Heart Tracks - Everything

        "As we know Jesus better, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life.....And by that same mighty power He has given us all of His rich and wonderful promises." 2 Peter 1:3-4....... "Everything is present when Jesus is present." T. Austin-Sparks....Just the other day, after I got into my car to drive about 50 miles down the road from my home, I, as I always do, prayed a prayer of covering and protection for the trip.  Immediately I sensed His voice whispering to me, asking me why I needed to do that?  Why did I constantly have to ask Him for protection?  Really, why was I always asking Him to do or give that which He has told us He has already done or given?  Why do I?  Why do you?

      I heard it said that we are consumed with having three things in life; provision, protection, and position.  Think on this for a few moments.  How many of our prayers, and how much of our "prayer life" is spent upon seeking these things from Him?  Lord, supply this need. Lord, keep us safe.  Lord, give me success.  Again and again we go to Him asking Him to do the same things. He said plainly, "Freely I have (already) given, freely now receive."  He has already given us all things.  His Word says so.  Yet we go on asking Him for what He has already given.  Why?  Why do we ask for protection, when He tells us that in Him we are already secure?  Why do we constantly ask to have our needs met, when He has told us that He already supplied all of them? Why are we constantly petitioning Him to do something about our place in life, when He has told us that if we are truly living in Him, we are right where He wants us to be?  What are we missing?  Why do we keep coming to Him with our tin plates and cups, asking for a little of His Water and Bread of Life, when He has already given us an unending supply of both?  I think the answer is in what I next heard Him whisper; that if I were truly abiding in Him, than all He has given is constantly flowing into my life.  I am abiding in Him, and He in me.  Wherever I go, whatever I face, He is there.  Not just a vague presence, but a manifest one. Protection, provision, these things are constants, and constantly supplied.  As for position, we are made aware of being in Him, and if we are really aware of that, we don't wish to be anywhere else.  Where we are physically matters little when we realize who and where we are in Him.  We enter into the life Paul spoke of.  One that is filled with peace, joy, and contentment regardless of where he physically was, or what he materially had.  He said that in each and all of those places, he was abundantly supplied by His Father, that he possessed "all things in Christ."
     This is not to say that there won't be times when we're prompted by His Spirit to pray for certain things, or certain needs or situations.  Or that we will never be in danger or lack.  We will, but in Him, we have victory and provision there. The key is that our prayers flow from His perspective of what the need is, and not our own.  We aren't presuming to have all things, but we are living freely in the assurance that we do have all things in Him.  Freed from our obsession about OUR protection, provision, and position, we are now free to see and intercede with Kingdom eyes and understanding.  This is how Paul, sitting in a small cell, chained to his guards, was able to pray prayers that could not be held by either.  Prayers that were not only filled with the infinite power of the Spirit and had eternal effect then, but continue to have such now.  Such prayers may be prayed by you and me today.  Are we praying them, or, will we go on focusing on our protection, provision, and position?  We have everything in Him. What does everything mean to you?

Blessings,
Pastor O