Last night we had our first prayer service at Ember. Tim led us in the service, and he did a fantastic job! He said it was his first public speaking / preaching opportunity, but you never would have known it. He led us through the Lord's Prayer, and then through Gabriel's appearance to Zechariah, where God promised that Elizabeth would bear a child, who turned out to be John the Baptist.
We spent a good amount of time praying as an entire church body for the church. That was such an encouragement to my soul. You really get to hear people's hearts when they pray, and I'm very excited about where Ember folks are at. God's going to keep on moving in our midst!
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Ember Prayer Service
I'm going to take a break from talking about God and hatred to announce that this Sunday night we're having our first Ember Prayer service! This is the brainchild of Tim Evans, one of the members of our Pastoral Care Team, and I'm so excited to see how God is going to move as we come before him in prayer. We're still going to have some songs to sing, but in place of the sermon Tim is going to be walking us through some times of prayer. If you have any emotional, physical, or spiritual needs that require prayer, please come out this Sunday at 5pm to be prayed over. Let's come before God's throne with faith and confidence, and be expectant that he will move!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Paul's Timely Prayer
My devotional reading today brought me to Colossians 1, which is so full of amazing stuff that it's hard to pick one thing to share, but I wanted to share this part of Paul's prayer with you.
The part that stands out to me, at this point in my life anyway, is this: Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. More than any other season in my life, I need "great endurance" right now, but endurance does not come naturally to me.
In 8th grade, my friend convinced me to join the track team. At the first meeting, we were given a piece of paper with all of the track and field events written on it. We were told to sign up for the events that we were most interested in. I checked the boxes for the shortest races. I wasn't fast, I just knew I didn't want to run for a long time. (The funny thing is, I probably would have done well in the distance races, but I was too big of a wuss to try.)
In order to live the life God has called me to live, I need access to that which I do not internally possess. I need strength from God so that I can have great endurance. I need the power of the Spirit within me so that I can please God. I do not naturally possess these qualities of character, so I need them to be infused into my life from above. I need Paul's prayer prayed over me.
What about you? What part of this prayer resonates with you? Do you need this prayer prayed over you?
This week I'm going to pray this prayer over the people of Ember, and I urge you to pray it over those you love.
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.Isn't this one of the most amazing prayers you've ever read? Don't you wish somebody was praying this for you?
The part that stands out to me, at this point in my life anyway, is this: Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. More than any other season in my life, I need "great endurance" right now, but endurance does not come naturally to me.
In 8th grade, my friend convinced me to join the track team. At the first meeting, we were given a piece of paper with all of the track and field events written on it. We were told to sign up for the events that we were most interested in. I checked the boxes for the shortest races. I wasn't fast, I just knew I didn't want to run for a long time. (The funny thing is, I probably would have done well in the distance races, but I was too big of a wuss to try.)
In order to live the life God has called me to live, I need access to that which I do not internally possess. I need strength from God so that I can have great endurance. I need the power of the Spirit within me so that I can please God. I do not naturally possess these qualities of character, so I need them to be infused into my life from above. I need Paul's prayer prayed over me.
What about you? What part of this prayer resonates with you? Do you need this prayer prayed over you?
This week I'm going to pray this prayer over the people of Ember, and I urge you to pray it over those you love.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Waking Up God
I've been reading the NIV 2011, which is the latest revision to the NIV, and I've really liked it so far. You can find it online at biblegateway or youversion. Printed versions will be released later this year.
Today I was reading in Luke 11 and came across a phrase I hadn't seen in the Bible before. See if you can pick it out:
Is that how you pray to God? Are you banging on his door in the middle of the night? Are you trying to wake up God with your prayers? Notice why the guy goes to his friend's house: Not because there is some life-threatening emergency, but because he needs some bread so that he can be a good host to his friend.
God's not necessarily going to answer your prayers because he loves you (which he does); he's going to answer your prayers because you're banging on his door at midnight. Don't be afraid to pray BIG. Don't be cautious in your requests to God. Knock down his door if you have to. Be shamelessly audacious in how you pray.
You don't have to preemptively edit your prayers. You don't have to apologize for praying for God to move in big ways. Let him determine how he's going to answer you. You ought to go ahead and ask for everything in the kitchen because you love this person who showed up at your door at midnight so much. Let God decide how much he's going to bring out to you. Don't be ashamed of your audacious prayers.
And, oh by the way, don't forget to be humble and thankful when God graciously answers the door.
Today I was reading in Luke 11 and came across a phrase I hadn't seen in the Bible before. See if you can pick it out:
Then Jesus said to them, "Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.' And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.That phrase shameless audacity really caught my eye. Jesus is telling his disciples how to pray, and after teaching them the Lord's Prayer, he tells them this little parable. After telling them what to pray, he tells them how to pray: with shameless audacity.
