a prayer

In exploring the spiritual discipline of submission, helping to create space for the 'with-God' life, I recently came across some interesting materials at the Renovaré website. We recently walked through some of this material in small group.

The 'with-God' life
The life Jesus refers to as "life more abundantly."
It is a life of unhurried peace and power.
It is solid.
It is serene.
It is simple.
It is radiant.
It takes no time, though it permeates all of our time.

Submission
A constant mutual subordination out of a reverence for Christ within the Christian fellowship, which opens the way for particular subordination to those who are qualified to direct our efforts toward Christlikeness and who then add weight of their wise authority on the side of our willing spirit to help us do things we would like to do and refrain from things we don't want to do.

A Prayer - Freedoms that Submission Brings
O God, we ask you to show us all what it would look like to:

• not have our own way
• be released to drop matters
• distinquish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will
• be free to value other people with their dreams and plans
• give up the right to demand that others return our love
• understand that it's better to serve our neighbor than to have our own way

Help us to say, 'God has done great things for me and holy is his name.'