Prayer Meeting, and Practicing the Fear of the Lord

Last night I went to a prayer meeting at our church. The agenda was: "Prayer for the Nations." It was pretty awesome. We spent quite a bit of time praying for Israel, especially since the Arafat era seems to be coming to an end, and this may just be a potentially historic turning-point. We also prayed long for Africa, and for SE Asia. A totally refreshing way to spend the evening!

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Here's something from Aron Gahagan, who is owner/operator of the blog, ONELIFE. It's about "practicing" the fear of the Lord:

Picture all the ideas and activities of your life as a desk full of drawers (here's my 'social' drawer, my 'employment' drawer, my 'physical fitness' drawer, my 'personal finances' drawer, etc.). What is marked "Christianity"? Is it one of the many drawers in the desk, or is it the desk itself? If it’s just a drawer, you’ve been deceived. Christianity is no mere ‘religion drawer;’ it is either the desk itself (into which all other drawers go), or it is not Christianity at all—despite its label.

This means that every idea or action in our life (or every drawer in our desk), must be reshaped (or even discarded) in order to fit into the 'desk' of Christianity. Everything must be 'held' or 'stored' or even 'hidden' within the context and the restrictions of our 'desk' of Christianity. Some drawers won't hold some items. Some drawers, we might find, are bottomless (like the 'joy' drawer). Sometimes an entire drawer won't fit in the desk (like a 'sex life' drawer if one is not married), and must be utterly discarded. Instead, it is an all-encompassing, uncompromising, and exclusive view of every aspect of reality. It is a total world- and life-view.

Renovating our lives to this model is a process; usually a life-long one. If we are to succeed, we must be continually testing the drawers (our ideas and actions) to see if they still open and close smoothly in the desk. If not, they’ll need reshaping; and Scripture is our sandpaper (and our table saw, and our fire to burn the remnants). This is how we practice the fear of the Lord: by being doers of the word, and not hearers only: and that means application.