(Communion with the Mind of God and Stability Through Changing Experience)
May 22 brings the believer into a deeper understanding of prayer and trial: prayer is not primarily the securing of outcomes, but the discerning of the mind of God—and changing experiences expose whether the life rests in circumstances or in communion with the Father.
1. Prayer as Discernment of the Mind of God
Chambers writes:
“God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind.” (My Utmost for His Highest)
Chambers shifts the center of prayer entirely.
Prayer is often approached as the means by which the believer seeks intervention, provision, or change. Yet Chambers directs attention beyond the request itself.
The deeper purpose is discernment.
Through prayer, the life is brought into communion with the mind of God—not merely to receive answers, but to become aligned with what the Father himself wills and purposes.
Prayer therefore becomes participatory.
The believer is not simply presenting desires upward, but being drawn inward into the Father’s own perspective.
This is why prayer transforms the life. The issue is no longer merely, “Will God do what I ask?” but, “Will the life come into harmony with what God intends?”
The mind of Christ is formed there.
2. The Instability of Changing Experience
Spurgeon writes:
“Changeful experience often leads the anxious believer to inquire, ‘Why is it thus with me?’ I looked for light, but lo, darkness came; for peace, but behold trouble.” (Morning and Evening)
Spurgeon exposes the instability of relying upon changing conditions.
The believer often expects uninterrupted clarity, peace, and visible progress. But experiences shift. Light gives way to darkness, peace to trouble, and certainty to questions.
This creates anxiety when the life is grounded in circumstance.
But changing experiences do not necessarily indicate the absence of God. Often they reveal whether the life has rested in conditions rather than in communion.
The Father may permit darkness while still preserving relation.
And it is often through these unstable outward conditions that the believer is drawn more deeply into seeking the mind of God rather than merely relief from discomfort.
3. Where the Two Meet: Communion Beyond Circumstance
These truths meet in a profound correction.
Prayer brings the life into discernment of the Father’s mind, while changing experiences expose the insufficiency of living from outward conditions alone.
The instability of circumstances drives the life deeper into communion.
And communion stabilizes the life beyond circumstance.
The believer learns that peace does not come merely from favorable conditions, but from alignment with the Father’s mind through the Son.
One truth reveals the purpose of prayer. The other reveals why prayer becomes necessary.
Together they form a life that is no longer governed by fluctuating experience, but by continual communion.
4. Pastoral Orientation
May 22 calls for deeper communion and steadiness.
Do not reduce prayer to the seeking of outcomes alone. Let prayer bring you into discernment of the Father’s mind.
Do not let changing experiences determine your stability. Remain in communion even when darkness replaces light.
As you continue walking “after the spirit,” you will find that the life grows steadier not because circumstances cease changing, but because communion with the Father becomes deeper than the fluctuations around you.
Seek his mind. Remain through the darkness.
And you will discover a life that is not governed by changing experience, but anchored in communion with the Father.