Jim
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 Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:25 pm Post subject: first steps of faith |
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I guess I've always had an adventurous spirit. When I was 10 or 11, I had
explored quite a bit of the city of Houston, Texas where I lived. I would
be gone all day sometimes on my bicycle. Soon I was staying out all night.
By the time I was 15 years old, I was already out hitch-hiking across the
United States. I went up to Dallas, over into Louisiana, out to Denver,
Colorado. I went to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. I went up and down
the coast of California more than once.
I was not a real Christian, even though I had been baptized, joining a
Baptist church in Houston, when I was 10. I didn't actually attend church
very often, and always felt uncomfortable whenever I did. I hated Sunday
School classes, and I hated the regular church services even more.
But I did believe in God. And I had a mild curiosity about the Bible.
I remember reading through the book of Revelation (the last book in the New
Testament), down in Tucson, Arizona, while on my way to the West Coast. I
was spending the night there at the Salvation Army, and had some idle time
while waiting to eat dinner. About all they had to read in the place was the
Holy Bible. There were lots of Bibles everywhere. The book of Revelation was
no easier for me to understand in those days than anything else in the
Bible. But it sure made for some fascinating reading.
I was not a person of prayer, really. I was always out late at night,
breaking the law in some way. There were nights that I spent running and
hiding from police all night long. My crimes were usually foolish, childish
things. I would break into buildings and offices. I would talk my buddies
into helping me steal a car. We also stole lots of hubcaps, because we had a
good market for them. And we were always doing some kind of drugs.
Senseless, childish things that can ruin a life for good.
No, I was not a person of faith and prayer. But I did always pray before I
would set out on the road, hitch-hiking. I was afraid, I guess, to just try
and go it alone. I knew I was a sinner. I knew that I didn't deserve any
favors or anything good from God. But I would pray anyway, asking God to
watch over me. I owned very little in the world. Not many clothes. Not much
of anything else. I did own a few poems and a science fiction story I had
written when I was younger. So I would also pray that God would watch over
those things while I was gone, so that no one would throw them away.
I remember praying, "Lord, I commit my life and my soul into Your hands for
this whole trip. Please watch over me and keep me safe until I return. And I
commit these things that I own into Your hands, and I pray that you'll keep
them for me until I return." That was about it. Nothing really fancy or
flowery.
I seldom took any money with me when I hit the road. I seldom had much to
take. I sometimes took a small trumpet case with a change of clothing in it.
I never worried about eating or shelter. Things seemed to always work out. I
could always work for my food, if needed. Businesses always had a lot to
sweep off, or other cleaning up to do. And I was not afraid to sleep
outside, as I did on several occasions. God was gracious and kind, watching
over me in all the miles I that roamed in those days.
It would be years before I finally turned my whole life over to the Lord
Jesus. And it would be more years before I began to understand the
importance of the prayers I had been praying as a young teen. God had
listened to my prayers, seeing into my heart, and He had taken hold of my
fragile life, more and more, with every prayer I prayed. In fact, with each
prayer, committing myself to God's care, I was actually giving Him
permission to work in my life, to take hold of and keep my very soul.
I didn't understand that when I was fifteen. But God did.
David the King also learned to pray similar prayers. At one point he wrote a
psalm that says:
"Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me,
O LORD God of truth." (Psalm 30:5)
I still pray the same kinds of prayers, for myself and for many others. I
pray before any trip -- even short drives across town. And I pray for the
community I live in before I go to sleep at night. And I pray for various
people I see during the day, or people I may encounter through business, or
the internet, and so on. I pray for the people I see on TV, and for people I
read about in various publications. I commit many things into God's care
now, just as I had started doing in my youth.
We all need such prayers. We all benefit from having others commit us to
God's care and keeping. The Lord is faithful to keep all that's committed to
Him, just as Paul writes in his letter to Timothy: "...I am not ashamed, for
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I
have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12)
God keeps the things we commit to Him. God is not like men who will soon
look for a reason to go back on what they've agreed to do. In fact, the
Bible says, "God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that
he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he
spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19; and also see 1 Samuel
15:29)
It's good, then, to teach our children -- and our unsaved friends -- to pray
to God, and to commit themselves into His care whenever they're worried
about a situation or circumstance over which they know they have no control.
God is listening. God often acts in such circumstances to powerfully reveal
His own hand at work in response to prayer. And through such experiences
people can learn to have a greater faith in God. Also, they often begin --
through such prayers -- a chain of events that can lead to their own
salvation.
God loves people. He's alive and powerful, able to intervene in many
different ways. Jesus spent His entire public ministry teaching people
(through word and example) to pray in simple faith, and to commit all things
to God. He clearly taught anyone who would listen to "have faith in God."
Why make the mistake, then, of trying to go it alone when you face the
challenges and difficulties of life? Commit all things to God in prayer
(Philippians 4:6 & 7). And do not fail those around you by neglecting to
commit them and their needs also to the Lord in prayer. I know that I can
always use your prayers.
Trust in God, and let us learn together to commit all things -- and all
people -- into His wonderful care.
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high
positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and dignity." (1 Timothy 2:1,2)
Jim
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