as ray is in His Hands, so are we. let His Will be done, in mercy, grace, and lovingkindness, towards ray as he endures the pain and suffering of this trial. Father, i lift ray up to You for Your Care, and i lift each of us on this forum who have come to know ray in person, and those who know him only through the BT website/forum. Father God, we all need Your mercy. amen and amen.
claudia Matthew 6:6
Hi EJW,
While I was rereading through this thread and appreciating the thoughts and prayers for Ray from those he has touched through the days, months and years of his teaching I was struck by your reference to Matthew 6:6 in regard to Claudia's post. Had you presented this as a question rather than a proclamation I would have not felt a need to respond to your post, this very well could have been settled rather easily between you and Claudia as to what her motivation was.
By quoting this verse in the manner it was presented I could only see it as an accusation that this was a self serving, self glorification display you perceived from Claudia, knowing her personally from the Conference in Mobile, hearing her testimony of how Ray's articles have profoundly impacted her not only there in person, one on one, but here in the Forum (publicly) on many occasions I could only interpret her prayer as a sincere plea to God.
Yes, there are some who seek self glorification from a phony piousness, Jesus spoke to them in no uncertain terms but He knew their heart, can you make a claim to know Claudia's heart without first seeking understanding?
There are many examples in scripture of OT saints, the apostles and Paul (Stephen as well) of praying in public, would you say Matthew 6:6 applies to them as well? It is written that often our prayers are inspired by the Spirit of God, are we always in a position or state of understanding where we can readily discern motivation?
If you peruse through scripture you will see many examples of public prayer, sincere prayers that not only petition God for mercy and favor but also to inspire the brethren to consider and meditate on the message within the prayer and give a shout of AMEN! if so inspired.
Please do not take this as any indictment or judgment on my part, basically it is a rather long winded (I am famous for that) question in the hope we can reason together, clarify our motives and grow in His Spirit of mercy and love.
Peace,
Joe