Tag Archives: prayer

August 15, 2011

Manic Monday: Pray

By twoznek

Prayer – An opportunity to share all of life with the Giver and Sustainer of the same. ©Lee Wise

A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation ; Whom shall I fear ? The LORD is the defense of my life ; Whom shall I dread ? 2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear ; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident. 4 One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek : That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. 5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle ; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. 6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy ; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger ; You have been my help ; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation ! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the LORD will take me up. 11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes. 12 Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD ; Be strong and let your heart take courage ; Yes, wait for the LORD. ~Psalm 27 NASB

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Manic Mondays

March 30, 2011

Why not Wednesday? Family life

By twoznek

Some of the best ideas and clarity of ideas comes from family life. Abnormally, let me give the bottom line on top.

The bottom line:
Don’t get so busy and distracted that you cannot hear and listen to your family. You might just miss something.

Night time prayers
I put my boyz down to bed. We wrestle, read, share Schnickle Fritz stories. They realize bed time is for real when we pray. Setting them down I perform the most important duty of a dad: just listen. These times can be funny to epic proportions (stalling tactic I think) or incredible serious. They’re the best times. Here is why…

Toy churches
Jadon, my oldest, pulls his nana (blanket) from his face, turns his chin ever so slightly and squints. He’s curious and about to ask a question. (I didn’t think I was quirky until I had kids.)

Jadon: Daddy, why aren’t there toy churches?
Daddy: Because the church is people.
Jadon: What kind?
Daddy: Church is people who follow Jesus.
Jadon: Jesus loves me!

Reminders are creative lessons
His response was pretty cool. I would have sung that song for him, but my boyz made it clear that singing is off-limits for me. Last night brought clarity. Other times brought creativity. Family life is a huge resource. Here is the creative reminders Jadon gave me:

  • Church isn’t some game, it’s a real important thing.
  • Church is people who follow (active verb) Jesus.
  • Church is also about loving and serving people, even if they can do nothing in return, like children.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Prayer, Why Not Wednesday?

December 8, 2010

Why not Wednesday? The Prayer Meeting

By twoznek

The mid-week prayer meeting started early in the life of the church. While Sunday was often a day of worship with focus on God’s Word, the church reserved the mid-week meeting for prayer. For many, in time, the prayer meeting became a tradition and soon lacked its vitality.

Tradition is not a vice. Apathy is. Often the issue with tradition is not the tradition, it’s forgetting what it is about. The prayer meeting started as a way to act on the priority of prayer. The tradition becomes a vice when its reason for existence is “because we’ve always done that, that’s why.”

Apathy is the tarnish of tradition. So, how do we polish tradition so it can shine? There are three critical needs for the prayer meeting:

  • We need to realize that prayer demonstrates our dependence and focus on God.
  • We need to understand that prayer is a way we show direct access to God.
  • We need to see that corporate prayer is as vital and important as private prayer.

Corporate prayer will look different for each church, but it is an essential part to being a church. A church’s success is best measured by two things: It’s sending capacity and its prayer capacity. The first demonstrates its ability to make disciples. The second demonstrates is total dependence upon God.

The bottom line:
Corporate prayer is an essential aspect to church. The Prayer Meeting, like many things in life, needs constant attention. It is easy to let important traditions become tarnished by apathy. Keep the prayer meeting a polished and bright. Pray together because we need God and enjoy His presence.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Prayer, Why Not Wednesday?

July 27, 2010

God save me from…. because I’m bad!

By twoznek

Psalm 38 really popped out at me. It’s like a divine irony. I invested much time meditating on psalms 37-40. All these Psalms focus on God’s deliverance, with a unique twist. In Psalm 38, the twist is a double whammy: sin & enemies.

I’m bad
The Psalmist realizes his depravity and grieves over his sin. While one should work under grace, patients, and meekness when dealing with their depravity, there is still a real and sickening element to sin. Sin should grieve us. Grace does not remove the sting of sin.

Pop-factor #1: In trials, we must remember we’re also fallen.
Avoid: Self-righteousness, it’s everyone else’s fault.

Save me from…
The Psalmist realized he’s lost and in grave need of grace. He still asks for deliverance. God can use enemies, hard situations and trials independently or because of our sin. In either case, we see the pattern of asking for God’s deliverance. While trails are hard and grievous, its ok to ask for them to be over.

Pop-factor #2: In trials, its ok to ask for God to end it.
Avoid: Self-pity, making it all about yourself.

God
The real issue for anything good or bad in our lives is to show God to be God. Trials may deal with our sin, or be completely independent of it. They may be to strengthen us, or they may not. The big thing the Psalmist realizes both in his sin and in his trial is the greatness of God. God is the biggest concern. God’s justice must be satisfied as well as His compassion. God upholds the righteous, but only He can make one righteous. This deals with our sin. God delivers His own, and only He can do such. This deals with our situations.

Pop-factor #3: Trials regardless of reason are about God showing Himself as God.
Avoid: Self-focus, forgetting the big picture.

The bottom line:
God delivers bad people from bad situations because He wants to show Himself as good. It’s a hard listen. But, in bad situations don’t think you’re all perfect. Deal with the sin God reveals, even if its unrelated to the difficulty challenge you’re facing. Remember, God is God, you’re not. So, God save me from…because I’m bad!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in The Gospel, Theo...

June 28, 2010

Manic Mondays: The little things

By twoznek

Sunday was a mess. Jadon was, well, having a bad morning. He blurted clearly he wanted to stay home and not go to church. That was hard to hear. We went anyway. So, listening to him cry (I’m glad it was a short car ride), the prayer was a toy train would be there. It was a little thing that could meant all the world: To him and our sanity. The conversation went like this:

Jadon: I don’t want to go to church!
Mom: Look, there’s a Thomas table!
Jadon: Bye, mom!

Answered prayer is a great thing. Jadon learned songs, and he listened, and he played with his favorite toy. The table is a small thing, but it made a world of difference. Pray for the little things, not just the big things!

(especially on Mondays)

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May 12, 2010

Why Not Wednesday: God speaking

By twoznek

God speaking through a burning bush sounds good right now. Whispers from God are nice. The Balaam route? I’d say sounds crass.

God speaking through angels is scary, uhmin and thumin weird. Jonah’s route, i’d like to pass.

So the Bible I sit and read-giving not my wants but what I need. Though it’s powerful and yet so meek-God tells me to praise Him this week.

So we crave things for a look- instead God gave us a book. Not epic things to grab attention-but powerful words for retention.

Oft I fold my hands to pray, now reminded of His way. God speaks to me from His Word and it tells me my prayer is heard.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Life & Learning, Prayer, Theo..., Why Not Wednesday?

May 6, 2010

Dad Power: Prayer

By twoznek

I love praying with my boyz just before saying goodnight.  Dads must pray for and teach their boyz to pray. We end our prayers with an excited AMEN! We joyfully talk to God, as we know He delights in children. There are three key things I always pray for them: they would grow into strong men of God, to be protected from all harm, and to be kept from the evil one.

Strong men of God
Asking God that He would save my boyz is not enough. I do not want fire insurance for them, my heart wants firemen! I disagree with the adage ‘boys will be boys.’ It is wrong. Boys will be men! What kind of men will they grow up to be? My boyz need to be the men God designed them to be. Regardless of their career, they can still be godly, but godly is not enough. I want them to be strong men of God. I desire that they can fully say God is my God, and not just my dad’s God. I pray that they would pursue God and the challenges He puts before them with all eagerness.

Protected from all harm
Sometimes I slip and say keep, but what is the act of God keeping or protecting? As a parent I don’t want to see my kids go through difficult challenges, but I know they will. I ask God to protected them because I don’t want to seem them defeated. My desire is my boyz will go head long into challenges and grow from them, not be harmed from them. My boyz will go through painful and challenging times. I pray they grow as a result, and not be destroyed or disheartened.

The evil one
Being a dad means I am in a fight against satan. He and his cronies gun for kids. It is no cliché when Jesus taught people to pray ‘and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ God led people into temptation, though He does not tempt. The Holy Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted by Satan. God did something similar with Job. Well, I like Jesus’ instruction. I ask God that He would not do that with my boyz. Their depravity is enough to get them into trouble!

The bottom line
A praying dad is essential. Life is hard. The only way to get through life is a strong relationship with God, not just for us as dads, but also passing that down to the future generation of men.

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