Now let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our trouble
  He will hear our faintest cry, He will answer by and by
And when you feel a little prayer wheel turnin’
And you will know a little fire is burnin’
  Find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.

Just a Little Talk with Jesus
By: Cleavant Derricks (1909-1977)

Listen as you read.  This is an updated version of this old hymn.

On Tuesday we continued our walking and talking journey with Jesus by rehearsing the advantages of taking all our troubles to Him.  Today we consider the effect that such confidence can have on the intensity of our prayers.  We find things made right as we let the practice of taking things to Jesus become the norm in our experience.  Let’s think about this.

Prayer Wheel Turning

The second half of this chorus introduces a very unusual illustration.  It is odd to see a reference to prayer wheels in a Christian hymn since they are very common in Buddhism, originating in Nepal or Tibet.  What are they?  Important prayers are written on metal or wooden wheels and it is believed that spinning the wheels has the same meritorious effect of orally reciting the prayers.  I honestly wonder if the author was familiar with this Buddhist tradition.

What I imagine he is actually making reference to is the momentum that grows as we increase the fervency of our prayers.  Think of it like this.  You begin to talk with Jesus about your troubles.  You are moved to tears as you speak about the burden you are carrying.  Even as you are praying you begin to get a sense that the answer is on the way.  That sense encourages you to pray even more fervently as a zeal not only for your answer but the glory of God in it begins to burn within you.

Momentum.  Energy.  Heat.  These things can all build on each other.  And so can prayer.

Have you ever had the experience of your heart burning within you as you waited in a group for the opportunity to pray?  The Lord was putting things on your heart that you just had to express.  Maybe your heart rate increased?  It may have even effected your breathing.

Fire Burning

Or maybe that has happened as you read the Bible and it begin to come alive to you, seemingly opening up before your very eyes.  I like to read the Bible and then leave it open before me as I begin to pray.  One of the ways Jesus speaks to us is through the Word of God.  Never was that more true than on the Emmaus road after His resurrection as He walked along with two unaware disciples.

They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  Luke 24:32 ESV

It was not until Jesus blessed their meal and broke the bread that their eyes were opened to reality of who He really was. They asked Him a few questions and Jesus talked to them.  Can you imagine what that must have been like?  

This reminds us that prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue. When we have a little talk with Jesus, we need to be quiet and let Him do at least some of the talking, otherwise we are talking to Jesus and not with Him, like those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Take a few moments and try that right now.  Have a little talk with Jesus.

A Little Talk With Jesus Makes It Right

Those disciples on the road were sad.  They were talking as they walked along about all that had happened surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus.  Jesus entered into that conversation with them.  That little talk with Jesus had a remarkable impact on them.

Though these words come from a different encounter, this is effectively what He was saying to them.  It is effectively what He wants to say to all of us as we face troubles of many kinds.  As you read them,  know that Jesus is speaking them directly to You right now.  Let them begin to give you a different perspective on all the things in your life are are going wrong.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”   John 16:33 ESV

Let peace begin to settle your mind.  What are the tribulations that you facing?  Talk with Jesus about them.  Ask Him to cause His  peace to well up within you.  As it does, trust Him to cause a new day to dawn as He begins to make things right.

Peaceful Thinking!

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Image Attributions
Prayer Wheel Turning – https://pixabay.com/photos/kathmandu-nepal-old-cylinder-3205674/
A Little Fire is Burning – https://pixabay.com/photos/christmas-love-romance-heart-red-2141493/
Peace Coming Like the Dawn – https://pixabay.com/photos/nature-landscape-kaçkars-mountains-3048299/

When my feeble life is o’er,
  Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
  To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a Closer Walk with Thee
By: Anonymous

Listen as you read.  This is a really nice gospel instrumental version.

As we established in our Tunings on Tuesday (find it here), we all have an expiration date, yet will also live on beyond time as we know it.  When all these moments end, and the rest of eternity begins, we will be just as secure in God’s care as we are today.  Let’s think about this.

Guide Me

Having acknowledged out weakness and our mortality, we now turn our attention to God’s direction and sovereignty.  We begin with the simple prayer for Him to guide us.  This is important because it allows us to admit our need for His help in this most crucial moment, the one when we step beyond time.

