Prayer – What Is It? Part 1
We all need to know about prayer! God gave the gift of prayer to us so we can stay in touch with him. Many people desire to pray but do not know how. They may even feel like they are unworthy to pray because of certain things they have done in their lives that causes them to feel as though God will not forgive them. Scripture says this about forgiveness: If we confess our sins, he is just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. 1 John 9-10 Prayer is like talking to your best friend on the phone. It’s very easy to talk to someone when you know they love you. Yes, Jesus loves you even more than you can imagine! The Bible tells us: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Prayer is the way we communicate with God. It’s a time for you to talk to God as your friend. A time to tell Him what’s in your heart, what you’re thinking, feeling and struggling with. The Bible encourages us in our daily walk with Christ and helps us to experience the power of prayer. We read our Bible and talk to the Lord in that process, with that in mind! We learn how to pray, we learn why we should pray, and also learn God’s purpose for our life. If you desire or would like to experience life change, life growth, and life purpose, then open up the gift of communication. You do not need a cell phone for this call. This is a direct wireless line to have a little talk to our Lord through prayer. Learn more About Prayer Note: This is the first in a series of blogs on Prayer. Read Part 2.
Surprise Me
Surprise – some people love to be surprised and some don’t. I tend to fall in the “I’m not a fan” group. Well, recently I made a choice to be more open to the unexpected. Here’s what happened… One of our church’s key initiatives for 2018 (and in my opinion the most important) is for everyone to Pray Daily for an open door. An open door to share with another person about Jesus. This past Sunday we handed out a card to every person and asked them to write 5 names on it of people they would like to ask God to provide an open door to share about Jesus. On my card, I wrote 3 names and on the last 2 I wrote: “Surprise Me.” What Happened Next So…sometimes God answers our prayers pretty quickly. I was invited to speak on the radio this week about Spiritual wellness. An old college classmate runs the show and allowed me the opportunity to share about Jesus, the church, and spiritual wellness for 30 minutes on air with no censorship! Crazy, right? I was on a panel with three other people and afterward, each one had great questions that opened up a door to share. Please understand, I didn’t break out the bible and thump people on the head! ? I simply shared how walking with Christ was working for me and invited the others to consider how that might work for them. All three work/live in the city of Chicago. I got to share and plant a seed. That’s our job, just share and plant a seed. God provides the opportunity, we just say a few words, and then God does the rest. I like how the writer in 1 Corinthians says it… It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. – 1 Corinthians 3:7-9 (MSG) Trust me on this…if you pray for God to open a door, HE WILL! Don’t be nervous, just share your heart, rely on him, and you get to be a part of people’s lives changing forever! Pretty cool!
A Divine Appointment Part 1
I had an appointment that morning. I don’t like to be late, so I was being very careful to finish up what I was working on so I could leave on time. However, I needed to take some time to pray so I went to the prayer room for some privacy. I lifted up many people and many things and then, right before I was finished, I prayed, “God, I know you don’t need me to do anything for you today, but I want to do whatever you would like me to do. If there is someone I encounter today that needs to experience your love, please bring them to my attention. Lord, I know I get busy and distracted. Will you please make sure that I am aware of the person that needs to see you?” Prayer is powerful my friends. God is powerful and there is nothing he cannot do, and He was getting ready to answer my prayer in a surprising and abrupt way! I left the church on time. I had driven about half a mile when a car came flying up behind me and hit me. My appointment was my first thought, “I am going to be late. I hate to be late.” My second thought as I was pulling off to the side of the road was, “I hope they pull over with me and don’t take off. I better check their plate and remember it.” The third thought, as I got out of my car and saw the person that hit me was, “It’s her!” She was talking about a mile a minute, and while she was talking to me I was talking to Jesus. “This is her! Wow, that was fast! Thank you for hearing me, thank you for introducing us, what do you want me to say to her?” The police took about half an hour to get there and half an hour to do paperwork. I had an hour to invest in this soul who was desperately in need of a relationship with Jesus. She was sharing her story with me as we waited on the side of the road with cars driving by. During that hour, she described a life of incredible pain, unimaginably difficult life circumstances. I could see that she was stuck at the point of her pain. For someone stuck fast in quicksand, this accident could have added more weight and pushed her under, but that morning, Jesus had other plans. Jesus saw me and he saw her and changed both our plans into a divine appointment. Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) Read A Divine Appointment Part 2