I’m Back …

I will be posting again to this blog beginning today.  Trying to run a youth ministry blog, a youth ministry website and sending out youth ministry emails was just becoming a bit too much.  After all, there is only so much information you can send out.

So, I am going to start using this blog again to simply post up any thoughts I have.  Hopefully, I will be able to provide blogs that will help whoever reads them in some way with their spiritual walk.  I hope that this can serve as an encouragement.

It’s a new year, and already, God is showing me some areas where I need to change … where I need much growth.  And the first is in the realms of prayer.

I was listening to John Piper this morning, and he said something (or at least I heard something that came from something he said) that rang a bell with me.

I’m not sure exactly how to put it, but it goes something like this …

Many of us who have grown past the adolescent stages of legalism have simply stopped praying.  Basically, I want to pray as much as I did when I prayed for legalistic reasons but I want to pray that much out of a deep love and respect for God, and ultimately, to bring Glory to God.

I’m not sure if that makes sense to any of you, but it has sparked some thought for me to grow on.

Father God,
I pray for your strength as we enter this new year.  Open our eyes to what You are doing in us and around us.  Give us the strength and courage to join You in what You are doing and to allow You to make the changes in us that You want to make.

In Jesus’ Name!
Amen

Prayer

Originally posted in a previous blog on January 25, 2007.

I’ve been reading a lot about prayer lately. And with that … has come a lot of thoughts on prayer. Have you ever really thought about what prayer is supposed to be? I believe most of us see prayer as a means of communicating our needs to God. While this is a part of prayer, I think that we over emphasize this area of prayer.

Have you ever prayed for a close spot up front at the mall (or known someone who did) and got it? Was that God answering your prayer? Have you ever prayed for a bright sunny day so that you can have your picnic or play that sporting event? Did God answer your prayer? Have you ever prayed for a person who was not saved or for someone who had cancer or for a couple experiencing difficulty in their marriage? Were those prayers answered?

What if someone else was in the mall parking lot at the same time as you and was praying for a good spot, but you got it first? What if a farmer is praying for rain for his crops on the same day as your picnic or game? What if God allowed someone to die who is not saved or did not heal the person with cancer or what if the couple ended up divorced?

Where is God in all of these events? Does he answer our prayers or not? I think we have to take a different approach to prayer … to life. I believe the MAIN purpose of prayer is for us to communicate with God. Prayer is a way for us to simply BE with God. When I talk to my wife daily, I am not simply talking to her about my needs. I am talking to her about everything that comes to my mind. I am simply communicating with her about the things that I consider important or interesting. And I am listening to her as she talks to me. Prayer is our way of communicating with God in order to grow in our relationship with Him. Will their be times I present requests … yes. But that should not be the main reason I pray.

To take this a step further, we present requests for bad things to get better … and many times, it seems that these requests go unanswered. Here’s a thought … let me see if I can articulate this well. Something bad happens to me or someone I love. This thing weighs upon me heavily and it is scary … and possibly life threatening. I think – rather than praying that God would remove this bad thing – that God wants us to find contentment with Him in this bad thing believing that He is in control and that His will is best. His will may be to remove that bad thing. But then again, His will may be to let the bad thing remain. What is important at this critical juncture how we respond to God. If I pray that the bad thing be removed … and God doesn’t remove it … does that mean that God doesn’t care about me or that God doesn’t exist? NO!

Let me try explaining it using Jesus. In the garden, Jesus prayed to God that He would spare Him from having to die on the cross. Was Jesus weak or sinning at this moment? NO! Was He expressing His true anxieties or feelings to God? YES! But as He finished that prayer, He focuses on what is important. Yes … this may seem really bad to me or really scary … but Father, Your will be done!

We have all said it. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we will have a perfect life. Do we believe that or not? Being a Christian does not mean that God will remove all bad things from our lives … or will not allow us to endure hardship or loss. Think about Job. We see that his life got bad … but we say, “Yes, but God brought him out of that.” Have you ever considered his 10 kids. They stayed dead! Job lost 10 kids through that time of trial. Have you seen the movie “The End of the Spear” or read the story of Jim Elliott? These missionaries … men who had dedicated everything to God for the sake of spreading the Gospel … were killed at such a young age leaving behind wives and children. And we can all look at what great things have come from that.

Sorry for the rambling today. But, let me try to conclude. Bad things happen. Yes … talk to God about these things. Ask him to deal with them the way you want to see them dealt with. But … at some point remember that you don’t know everything and can’t see everything and you can’t fully understand God or His ways or His thoughts. Remember that His will be done is the most important. