Good Monday Morning, Dear Friends,
There was once a rich and powerful emperor. One day, the emperor found out about a man whose reputation was spreading quickly as the most holy man in the kingdom. It was said that this man prayed constantly. The emperor decided he must visit this man. He sat out on the journey to a faraway island where the man lived. Much to his surprise, when he arrived, the emperor found a poor and simple fisherman praying on the shore. He asked the man if he might watch him pray; the fisherman agreed and continued praying.
The emperor watched the man closely for an hour. The man closed his eyes, held his head skyward, and moved his lips as if in prayer, but he did nothing else. Finally, the emperor stood up and asked the fisherman to stop praying. He then began scolding the fisherman, telling him that his methods of prayer were completely incorrect.
He insisted that the fisherman learn to pray according to the methods used throughout the palace. The fisherman listened patiently as the emperor gave him lessons, repeating the words and the phrases just as the emperor told him to. When the lesson was over, he humbly thanked the emperor, bowed, and left the shore to return to his home.
The emperor boarded his boat to return to his palace, proud of the good deed he had done in instructing the poor fisherman how to pray correctly. Suddenly, though, as the boat was a quarter-mile out to sea, one of the servants on the boat came running to the emperor, frantically pointing back toward the shore. The emperor gazed into the distance and saw the fisherman running after them — on top of the water. Within a minute, the old fisherman was literally standing next to the boat, on top of the water, his feet gently washed with waves, as he bowed with reverence to the emperor.
The fisherman called out from beside the boat, “Excuse me, Your Highness,” he said, “but I have forgotten the words you taught me. Would you please instruct me again?” The emperor looked at the old man, standing there on top of the water, and the emperor finally said, “No, no, forget what I have taught you. Just continue praying as you did before my visit.”
For any prayer to be effective, it must be our words, our thoughts, our petitions — not someone else’s. Prayer originates in the heart, and its sincerity is what propels it heavenward. You are the only one God has chosen for your particular task. Only you can do God’s work as only you can do it.
You give a distinct shape to Christ’s body here on earth,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
