Category: Prayer

Waiting through Suffering

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, ESV)

I did a search for images of suffering. I was in the library. I sat there and wept.

Suffering is all around us.

I’m not talking about hangnails, hair loss, and hurt feelings.

I’m talking about life crushing brokenness.

But no matter where our suffering falls on the scale of horribleness…no matter what or how we suffer, it can’t be compared to the glory that will come.

What if we would opt to look at the suffering in our lives like these teeter totter acrobats? The heavier the weight of suffering, the higher we will soar…the greater the glory to be revealed.

I know some people who are ready to fly. God knows it too, and he’s got the glory ready.

PRAYER: God, I don’t understand suffering. Help us to trust you even when we don’t understand, even when glory is the furthest thing from our minds. Help us to endure as you endured…to your honor and glory and hope. Amen.

Path Maker

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalm 25:4-5, ESV)

PRAYER: God, you are leader and guide. Be that to me. Help me know which way to go and keep me on the right track.

Borrowing from Tomorrow

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34, ESV)

I recently read this thought and it reminded me of today’s verse: If you fill your heart with regrets, of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.

But I liked this one better: Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.

My mom always counselled me to “neither a borrower or lender be.” I know that’s meant to be a statement about money, but it fits this verse as well.

If we worry about what tomorrow might hold we borrow or bring those troubles into today, and we lend our strength and peace to the one who doesn’t deserve it…the enemy of our souls.

SO instead, let’s live today. Be in today. Find the good in today. Praise and thank God for the gift of this day. It is after all the day which he made…and gave to us.

PRAYER: God of the present. Help us today today to live each moment, accepting them as gifts from you. Amen.

Tantrums or Trust

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30:18, ESV

I never threw a tantrum when I was a child. I was too afraid to.

When I became a teenager, I remember stomping up the stairs and slamming my bedroom door.

Tantrums usually happen when we don’t get our way. When we’re sure we know what’s best and it’s not happening.

We get miffed when we have to wait.

But have you ever considered how God feels when we don’t, won’t, or can’t receive his grace?

Today’s verse tells us God is waiting to be gracious to us. He has the gifts, the answers, the guidance, the everything we need…but we’re so busy stomping our feet and demanding our way we aren’t able to receive it.

There is nothing attractive or positive about a tantrum. Especially when an adult is throwing it.

Our blessings will come as we wait on the One who is waiting to give us what we need.

PRAYER: Patient and loving God. Forgive us for the tantrums we throw when we think we know best, or when we are frustrated because we have to wait for what we want. Thank you for not giving up on us, for continuing to wait to be gracious to us. Keep showing us mercy. Amen

Fretting or Still?

 

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Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! (Psalm 37:7, ESV)

I’ve always been a watcher. I find people fascinating.

But there are times when my watching is not fascination, it’s frustration. It’s filled with fretting.

They have better. Then have more. Why can’t I have what they have?

I begin to whine and stomp like a three year old not getting their way in the playroom.

It’s not a pretty sight. And it doesn’t feel good inside either.

God’s solution: stop it! Still yourself and wait patiently. For him.

I will not get it “right” if all I do is try and wait for the things others have.

That’s not what God is offering.

He’s offering himself. And I am to wait for that…to want Him.

No toy, no gizmo or gadget, will ever satisfy the way He does.

Be still, wait patiently for Him.

PRAYER: God, you offer more than the toys the of world. Still me. I don’t want to fret over them any longer. I want you.

What are you waiting for?

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.” Psalm 39:7, ESV

The world says: Don’t just stand there, do something.

The world warns that if we wait to act the future will be shorter.

The world’s pattern is typically: ready, shoot, aim.

God says, “Wait.”

Henry Blackaby encourages, “Don’t just do something. Stand there.”

Do you know what you’re waiting for?

Do you know who?

PRAYER: God, I don’t want to be doing something or anything just to fill up time. I will wait for you to tell me what I’m waiting for. For only in knowing that will I have any hope of finding my purpose.

Wait!!!!

How do you do at waiting?

Me, not so good. I like my instant cocoa and pudding. I count on my microwave. The other night my husband was in a foul mood because he waited over twenty minutes in the drive-thru at Taco Bell.

