Going in the Grace You Have
One of the problems I’ve found in challenging people to grow with the Lord is the lie that they need to immediately mature and be spending a good amount of time with God each day in prayer and in the Word. Among a lot of Korean churches there is a sense that if you are a truly mature believer, or a truly hungry believer, then you will attend morning prayer as often as possible. Morning prayer for some of these churches is at 6am or even 5am, which to me is an ungodly hour. 🙂 If my maturity as a Christian was based on how well I could attend morning prayer, then I would be deemed a very immature Christian. I just don’t have the grace for it.
When David was young and wanted to fight Goliath, King Saul tried to dress him in his own armor (1Samuel 17). King Saul had fought many battles before and his armor was probably the best in the country, but David wasn’t used to it. He was likely still growing and didn’t feel agile enough in it. So instead David just went without armor and was able to kill Goliath with his sling and a stone. David succeeded by going in the grace he had. If he had been wearing the armor, he probably wouldn’t have had the agility to toss the stone well enough and he probably would have died. But later in life David would fight in many more battles and wars against many more adversaries than just one Goliath. Likely as David grew stronger and more experienced he began to put on stronger, better armor. In 1Samuel 21 David even takes the sword of Goliath as his own. David had clearly grown.
It is a lie that we must pray a certain amount each day and read a certain amount of the Bible in order to be deemed holy and accepted by God. It is a clear lie. We must go in the grace we have and trust that God will bless us regardless. If you’re able to pray 20 minutes a day, then pray 20 minutes a day and continue to ask God for more of His Spirit and more of His love. If praying 20 minutes is exhausting, but praying 5 minutes a day is more reasonable for you, then pray 5 minutes a day and continue to ask God for more of His Spirit and more of His love. Go in the grace you have. If you’ve never prayed before, then ask God for grace to pray. Write down five people dear to you and pray for them each day. You’ll find the more you pray, the more you’ll get God’s heart and the more you’ll grow in faith. That will lead to more names of people you will want to pray for and more time of worship to the Lord. That will lead to longer prayer times… not out of religious compulsion, but out of genuine love.
When I was a first year in college I prayed about 5 – 10 minutes a day, if that. During my second year I prayed 20 – 30 minutes a day. During my third year I was praying 45 minutes – 1 hour. I continued to grow with each year in college. I remember a few times when I was a first year I went to a prayer room and prayed for one hour. It was exhausting. I would leave completely worn out. But by my third year praying for one hour was not a problem. I had grown in the Lord and tasted His goodness enough over the previous years that praying became easier and more enjoyable.
If you are just growing in the Lord, or wanting to mature in the Lord, then I want to recommend going through this Bible study: www.comequicklyministries.org/sermons/resources/. It will teach how to pray, how to read the Word, and some other good stuff that will aid you in your growth.
Understand that God is proud of you not based on how greatly you perform, but on your simple obedience. God was just as pleased with the servant who had 5 talents as He was with the one who had 10 talents. God was just as proud of me during my first year when I was dedicated to praying 5 – 10 minutes each day as He was when years later I was spending much longer times with Him in prayer.
Becoming a giant killer doesn’t entail years and years of toil and growth until you’re ready, it just means going in the grace you have as you obey the Lord. Don’t slack off, but also don’t strain. Find your place of grace and continue to ask for more. There will be no limit to your growth!
