Prayer and Suffering

Saints,

I pray that we continue to be drawn into deeper intimacy with Jesus. I know God will answer this prayer because Jesus asked for the same thing as recorded in John 17.

Be encouraged by these words from Paul Miller, in his book A Praying Life, from the chapter on “Learning to be Helpless,” page 59.

“If we think we can do life on our own, we will not take prayer seriously. Our failure to pray will always feel like something else--a lack of discipline or too many obligations. But when something is important to us, we make room for it. Prayer is simply not important to many Christians because Jesus is already an add-on. That is why, as we’ll see later, suffering is so important to the process of learning how to pray. It is God’s gift to show us what life is really like.”

What are your thoughts on your suffering and intimacy with Jesus through prayer?

Blessings,

Steve

A Few Words on Intimacy

Men

Here are a few words from A Prayer Life written by Paul Miller--a NavPress book.

"Jesus' example teaches us that prayer is about relationship. When he prays, he is not performing a duty; he is getting close to his Father. 

Any relationship, if it is going to grow, needs private space, time together without an agenda, where you can get to know each other. This creates an environment where closeness can happen, where we can begin to understand each other's hearts.

You don't create intimacy; you make room for it. This is true whether you are talking about your spouse, your friend, or God. You need space to be together. Efficiency, multitasking, and busyness kill intimacy. In short, you can't get to know God on the fly.

If Jesus has to pull away from people and noise in order to pray, then it makes sense that we need to as well." p47

I hope these words encourage you!

Blessings,

Steve

What Does More Prayer Look Like?

Men,

What does more prayer look like?

More prayer looks like each Christ-follower driven by God-given faith. That faith initiates, propels, sustains, and motivates Spirit-led, Bible-based, Kingdom-focused prayer in Jesus name.

More prayer looks like a young husband who can’t stop thinking about his new beautiful bride—just like we can’t stop thinking about Jesus and what is important to Jesus.

More prayer looks like praying alone, like Jesus praying all night on a mountain.

More prayer looks like praying with others, like Jesus praying with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.

More prayer looks like prayer driven by righteous anger like Jesus as He drove out the money-changers from the Temple.

More prayer looks like heart-ache as Jesus demonstrated “offering both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.” Heb. 5:7

More prayer looks like “knowing that you know that you know” God is with you.

More prayer looks like truly standing on God’s promises—not letting go—knowing He will do it!

More prayer looks like we have been with Jesus.

More prayer looks like husbands fighting for their wives, fathers and mothers fighting for their children, and wives fighting for their husbands.

More prayer looks like every Christ-follower consumed with deeper satisfaction in Jesus.

More prayer looks like the church truly living and behaving like the Spirit-empowered world-changer she really is!

More prayer looks like “Paul-like” life change of people in our families, communities, city, region, and the world.

More prayer looks like “pursuing His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us, as well.” Matt 6:33

More prayer looks like “the God of endurance and comfort giving us unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Rom 15:5-6

More prayer looks like David asking the Father to, “Teach me your way O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear your name. I will give thanks to you, O my Lord, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” Ps 86:11-12

Father, we ask for You to re-define our lives as lives of prayer, lives of whole-hearts after You, lives of Your kingdom as our priority in Jesus name, Amen.

Blessings, Steve

Give Your Attention to the Father

Men,

Let’s be real. There are times when it is hard to pray.

I love the Pixar movie Up. I can relate to Doug the dog. Doug has a gadget on his neck which translates his thoughts into human language—he can speak Mandarin, French, Spanish, or English all at a turn of the dial. It is fun to hear him speak “dog thoughts.” In one scene he is speaking about how loyal he is and how much he loves his master etc. Then, he suddenly turns his head and shouts, “Squirrel!” The dog completely interrupted himself. He was distracted. I can relate. Can you? Yes, especially when it comes to prayer.

This is one tactic I believe the enemy seeks to use in our lives—distraction. He may not be able to push us to give up on Jesus or keep us from speaking about our Savior. Even so, he may seek to fill our time with anything but prayer. It’s as if, the enemy’s mantra is, “Just keep them from praying!”

One timed I asked a missionary friend who was serving in Asia, (we are all on mission by the way—yes!) what role prayer played in her work? She stopped to think and then answered, “Prayer is the work.” She shared how she learned how to not say Amen… Her prayer was constant. She had grown more aware of the spiritual battle around her. She sensed the need for constant connection with the Father.

If we love Jesus, then our purpose is to worship and enjoy our Savior and be a conduit of God’s love to others—Jesus declares this in Mark 12:28-31. It is God’s battle. It is God’s plan. It is God’s purpose. It is God’s glory. It is God’s power. It is God’s results. If we think otherwise, if we think we can do it all on our own, then we deceive ourselves to believe that we can influence this eternal spiritual battle through mere advertising, marketing, project management, and business savvy—in short, by man’s effort.

So what are we to do? The answer is really more about “be” than “do.”

Though these words were written long before Jesus walked the earth, they still carry great truth.

Hosea 6:3,

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” (NASB)

Hosea uses an action word in this passage which paints the picture of “hunting” or “chasing after” God. You might be thinking that this sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, yes and no. No, it is not hard work in that we can’t work ourselves into connection with God—Jesus did this. And yes, in that, as Jesus said on the cross about His own work, “It is finished.” Jesus did the hard work. So what do we do? It's as if we cooperate with the Spirit as He drives us to chase after more intimacy with the Father.

Brothers and sisters may I suggest that we take time to come to our father in undistracted prayer and say like Daniel said in Daniel 9:3,

Father, here I am. You have done the work to enable me to be here in your presence. You first loved me--now I love you. Just like Daniel, I now "turn my attention to You." Lord, show me how to pray. Please lead this prayer time.


Father, You began the work and You are faithful to complete it. We surrender. We offer ourselves as intercessors. Please fill us with your Spirit of intercession—lead us to pray as You will. Help us to pray--we choose to press in.

Desperate for more of God, Steve

Amazing Answer to Prayer

Saints,

Praise God! Our persecuted Iranian brother was granted political asylum today! This means he will be able to go to France and retrieve his wife and two daughters whom he has not seen in over 5 years. This is a great victory the heavenly Father has poured out. Babak is a blessing to us--God is using Babak's story to deepen, awaken, and revive the American church. Thank you, Father.

Thirty believers traveled to the Denver court from Colorado Springs this morning. Apparently, spontaneous prayer erupted for Babak as they all surrounded him when the judge left the room for a 5 minute recess after more than 2 hours of testimony. The attorneys and the translator seemed surprised at this spectacle--what an amazing testimony to God's love. Praise God for how Vista Grande Baptist Church allowed God to use them to minister to this dear brother. As I write this from a hotel in Florida, there is a rowdy celebration still going on back home in Colorado Springs. Praise God!

Continue to pray for Babak and his family. They now have to assimilate into yet another culture after adjusting to the French culture.

Please pray that they will deeply know God's love through Christ-followers here in America. May God use this family to glorify His name, may He use us to glorify His name.

More to come...

Prayer is the work!

Steve