One of my favorite devotional authors is Joe Thorn. Both of his books, Experiencing the Trinity and Note to Self, have been impacting. I would highly recommend them as they are Christ centered, short meditations for daily consumption.

This chapter from “Experiencing the Trinity” by Thorn was particularly impacting.

“The longer you follow Jesus, the better you understand yourself. And one thing continues to become clearer—you are weak. You now know that you do not have the strength you once thought you had. Weakness has become painfully evident in your loving, learning, and living. You aren’t incompetent or without gifts. But on your own you cannot be or do what God calls you to be or do. So, you pray. You pray because you know you need God’s grace to live, work, love, resist, overcome, and remain faithful. But even in the midst of praying you often sense your weakness. You do not know what to pray for, and you are tempted to quit. If you can’t even pray, then how can you find hope and help? One of the gospel blessings of the Holy Spirit is that you never pray alone…The Holy Spirit prays with and for you. His intercession is your assurance that God hears your heart whether you pray in words or groanings too deep for vocabulary” (Thorn, Trinity, kindle 897).

His comments reminded me of one of Tim Keller’s statement, “Don’t be afraid that you will ask for the wrong thing. Of course you will! God ‘tempers the outcome’ with his incomprehensible wisdom” (Keller, Prayer, kindle 1406).

What a relief! What a joy! What an opportunity!

Thorn’s books: