Prayer Mentoring: Speak Normal

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Jesus said you are on Earth and your Father is in heaven, so let your words be few. Too often we measure a successful prayer life on length of time and not quality of what is said. Don’t be super spiritual when you pray. Be simple, real and authentic. Sometimes this will cause short prayers, other times your prayers will last a long time. Here are some tips on speaking normal.

Drop the King James talk
First, most people don’t understand the grammatical rules of the King James english to being with. While similar to our English, it’s not the same. If you don’t talk to your friend or spouse that way, there is no passage in Scripture that says we need a special language for prayer. God communicated his words in plain understandable language of the day.

Lordly Lordly prayers
It’s ok to use pronouns. Here is what I mean, talk to your friend or spouse and use their full name and titles before and after each sentence. If that seems really strange do you, you’re not alone. I often see people get uncomfortable or even think they don’t know how to pray because they don’t say all of God’s names in just about every sentence. Address God, and then use pronouns. Again, talk as you would to any friend.

Repetition
Prayer is a conversation. Prayer is not repeating a mantra. There are times we may repeat a phrase like the Psalmist did. ‘His love endures for ever.’ Again, this is something often over done. Is it ok to ask God about one thing in multiple prayers? YES! There’s even a word for that- it’s called petition, and Jesus encourages it.

Clarity of speech, humility of heart
The goal of praying should be clarity of what you say and humility of your heart. Often verbose prayers are about outward appearances and not a heartfelt talks with a living God. Speak plainly. If you don’t know how or what to say, talk through it as you would any friend. Prayer isn’t impressing God, it’s living life deeply with God.

The bottom line:
Talk to God like you would a friend. Prayer is not a religious game. Prayer is a conversation between you and a living God.

Prayer Mentoring: Lord’s Prayer Pattern

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Prayer mentoring
Following prayer patterns we see in Scripture helps us in our prayer life. Here is the way to work through the Lord’s prayer:

Praise: Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Helpful passage: Psalm 100. Jesus instructs to understand who God is as we start our prayers.

Purpose: Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.

Helpful passage: 1 Thes 5:16-22. Jesus wants us to focus on God’s will before our needs. Key prayer insight: How do I honor God in the circumstances I’m in?

Provision: Give us this day our daily bread.

Helpful passage: Phil 4:13. God give us the power to use what we have for his glory.

Problems: Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Helpful passage: 1 Jn 1:8-10. Until we see Jesus face to face we’ll struggle with sin. The issue isn’t failure but constantly going back to the Cross.

Protection: Lead us not into temptation.

Helpful passage: Psalm 119:9. The Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Job sent Satan to tempt & test Job. Jesus knows this is hard, so ask God to skip it! If in temptation, God’s equipped you for it!

Preservation: Deliver us from Evil.

Helpful passage: Rom. 8:38-39. Nothing can separate us from God. Our salvation is secure. Still, we need God’s redeem us from evil. Evil is a present and very real aspect of life.

Rick Warren on religious liberty

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Warren: There is an even bigger issue at stake right now than who sits in the White House. It is the crumbling of our constitution’s first guaranteed freedom – the freedom of religion. This issue is more significant and has far greater implications for America’s future. People have forgotten that America was founded by people who came here to escape religious persecution. Freedom of religion is America’s FIRST freedom. It’s #1. It is the first freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights – before freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and every other freedom! America was the first and probably the only country to be founded in order to give every individual the freedom to practice his religion and follow his conscience without governmental constraint. And yet today, at the city, the state, and the federal levels, government bureaucrats are daily trying to limit that freedom, impose restrictions, and stifle expressions of faith on campuses, in hospitals, and in businesses. There are widespread attempts to redefine the first amendment to simply mean “You are free to believe anything at your place of worship but you are not free to practice your conscience elsewhere.” So now we’ve had the Justice Department suing a religious university for wanting to hire only teachers that share their faith and convictions. Fortunately, the Supreme Court overruled them, but religion is being zoned into a little box. We’ve had the government forcing confessing Catholics to violate their convictions, cities zoning out churches, Muslims forbidden to wear head scarves, and businesses banned because of the religious views of the owners. There are literally hundreds of examples of freedom being squelched. The constitution doesn’t just guarantee your freedom to worship; it guarantees you freedom from government intervention in your daily living out of what you believe. That’s why we’ve chosen to host a Civil Forum on Religious Freedom in September instead of the presidential forum. It’s a fight for the constitution, not a personality.

Interview can be found here.

Prayer Mentoring: Praying through challenging times

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Life in a fallen world means we’ll be facing hard times. Often these hard times are a means God uses to draw us to Himself.

Pray
We say prayer should be a first response not a last result. Prayer is really both. The challenge of hard times comes when all we can do is wait.

Pray Scripture
The Bible gives us many patterns for prayer. Paul particularly records prayer thoughts for our benefit. The Bible says that if we ask according to the will of God we know we have that what we ask. Praying through Scriptures is helpful in this regard.

Psalms
When going through a challenging time the best word of advice I received was to find a Psalm, grab hold of it, and pray through it regularly. So, step one- search the Psalms and find one that speaks to your situation.

Meditate
Biblical meditation is filling our mind with Scripture. It’s an act of focus on God’s Word. This is different from Eastern meditation that focuses on emptying one’s mind. Choosing a Psalm helps in filling our minds with Scripture. So, step two- read and focus on this Psalm regularly.

Journal
This can take on many forms, but one thing you want to do is to record God’s faithfulness. By choosing a Psalm it can guide you about what to write. Step three- write what Gods is doing.

