Prayer

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Getting Used to Him?

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations." - Matthew 12:18

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations.” – Matthew 12:18

Think about where you live. Do you have opportunities to see God in nature? To hear about Him on Christian radio? To attend church? To talk about Jesus without fear of persecution?

During much of His public ministry, Jesus lived in Capernaum. Yet He condemned that town saying that the wicked cities of Tyre and Sidon will have a better chance on judgment day than Capernaum. Why? We have no record that the people of Capernaum kicked Jesus out, arrested Him, or caused Him trouble. Why does Jesus condemn them?

Maybe, for these people who knew Him so well, Jesus was just the guy next door. It’s possible they just got used to Him and when the novelty of His teaching and even His miracles wore off, they went about their business no longer paying attention to the God who lived among them.

In America we have many of the same freedoms of access to Jesus that the people of Capernaum had. Let’s not ever get used to Jesus. Let’s not ever lose the awe that the God of the universe is with us and is involved in our lives – every day. Let’s pray always to see Him with fresh eyes, to enjoy His presence, and to grow to know Him better and better.

“The true lovers of God never get enough of Him.” – Calvin Miller

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Growing Pains

 

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,and self-control.” Galatians 5:22

Do you have a difficult person in your life? An ongoing health situation or a demanding job? There may be a reason for these things beyond what you can see.

I am convinced there are characteristics God wants to develop in each of us that come only by facing difficult circumstances. No shortcuts.

• How will we learn the joys of gentleness without being involved with a defiant child or a crying baby?

• Or the fruit of faithfulness if we are not in a difficult relationship from which we’d like to run?

• Or the trait of kindness without someone who needs our care and concern?

When I am tempted to complain about my “to do” list for the day, I try to  remember to pause to thank God for putting people and situations in my path which will give the Spirit opportunity to develop the characteristics in me that He wants. Sometimes the hard stuff is there to help it happen. And when it does, the resulting blessing, contentment, and happiness will overflow from us to others.

Dear God, may I be full of Your love, joy, and peace as I face each situation this day. May Your fruit ripen in my life as I am called in each relationship to be faithful, good, patient, and kind. I am eager to see how you will challenge and change me today and I yield myself to You for Your amazing work. Amen

“Next to the might of God, the serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence for good in the world.” – D. L. Moody

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Thinking of Him

 

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“He is the wellspring of everything that has ever romanced your heart. . . What we have sought, what we have tasted in part with our earthly loves, we will come face to face with in our True Love.” – John Eldridge

When the lights grow dim
Are you thinking of Him?
Or is your mind too cluttered
With thoughts un-uttered
And words unspoken
And promises broken?

When the day is at end
Do you talk with your Friend?
Or are you doing the dishes
And pondering wishes
And things yet to do
E’re the evening is through?

When you woke in your bed
Was it His name you said?
Or were you thinking of rights
And yesterday’s fights
And battles to win
When the sun comes again?

Our mind is the measure
Of what we most treasure.
It shows us what holds us
And constantly molds us.
If we’re centered on Jesus
And how He does please us,

The thoughts that disturb us
And tend to perturb us
Will crumble and cower
And lose all their power.
Then when the lights grow dim,
We’ll be thinking of Him.

“Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” – Psalm 91:14

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Pray or Bail?

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“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”, declares the Lord. – Isaiah 55:8

When the storm came and Jesus was asleep, the disciples woke Him up, almost accusing Him of slacking (Mark 4:35-41). After all, He was snoozing while they were frantically trying to save their boat and their lives. As they roused Him, what do you think they expected Him to do? I imagine they handed Him a bucket and yelled, “Help us bail!”

He had a better idea. He simply ordered the storm to cease. It seems that Jesus was operating under a different paradigm than His disciples were. He still is.

We tend to tackle our problems in ways that seems so logical, so appropriate given our circumstances. If we just work more frantically, try harder, or grit our teeth, we can manage somehow.

But Jesus has a better way. His ways of approaching the troubles of our lives are beyond our ability to imagine. That’s why there are times when we should stop bailing long enough to go find Jesus and ask Him to work on our behalf or to show us His better way of handling the mess we are in.

If we believe God will respond to our needs only in ways we can imagine, we will doubt. If we simply let God be God, we will have faith. Doubt is condemned. Faith is rewarded. We get to choose. Do we turn to Him? Do we trust Him?

“God is hanging on to you. He’s not waiting for you to save yourself and mature into someone who no longer needs Him. He will not let you go, come what may.” – Tullian Tchividjian

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Thin Places

"Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it." - Genesis 28:16b

“Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.” – Genesis 28:16b

There are places on this planet, where the separation between heaven and earth seems very thin and, in those places, it is said that you can hear God more clearly and feel God more closely than anywhere else. Some see the mountains as thin places, where the peaks reach toward heaven and the majesty of God is revealed. Certain traditions have recognized thin places where people have met God powerfully through the ages. Retreat centers, churches, and monasteries often are cited.

I believe that we can create our own thin places:  For one of my friends, it was her daily hour-long walk where she could talk to God without interruption. For another, it was under the stairs in her home, and another tells me she has her best sense of Jesus’ presence on her backyard deck. For me, it is the couch downstairs where I can open the blinds and wait for the dawn as I read His Word and listen for His voice.

We all need a place where we can go to meet God, leaving everything else behind so, without distraction, we can connect with our Creator. Of course, we can meet Him anywhere along life’s path (and we do!), but for those of us who have been on the journey for awhile, we find there are sacred spots where God seems to break through with ease. Do you have a place like that? If not, I hope you will create one as an invitation to sacred encounters in this new year!