Over the years, Advent has become a good exercise in self-control; a reminder that I really don’t live in an instant world.

Have you noticed the two separate lines of thinking and behavior as it deals with this season? On the one hand, people complain mightily about how Christmas is creeping further into the year as retailers begin setting up displays as early as September—but then they whine about having to wait for the day to arrive…and be over.

I remember one Christmas our church was going to observe a “strict” Advent. That didn’t go over well. The big beef was having to wait to sing Christmas hymns and songs.

So this Advent, I’m going to purposely focus on waiting. Each day will highlight an applicable scripture passage and a prayer for a specific group who are “waiting.”

I hope you join me and find a blessing as mark the days of this holy season.

Dec 1
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Pro. 3:5-6, ESV)

The biggest deterrent to waiting is the ability to trust. At the beginning of this Advent let’s determine to grow in our trust of God. He has the big picture in view and our best interests in mind. Test him, he truly is worthy of your trust.

Prayer: God of time who is beyond time and over time, walk with us in this Advent season and teach how to trust…and to wait. Be especially near to those who are waiting for someone they love to come home. Amen.

Tough to Swallow

In John 6 we find the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes. When lunch is over he identifies himself as the Bread of Life. Then in a way that shocked the crowd, he goes on to tell them they must eat his flesh and drink his blood.

Their response: Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.” (John 6:60, The Message)

Too tough to swallow.

What do you find tough to swallow?

Has life handed you some bitter pills?

I always had a terrible time swallowing pills when I was a kid. All the way up through college, I would ask for a shot rather than have to swallow pills.

Penicillin was the worst. I couldn’t make those pills slide down no matter how much I drank. Nothing tasted worse. I would cry, beg, to not have to take the pills. My mom wasn’t very sympathetic. I know now she was “hard-nosed” about the whole thing because her ultimate concern wasn’t my immediate comfort but my eventual health.

Have you begged and cried out for God to remove some difficulty, an illness, financial challenges, physical limitations, or loss? But he lets it remain.

And that’s just pretty tough to swallow.

Doesn’t God care that you are suffering? Doesn’t he want you to be happy? Doesn’t he hear your pleas for relief?

Yes. But just like my mom, he loves you too much to leave you in your sin-sick condition.

There are so many stories in the Bible that are just heart-breaking. Widows who lose their only children. Poor Naomi and Ruth. And who can forget Job? But let’s consider Paul for just a moment.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church (See 2 Corinthians 12) he writes about his “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever it was, the apostle prayed on three occasions for God to remove it. And God said no.

He also said: “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).”

As a result Paul declared: “I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weakness, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong (1 Corinthians 12:10).”

Talk about a bitter pill. Paul endured much that we would find tough to swallow. But he also knew a strength and grace that enabled him to come through all the difficulty and in a way that brought honor and glory to the One who provided the strength and grace in the first place.

On the day when some of Jesus’ disciples found his message to be a bitter pill many left. Jesus turned to those who remained and asked if they were thinking of bailing, too. Peter spoke up for the remaining twelve: Where else can we go? You alone have the words of life.

Peter didn’t try to sugar coat it. Sometimes bitter pills lead to life.

Job, that persecuted and often misunderstood man from the Old Testament, grasped this one thing like nothing else in his ordeal. He summed up his ability to hang onto God in the midst of all his suffering this way: shall we take the good and not the bad? (See Job 2:10)

Paul went a step further and told the Roman believers that no matter how bitter the pill God was able to cause all the bad, the negative, the difficult to work for good. He never says that the bad is good, just that God can take all the negative and difficult and make them work for our good and his glory (See Romans 8:28).

Tough to swallow…perhaps. But remember, God knows what is absolutely best for you. You can trust him. It may be tough, but don’t walk away now. In him there is fullness of life, your life and mine, now and forever.

Praying on the Journey

Bill Hybles wrote a book entitled, “Too Busy Not to Pray.” I own it. It looks like a good book. I haven’t read it. The title is convicting enough. I am without excuse when it comes to my prayer life.

My spiritual theme for this year has been “never leaving the temple.” I confess I haven’t been as conscious of it as I need to be. To be honest, I lost it in the month of February. How fitting it should return to my focus on Fat Tuesday, the day before my Lenten journey begins.

