorious of ALL ,"Rising Within."
For the first lesson - Real Poverty of Spirit - brings him to the Divine Beggary of "having nothing," and "knowing nothing"; and when he KNOWS that he HAS NOTHING, and KNOWS NOTHING (as he ought to know it), he begins to understand the meaning of WANTING NOTHING - BUT JESUS. This is the life of Asking and Receiving. No one but the-truly-poor-before-God are really equipped for much asking. No one, who believes we are NOT to be "beggars" of God, EVER finds the Abiding Place of Prayer, for that is the Place Under. It is the helpless "Chick under the Wings." But THERE "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."
Yes, there are blessings unnumbered, and glories untold, for the "Pray-er"; but they are mostly the Marvelous Bread of Life, by which the God-seeker is sustained, and made strong against the overwhelming and crushing
forces, that array themselves against him to keep him OUT of the "Triumphant Lowliness of the Mercy-Passion of The Lamb of God."
Yes, their experiences are supernatural - almost "unlawful to utter"; but they are mainly for the purpose of maintaining Balance, Integrity, Righteousness, in the midst of the Powers of delusion, deceits, and wickedness of exalted self-will.
No one who attains and abides in the Secret Place of Prayer is a "Blessing" seeker. ALL blessing seekers are discouraged and quit long ere reaching the Place of "Asking and Receiving." The only "attainment" is "obtainment," and no one fights through to the ABIDING-under place but the GOD seekers. And that one finds prayer to be the "Breath of the Almighty."
"Blessed are the poor (paupers, beggars) in spirit, for THEIR'S is the Kingdom of Heaven."
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He giveth MORE GRACE to the Lowly!
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