“Until we are able to have at least a little silence every day, both outside and in, . . . we have no hope of coming to know either God or ourselves very well.” – Joan Chittister

 

 

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Have You Told Anyone?

  • Has God ever answered one of your prayers in a way that changed your circumstances or your heart?
  • Has the Holy Spirit ever highlighted a passage of Scripture so you saw it in an entirely new way and that insight was just what you needed that day?
  • Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a mess and then realized God had been preparing you for this situation well in advance of its coming?
"Thank God. . . Tell the whole world who he is and what he's done! . ." - from 1 Chronicles 16:8-9 (MSG)

“Thank God. . . Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done! . .” – from 1 Chronicles 16:8-9 (MSG)

If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions or others that may be similar, here’s the last question: Have you told anyone?

I am becoming convinced that our personal experience of God’s blessing is not just for us. It is meant to benefit others as well, but if we don’t tell them, they won’t know. Many times I feel cautious about sharing what God is teaching me or how He is leading or blessing me because I am afraid it will look like spiritual bragging and I don’t want to be seen as proud or overly pious.

Then I realized that keeping quiet about what He does for me is keeping Him from being glorified. And it may be keeping others from being blessed. So, let’s share with each other what God is doing in our lives. Your story may be just what someone else needs to hear today.

It is both exciting and humbling to be in relationship with the living God. It’s even better when we enjoy Him together!

“Humility means reveling in his grace, not our goodness.” – John Piper

 

 

 

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A New Day

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“Pay attention to the moment, to all the moments and all the people and every breath you take beneath the ancient sky.” – Lonni Collins Pratt

A new day opens before me, Lord. Fill it

with your glory,
with opportunities to serve,
with new insights, understanding,
with light,
with Your watchfulness and Your smile,
with surprises!

In this day –

show me Your mercy that I may be merciful to others,
show me Your grace that I may be grace-filled in my relationships,
show me Your compassion that I may love others deeply as You have loved me.

I invite You to

delight me,
change me,
use me.

Now, Lord help me to be aware, eagerly to be looking for answers to this prayer all day long.

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” – Psalm 90:14

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I Know He Knows

 

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“My business is to remain in the presence of God.” – Brother Lawrence

As I was approaching God this morning, I was trying to lay down concerns that could be distractions to my time with Him. I gave Him my list of worries – people, commitments, usefulness – all of that. Then, as I sat with Him, in my mind I heard:

“You know that I know and that’s all you need to know – for now.”

Oh, yes! I know that He knows, so I can walk away from meddling. This is God I am talking to – the almighty, all-knowing, always loving God. There is no safer place to leave those I care about, projects I have taken on, or unsolvable problems in the world. He knows! He has power! He is loving. I have full confidence that He will act when the time is right and, in the interim, will walk with me moment-by-moment through conversations, confrontations, decisions, and planning.

Knowing that He knows allows me to let go, to rest in Him, and to live fully the life He has put in front of me today. Knowing that He knows is freedom and joy, even in the waiting time.

“Stand still and see the great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.” (1 Samuel 12:16)

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Just Talking to Him

She's still talking to Him!

She’s still talking to Him!

We have talked recently about listening for God’s voice. But the other side of prayer – the talking side – is important, too. I believe God wants the kind of relationship with us that Jesus had with His disciples. The kind where we walk together, talking as we go.

One day I was taking my two young grandchildren to the local library. On the way, the one-year old was riding contentedly in his car seat and the three-year old was in her adjacent seat, saying something that I couldn’t understand. I had tuned her out due to traffic concerns, but, after a minute, I turned and said, “I didn’t hear you, honey, can you tell me what you were saying?”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” she responded. “I was talking to God.”

“Oh, you were praying.”

“No, I was just talking to Him.”

She was three years old and understood something I had been trying to put my finger on for years. God wants the kind of relationship with me where there is continual conversation. I am learning, yet, to talk to Him as I go through my day. To remember that He is always present and always eager to have His presence acknowledged and enjoyed. I can’t say that I pray all day long, but often I do find myself “ . . . just talking to Him.” Do you, too?

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.” – 1 Peter 3:1

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Just Listening

 

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“Oh, God,” I said and that was all. But what are the prayers of the whole universe more than expansions of that one cry? It is not what God can give us, but God that we want. – George MacDonald

Do you want to know God better? To sense His presence in your life all day every day? To know He is directing your steps?

A practice that has been life-changing for me in this quest is called “listening prayer”. This is not just ordinary prayer, the worry list variety. Instead, it is God-focused prayer that invites a two-way conversation with Him. Want to try it? Here are some guidelines that might help:

  • Greeting: Open the conversation with a greeting that acknowledges His presence and His power. I often say, “Good morning, Lord. I worship You as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.”
  • Surrender: Invite the Holy Spirit to take over your entire being and to protect you from the evil one.
  • Confession: Ask the Spirit to reveal any sins for which you need to repent. Confess as soon as He points them out.
  • Quieting: Try to eliminate distractions. Often I simply ask myself “What burdens to I need to lay down?” Then as they come to mind, I give them over to God to hold while I turn my attention to Him.
  • Ask and Wait: If you are wrestling with a problem or sense a need for direction, ask Him a specific question. If you just want to know His presence and rest in His care, tell Him so. Now pause to listen. God wants prayer to be two-way communication. He speaks continually and we will hear His voice within us if we take time to listen.
  • Respond: Write it down any message you sense, then follow any direction He gives.
  • Close: You will not be able to resist thanking and praising God for His care for you. Amazing things happen his His presence!

“The Lord confides in those who fear Him.” Psalm 25:14a

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