Jesus promised in John 14 that He was going to prepare a place for us and would return to take us to be with Him.  Thomas spoke what all the disciples where probably thinking.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  John 14:5 ESV

Jesus answered the question with one of the most profound and powerful phrases in Scripture.

“I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  John 14:6 ESV

Jesus is the Way to the Father, and He faithfully leads us through every step of our journey, including that last leg that brings us to our eternal home.  Our need for Jesus to guide us will possibly more evident in those moments that every before, but it is no less real for every other moment we will live until then.  Prepare yourself to rest in His guiding influence then by practicing it now.

Ask Jesus to teach you how to walk His Way, so you may know the Truth and in it find real life.  Then keep your mind open for opportunities to practice it today.  They will most assuredly come.

Gently, Safely O’er

Let’s begin to develop our understanding of the end of this life and the beginning of the next as another part of our great journey with Jesus.  He is our Captain.  Imagine you are on a ship.  As the sun sets on your life as you know it, like in this image, you will have the opportunity to trust Jesus to guide you through the coming night to a brighter day.

We can face death, which can threaten to swallow us up in its darkness, with a confidence that the One who is Life can lead us through it gently, and safely.  Though we do not know exactly what to expect, we can trust that the One who led us the rest of the Way will lead us then as well into the Truth of all He has promised us.

Think of some of the things Jesus has led you safely through.  Remember how gentle He was with you, even though the circumstances seemed to want to tear you apart.  Decide you can and will trust Him to lead you to the very end of your journey.

 To Thy Kingdom Shore

Our destination.  The shores of His Heavenly Kingdom.  What a beautiful image to create for people well aware they are on a journey!  On the other side of the ocean of life is a certain harbor or haven.

I am reminded again of some words shared at my dad’s funeral service.  A woman I did not know stood and read poem.  It was powerful and gave symbolic expression to exactly what I believe had happened for my father.  These are those words, from the poem entitled “Gone from my Sight”.

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze,
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch her until she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, and not in her.

And just at the moment
when someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
there are other eyes that are watching for her coming;
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“There she comes!”

What a powerful illustration!  This picture captures some sense of that.  Jesus led my dad, gently, safely over to that kingdom shore.  Jesus will lead each of us gently, safely over to that same shore.

Are you trusting Jesus for that last final part of your journey?  Is there anything that is keeping you from trusting Him completely?  Tell Jesus you will trust Him to lead you all the way to His Kingdom shore.

To Thy Shore

So have you even imagined what your arrival there will be like?  Who will greet you?  What you will see?  When we arrive there we will be just as real and alive as we are now, and so will that place be as the place where you are reading this.

This idea of a shore is helpful because it makes a place that seems almost too good to be true just a bit easier to fathom, though I am certain in its grandeur it is truly unfathomable.  I have remarked for years that if God made all we see in 6 days, but it has taken Jesus 2,000 years to “prepare a place for” us, then how much better must that place be than even the grandest vistas this creation affords.  Even if shores are not your favorite places to find rest and rejuvenate, I am certain you will love that one.

Careful Thinking!

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Podcast 7.3 Transcript

Welcome to Thursday Thoughts at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s think about this.

When my feeble life is o’er,

1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

There will be an end to this life.  The songwriter says feeble, the Scripture says perishable and mortal, all three make clear it will not last forever.  Though painful, this is an important reality to acknowledge because it forces us to deal with our mortality. Thank Jesus for the courage to face death.

Time for me will be no more;

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Time versus eternity.  We are so constrained to the construct of time that it is difficult for us to even fathom what eternity is.  He put it in our hearts, yet we still can not truly understand it. Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding of forever.

Guide me gently, safely o’er

Romans 8:38-39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate us from His love, not even death.  That hope gives us the courage to trust that He will gently, safely take us to our eternal home with Him.  Give Him praise!

To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Hebrews 12:28 ESV

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,

An eternal kingdom awaits us.  Like the passengers on a ship, our Captain will get us to our final destination, no matter what storms may come..  We will arrive there safely as certainly as we can leave here peacefully. Thank the Father for all that awaits us beyond this life.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has come to your mind, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then I will read our text once more.

When my feeble life is o’er,
  Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
  To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.