The bottom line:
Prayer is key to navigating hard times. Often we don’t know what to pray as we wait for God to show up. Pick a Psalm and grab hold of it. It will guide and sustain you through challenging times.

Civility, freedom and Christian discourse

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After the ‘feast of chickens’ I’m seeing much discussion on whether the church should have engaged in the activity. One statement I read on the matter said this: “What if all those people took a day to serve in soup kitchens instead.” The statement has merit, but it misses something as well. Silence is not always king.

Civility
There is a grave lack of civility in our culture. It is completely civil to state one’s beliefs in a matter that is humble and gracious. Current rhetoric about most matters in our country lack civility. To express one’s view of marriage being one man with one women for a lifetime does not mean one is automatically homophobic and discriminatory. On the flip side, one being homosexual doesn’t mean God gave up on them and immediately sentenced them to Hell. God saves all people.

Freedom
Baptists in Virginia strongly pushed for freedom of religion. The reason: many Baptist preachers were thrown into prison for preaching without a license. From this the first amendment was born. The founders also viewed the importance of religion to speak to the conscience of a society, while at the same time understanding the state should not run the ‘church.’ This lead the amendment’s specific wording. The intent of the amendment was to prevent exactly what certain mayors did.

Christian discourse
While the Gospel is first and central, we must also faithfully teach and uphold God’s Word. Culture does not decide what is sin or not, the Bible does. Yes, the act of homosexuality is a sin. That does not make the church homophobic. Jesus saves all, desires to redeem all, and will make all things new. Homosexuals are welcome to church. Why? We’re all broken. It’s not if we struggle with sin, rather it’s what sin do we struggle with? Truth and love must be tied together, and in the Gospel they are.

The bottom line:
If I had the opportunity, I’d bought chicken too. Freedom is too precious to let people trample on it. A line was crossed that should have never been crossed. I agree with the statement above, what if we all served in soup kitchens. But, I also believe a stance for freedom is vital. Both are important. So, church, let’s do both. We must keep the Gospel first and central. Standing for a biblical view of marriage doesn’t mean we hate homosexuals. (If because of this you do, you need to repent and have the same attitude as Jesus.) Standing for a biblical view of marriage means we strive to live according to God’s plan. There is a difference.

Prayer Mentoring: Your role in church

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Praying through your ministry at a church is an important aspect of prayer. I read this poem my senior year in college and it always stood out in how I pray over my service at a church. Use it in your own prayer life as you fulfill your ministry.

“This is my church…”
It is composed of people just like me.
It will be friendly if I am.
It will do a great work if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am generous.
It will bring others into its fellowship if I bring them.
Its seats will be filled if I fill them.
It will be a church of loyalty and love, of faith and service.
If I who make it what it is, am filled with these.
Therefore, with God’s help,
I dedicate myself to the task of being all these things
I want my church to be.

Prayer Mentoring: God in your day

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The Bottom line:
We need God in our day, not God as a part of our day. Here’s the difference. Paul tells the Thessalonian believers to rejoice, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks- all a part of God’s will.

Rejoice!
A spirit of worship keeps our focus on God. A heart of worship is critical to being in God’s will. In your prayers, how are you worshiping God?

Pray without ceasing
Prayer is life long conversation with God. Some prayers are long, some are like texting, others a quick phone call. The idea here is we consistently talk to God throughout our day. After all, God is with us. How often do you pray?

Give thanks
Thanking God is trusting God. When we thank God in all things it does two things: 1) it focuses us in on God 2) it shows we trust in God’s plan for our life. How are you thanking God?

God’s Will
God wants to grow us and bless us. By fulfilling these three things we’re saying that we trust God to accomplish His will in our life. Don’t fall in the tyranny of God’s blessing where we think if we make the slightest mistake God won’t bless us. That’s not Gospel. Jesus died for all sins. All challenges we face are to conform and sharpen us more and more into the image of Jesus.

One more time:
Rejoicing, praying and thanking are three critical things to our prayer life. Doing these three things puts God in our day and not just a part of it.

For peace?

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People often ask for peace. I spoke with young men this morning about for keys to having peace. A good reminder for us all.

1) Work through conflict Phil 4:2-3
Work through or help others work through conflict. Avoiding conflict will result in a lack of peace. Choose courage and work through conflict.

2) Worshipful spirit Phil 4:4-7
When we rejoice and thank God for all situations we have peace. A worshipful spirit means we trust in God’s plan. Choose joy, it demonstrates faith.

3) Make disciples Phil 4:8-9
What we focus on we’ll see in others. By focusing on good things we’ll see it others, and then take the next step to apply to our own lives. This is the discipleship process. Making disciples leads to peace. Choose to focus on Nobel things and live them out.

4) Be content Phil 4:10-14
Possessions can distract us or they can propel us. We can accomplish God’s will with what we have. We can bless others and help others accomplish God’s will when we have an abundance. Choose to be content with what you have, it will maximize your ministry.

The bottom line:
If you’re lacking peace from God, check these areas as a start. They’ll take you a long way on the road of peace.

Prayer Mentoring: Big picture

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In the past few weeks we’ve look at what prayer means, how to pray, our country, attitude, motivation… In learning to pray we must never forget what is critical to the process… We need to pray.

So, right now, stop what you’re doing, and just talk to God.

In learning about something we can easily get lost in the details. Prayer is talking to God. Like any relationship, consistent and constant communication is important. Talk to God. He loves hearing from you!