The Wasted Life

For three hours today I got to listen and discuss the foundation of night & day prayer, which I like to call 'The Wasted Life.' Stephen Venable is the one who did most of the talking (since he lives and breathes this reality), so here's a snippet from some of his thoughts,

"The testimony of heaven is that Christ is worthy of all glory, honor, and affection. This truth concerning the One that sets the angels aflame stands at the center of night and day prayer and all expressions of love for Him. The beauty of His mercy and majesty begets love in our soul, and we are compelled to abandon ourselves to radical selflessness in order that He might be adored incessantly. We must find our strength and resolve outside of ourselves and within the consuming beauty of Jesus Christ - He is our portion and reward. (Numbers 18:20) All that is lovely and comely originates in Him, the perfection and consummation of all beauty. When His ineffable worth strikes us, no sacrifice seems unreasonable.

"Such vehement love appears to be a waste to others only because they cannot perceive His beauty. In stark contrast to the awe-struck angels and enraptured saints in the cloud of witnesses, on the earth Christ is largely forgotten, mocked, ignored, and despised. When He is revealed and all eyes see His splendor, the wisdom of devotion will be vindicated. Yet now, in this age of waiting, to throw our lives into expressions of love that cause us natural loss appear absurd on the surface...

"As we give ourselves to this occupation [night and day prayer], there are no eyes watching our act of service and no one to applaud our devotion. It is in relative silence and hiddenness that we spend our strength in groaning and tears, loving One we cannot see and pleading to Him on behalf of those we will never know and who will never repay us. As in the story of Jesus' anointing [by Mary of Bethany], the Church looks upon the offering of love in night and day worship and views it as a misuse of time, money, and resource. The day will come when tens of thousands will be gathered to Kansas City and the cities of the earth and many will be indignant because all of those people could be sharing the gospel, feeding the poor, or training other believers...

"As stated above, the testimony of heaven is that God is worthy of incessant adoration and ceaseless praise. Night and day prayer is inevitable when the saints on the earth acquire a living, consuming conviction of His immeasurable worth."