So my busyness and my laziness have dimmed my focus. The result has been a pathetic lull in my prayer life. I pray for each prayer request the hits my mailbox or Facebook feed—at least once.

Somehow I have to do better.

Many years ago, I gave a talk called “Shooting Down Our Excuses.” My topic was study and my aim was to address many of the excuses people (including me) throw up to keep us from moving deeper in our relationship with God. Some of those same excuses fit when we think about our prayer life.

Pastor Hybles is absolutely right we’re too busy not to pray, but how do we find time to pray?

I believe part of the problem has to do with our image the person who prays. We all have someone, either in our families or early church experience who lived the prayer warrior life. They spent hours praying…and seeing results. We consider our own lives and schedules and we feel we’ll never measure up.

We’re probably right, but a seemingly unattainable image isn’t enough reason not to pray.

Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing.” I don’t think Paul meant we’re to be consciously praying one hundred per cent of the time. Centuries ago, Brother Lawrence described the wonder concept of practicing the presence. Our prayer should be as close to us as our breathing.

In each of our lives there are ample unnoticed opportunities which could encourage us to pray. I thought of a couple just this morning as I was getting ready for my day.

First, as I washed my face, I was aware of a feeling of tension and stress leaving as gently rubbed my cheeks and forehead. My mind was pulled into prayer as I asked Jesus to help me to release the things I was stressing over. Hmm, this could work. I started to wonder what other tasks I mindlessly went through that I could be using to prompt and improve my prayer life.

My next idea came to me as I started to brush my teeth. I got excited. I could use the time I spent brushing to pray, asking God to use my words to encourage, comfort, and teach. I could be praying the psalmist’s words, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight my God (Psalm 19:14, my paraphrase).”

It didn’t go quit like I thought. Recently, my husband purchased me a Spin toothbrush. It’s battery operated. I am pleased with how clean my teeth and gums feel after I use it and my dentist is happy too. This morning I wasn’t quite as focused as I should be and I forgot to turn it on when I began brushing my teeth.

There I was manually brushing away. It felt odd, sluggish, as I pushed the potentially powerful brush across my teeth. As the awareness of what I was doing dawned on me so did the spiritual implication. I had all the power necessary for a good cleaning right in my hand, but I wasn’t connected. And spiritually, I have all the power of God available to me. Each moment contains ample opportunity to connect.

Many years ago a dear friend of mine was going through a particularly difficult time in her marriage. She kept her Bible in her car and each time she was stopped at a long red light she would either use the time to stop and pray, or pick up her Bible to read a few verses. She found both of these things strengthened and comforted her and as a result she was able to stand firm in her faith.

I think we might be amazed at how much time there really is in a day to pray if we will just look for it.
I want to be better connected. I want a prayer life filled with joy, coming from focused intentionality, not from a place of ought and should. I’m going to use this Lenten season to accomplish this.

The inevitable question of Lent is, “What are you giving up?” It won’t be chocolate, pop, TV or the internet…not even Facebook. I’m giving up my laziness. I’m giving up “leaving the temple.”

These next forty days I’m going to be more mindful of times when I can connect with God and intentionally connecting with others.

How will you be using this season to grow in grace and knowledge?

I Can’t Say the Lord’s Prayer Without It

When I was in High School, very early in my faith journey, I came across a piece about the Lord’s Prayer. The author is unknown, but the message is timeless and needed.

I cannot say OUR if I live only for myself.
I cannot say FATHER if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.

I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if I am laying up no treasure there.

I cannot say HALLOWED BY THY NAME if I am not striving for holiness.

I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful event.

I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am disobedient to His word.

I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD if I am dishonest or seeking things by subterfuge.

I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES if I harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately place myself in its path.

I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not give the King the loyalty due Him from a faithful subject.

I cannot say THE POWER if I fear what others may do.

I cannot say THE GLORY if I am seeking honor only for myself.

I cannot say FOREVER if the horizon of my life is bounded by the things of today.

I haven’t been able to pray the Lord’s Prayer without thinking of this. My prayer is that it will not only impact your praying, but also your living.