prayer journal > day20

scripture

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3.16-21

reflection

“Prayer, perhaps more than any other activity, is the concrete expression of the fact that we are invited into a relationship with God…. In addition to all the other work that gets done through prayer, perhaps the greatest work of all is the knitting of the human heart together with the heart of God.  I have sat by the bedside of many people who have reached the end of their lives, and have heard them express regrets about many activities—years wasted in obsessions over work, time thrown away in pursuit of more money.  I have never yet heard a person at the end of their life regret time they had spent in prayer.  For where there is much prayer there is much love.”

John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People

prayer journal > day19

scripture

You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created and have their being.

Revelation 4.11

reflection

“There can be no complete prayer life that does not return to the point from which we began– the prayer that is a response to the outpouring love and concern with which God lays siege to every soul. When that reply to God is most direct of all, it is called adoration. Adoration is ‘loving back.’ For in the prayer of adoration we love God for himself, for his very being, for his radiant joy…. In adoration we enjoy God. We ask nothing except to be near Him. We want nothing except that we would like to give Him all. Out of this kind of prayer comes the cry ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’ In the school of adoration the soul learns why the approach to every other goal had left it restless.”

Douglas V. Steere, Prayer and Worship

prayer journal > day18

scripture

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.  Later Simon and the others went out to find him.  When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”  But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”  So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Mark 1.35-39

reflection

Leave me alone with God as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.

Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again and fold me back to you.

A Prayer of St. Aidan

prayer journal > day17

scripture

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Romans 8.26-27

reflection

“Christian prayer is simple, in the sense that a small child can pray the prayer Jesus taught.  But it’s hard with the demands it makes as we go on with it…. We are called to live at the overlap both of heaven and earth—the earth that has yet to be fully redeemed as one day it will be—and of God’s future and this world’s present…. When Paul writes his greatest chapter about life in the Spirit and the coming renewal of the whole cosmos, he points out at the heart of it all that, while we don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit—God’s very own Spirit—intercedes for us according to God’s will…. Christian prayer is at its most characteristic when we find ourselves caught in the overlap of the ages, part of the creation that aches for new birth.”

N. T. Wright, Simply Christian

prayer journal > day16

scripture

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26.36-39

reflection

“Prayers are not always – in the crude, factual sense of the word – ‘granted’. This is not because prayer is a weaker kind of causality, but because it is a stronger kind. When it ‘works’ at all it works unlimited by space and time. That is why God has retained a discretionary power of granting or refusing it; except on that condition prayer would destroy us.“

C.S. Lewis,  “Work and Prayer” in God on the Dock

Diddy, Danny and faith in God

Monica and I watched an interview Danny Deutsch did with Sean “Diddy” Combs. Many know that Diddy is a very successful businessman but he shares details of some challenging times he experienced and what he learned. He speaks of his faith in God helping him get through those trying days. This is a very intriguing interview giving some insight into one of our generation’s most visible icons… Enjoy.

more about “Diddy, Danny and faith in God“, posted with vodpod

prayer journal > day15

scripture

You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and you do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4.3

reflection

“To ask ‘rightly’ involves transformed passions.  In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills.  Progressively, we are taught to see things from his point of view.”

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

prayer journal > day14

scripture

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be    discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1.9

reflection

“I am wanted by God.  He is wanting to preserve me, to guide me through the darkness of the shadow of death, up into the highlands of His presence and afterlife.  I understand that I am temporary, in this shell of a thing on this dirt of an earth.  I am being tempted by Satan, we are all being tempted by Satan, but I am preserved to tell those who do not know about our Savior and our Redeemer.  This is why Paul had no questions.  This is why he could be beaten one day, imprisoned the next, and released only to be beaten again and never ask God why.  He understood the earth was fallen.  He understood the rule of Rome could not save mankind, that mankind could not save itself; rather, it must be rescued, and he knew that he was not in the promised land, but still in the desert, and like Joshua and Caleb he was shouting, ‘Follow me and trust God!’”

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

favorite posts : but I can’t see you

But I can’t see you

I was tucking in my three-year-old twin girls, Emma and Dessie, and they asked [begged] me to lay down with them for a “wittle bit”.  After squeezing my way between them, Emma anxiously squirmed and said, “Daddy, I can’t see you.”

“I’m right here, next to you, Emma,” I replied.

“But I can’t see you, Daddy.”

I reached out and placed her little hand on my face.  “There.  Can you feel me?”

Emma, now with a bit less anxiety in her voice: “Yes… but I can’t see you.”

“It’s ok that you cannot see me.  You can hear me.  You can feel me.  I am right here next to you.  Ok?” I was trying to reassure her.

Dessie chimes in triumphantly: “I can hear you and I can feel you, Daddy.”

Emma giggles then, through her laughter, says, “Ok, Daddy.  You are there.  I feel you next to me.”

I took advantage of the moment, trying to explain as best I could to my three-year-olds: “You know… God is here, too.  Even though we cannot see him, he is right here next to us.  God is always with us.”

Dessie delightfully squeals, “God is here.”

“Yes, babies… God is here.”  With that I wrapped my arms around them and encouraged them to close their eyes as they drifted off to sleep.

life.change >> God is right here next to me

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 43.2,3a

prayer journal > day13

scripture

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

May your kingdom come.

May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Matthew 6.9-13

reflection

“Prayer is the vital breath of Christians; not the thing that makes us alive, but the evidence that we are alive.”

Oswald Chambers, Disciples Indeed