Living below always carries with it the element of the unknown. We like to know, we desire to understand, we crave concrete clarity on just about everything. Down here we need contracts, guarantees, warranties, promissory notes and prenuptials. Our culture in the western hemisphere is saturated with the sound of legalese on every corner. The main reason for this is because there is not any one thing that binds us to a sense of security. So we have to create it ourselves. Spencer Tracy helped us all to learn in 1963 that It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. That reality hasn’t improved in the last 52 years.
So this morning I run into a room where there is a throne. That throne is occupied. The occupant is the Lamb of God. From His glorious place, high above everything that is, the Lamb rules & reigns. There are no stacks of written guarantees or binding contracts there for He is obligated to nobody. It is just the Lamb, His throne and the promise which has come from Him. He is making all things new and upholding all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). He is supreme, sovereign and securing. He is so very good and has welcomed any and all who will look to Him in surrendered trust. This Lamb is Jesus Christ the Lord and He is infinitely, immeasurably kind. He is my King and He is my security. Today, our brother, Brennan Manning, leads us in a prayer of trusting this Lamb who occupies the throne of Heaven. His prayer expresses my heart on this Sunday morning. You may wish to let it speak on your behalf too.
“Abba, I surrender my will and my life to You today, without reservation and with humble confidence, for You are my loving Father. Set me free from self-consciousness, from anxiety about tomorrow, and from the tyranny of the approval and disapproval of others, that I may find joy and delight simply and solely in pleasing You. May my inner freedom be a compelling sign of your presence, your peace, your power, and your love. Let your plan for my life and the lives of all your children gracefully unfold one day at a time. I love You with all my heart, and I place all my confidence in You, for You are my Abba.” – Brennan Manning
Dear Jeff,
regarding this particular blog, quoting a prayer of Brennan Manning, I have some concerns over quoting such an advocate of the spiritual contemplative monasticism; I recommend you read some background to the thinking of these types-see lighthouse trails -booklet by John Caddock “Brennan Manning’s “New Monks” and other dangerous contemplative monasticism”.
I hope to goodness one is not going down the road of the “contemplative spirituality”.
Yours in true concern, Richard Joseph