A Contemplative Prayer on Time
Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” . [not a heart full of worry, or haste, or pride, or selfishness, or sloth, I lay those down at Your feet and ask for Wisdom; I sit at Your feet ready to learn. Wisdom begins by fear and awe of You, and continues to grow in me as I abide in You, in Your word, in your love. I come confidently to Your throne, ready to receive.]
Psalm 144:4 “Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” [But You are eternal, and in You alone is LIFE! You grant me eternal life in Your Son. My time here is fleeting, but the LIFE You offer me in Christ is abundant, full of peace and joy and glory, and pleasures forevermore; and You have gone to prepare a place for me. Fill me with Your patience, that I would not hurry through this life.]
Ephesians 5:1-2, 15-17. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children [not worried, rather skipping about, looking up, wanting to grow into Your image, walking in Your footsteps, ever following You…]; and walk in love, just as Christ loved you…Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time [kairos; not being worried about the chronos time–but patiently walking with You at Your pace], because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Romans 13:11-14 …knowing the time, [kairos; not a chronological timeline, but the fulness of this season ripening] that it is already the hour [moment] for you to awaken from sleep [sinful sloth; wake up my soul, and care! Cling to Christ! In Him is all I need] ; for now [the culmination of our] salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. [even the fruit of Light which consist in all goodness and righteousness and truth; and the armor of God which is not complete without faith, hope, and the Sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God; and the true Light that is the Knowledge that He grants through His Spirit indwelling]. Let us behave properly as in the day, [knowing He is always in me and with me, I need not hide; I will be who He is making me to be] not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts [and contrary over-desires that wage war against my soul]. [He alone has words of eternal life, He is Wisdom personified, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; eternal life is knowing Him, my life is hidden in Him; so put on the new self created in righteousness and truth, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, abide in Him. He will renew me. Ahh, LORD I will run to You and enjoy that work of Yours, and in that way I will put You on; knowing that the Father will hold me in His everlasting arms, and none can snatch me away. I am secure. I will abide. I will persevere.]
Ephesians 3:16-21 [O Father,] that [You] would grant us, according to the riches of [Your] glory, to be strengthened with power through [Your] Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith; and that [we], being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and legnth and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God…
O LORD, that we may not misunderstand, that You have called Your Church, and we may not live apart from Your Body. We cannot comprehend on our own–we comprehend with one another, we need one another. Give Your people the desires You so express in John 17 and elsewhere–that we would fight the American individualism that creeps in to our thinking. Give us a heart of wisdom in this too. That we would spur one another on in love. Pull down the barriers we put up; fill us, US, with Your love. That we may be filled up to all the fulness…oh that we would not be satisfied with less.