Is that how you pray to God? Are you banging on his door in the middle of the night? Are you trying to wake up God with your prayers? Notice why the guy goes to his friend's house: Not because there is some life-threatening emergency, but because he needs some bread so that he can be a good host to his friend.
God's not necessarily going to answer your prayers because he loves you (which he does); he's going to answer your prayers because you're banging on his door at midnight. Don't be afraid to pray BIG. Don't be cautious in your requests to God. Knock down his door if you have to. Be shamelessly audacious in how you pray.
You don't have to preemptively edit your prayers. You don't have to apologize for praying for God to move in big ways. Let him determine how he's going to answer you. You ought to go ahead and ask for everything in the kitchen because you love this person who showed up at your door at midnight so much. Let God decide how much he's going to bring out to you. Don't be ashamed of your audacious prayers.
And, oh by the way, don't forget to be humble and thankful when God graciously answers the door.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Your Hope
Last night, after everyone from life group had left, Breena and I sat down to pray. Sometimes, before I can pray, I need to read some Scripture because I don't really have the words, and praying God's word back to him helps me to find those words. So I opened to Isaiah 40, and started in verse 21:
It occurred to me, as I sat and prayed with my wife, that my hope is not in YHWH. My hope is in making enough money to provide a good life for us. My hope is in finding a ministry job that truly satisfies me. My hope is in having a more structured, organized life so that I can do all the things I want to do. All of these are good things--things that, I believe, God wants for me--but they cannot be the object of my hope. That must be God, and God alone. These things had become idols in my heart because I directed my hope toward them and not toward God.
Our prayer last night was a prayer of repentance, of unmasking our idols and removing them from the throne of our hearts. The challenge is to continue in this new way of hoping, of rewriting the films of my imagination. I'll know that my hope is truly in God alone when I have stopped daydreaming about a better life and financial blessing, and started to imagine a future in which God is most fully glorified through my life.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
...Those who hope in YHWH
will renew their strength
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.It was that bit about hope that struck me most. It occurred to me that I had been hoping in the false idols that Tim Keller had written about in his book Counterfeit Gods, as well as in some idols that are particular to me. I spend a lot of time thinking about the future, hoping for a better life for me and my family. I create films in my imagination of the life I really want.
It occurred to me, as I sat and prayed with my wife, that my hope is not in YHWH. My hope is in making enough money to provide a good life for us. My hope is in finding a ministry job that truly satisfies me. My hope is in having a more structured, organized life so that I can do all the things I want to do. All of these are good things--things that, I believe, God wants for me--but they cannot be the object of my hope. That must be God, and God alone. These things had become idols in my heart because I directed my hope toward them and not toward God.
Our prayer last night was a prayer of repentance, of unmasking our idols and removing them from the throne of our hearts. The challenge is to continue in this new way of hoping, of rewriting the films of my imagination. I'll know that my hope is truly in God alone when I have stopped daydreaming about a better life and financial blessing, and started to imagine a future in which God is most fully glorified through my life.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
I Am Blessed
As I was putting Cyrus to bed tonight I could tell that it was going to be a long time before he would fall asleep. Normally this would frustrate me, and I would huff and puff about how he doesn't sleep even though he's EXHAUSTED, and WHY DON'T YOU JUST ROLL OVER AND GO NIGH-NIGH! YOU'RE TIRED! YOU'RE DELIRIOUS WITH FATIGUE! SLEEP IS BECKONING AND YET YOU RESIST! ALL IN AN EFFORT TO FRUSTRATE ME, YOUR LOVING FATHER!
But the Lord has been working on me, and so tonight I decided that, rather than get angry, I would pray. And so I prayed out loud. It was just the two of us in the room, and he was quiet while I prayed. I prayed for everything I could think of, and he just laid there, tossing and turning occasionally. And then, as I paused to think, he started talking.
Now, when Cyrus talks, you just let him babble on until he gets to the last word of the sentence, which is really what he has been talking about all along, and the only word you can understand anyway. So he's babbling on and then he says, clear as day, "Baby Eisley, Mommy, Daddy." He was praying for us! My little two year old son was praying for his family! How amazing is this? How blessed am I? The Bible says that the prayer's of a righteous man avail much. But what about the prayers of a little child? Even more, I suspect. I am truly blessed.
But the Lord has been working on me, and so tonight I decided that, rather than get angry, I would pray. And so I prayed out loud. It was just the two of us in the room, and he was quiet while I prayed. I prayed for everything I could think of, and he just laid there, tossing and turning occasionally. And then, as I paused to think, he started talking.
Now, when Cyrus talks, you just let him babble on until he gets to the last word of the sentence, which is really what he has been talking about all along, and the only word you can understand anyway. So he's babbling on and then he says, clear as day, "Baby Eisley, Mommy, Daddy." He was praying for us! My little two year old son was praying for his family! How amazing is this? How blessed am I? The Bible says that the prayer's of a righteous man avail much. But what about the prayers of a little child? Even more, I suspect. I am truly blessed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)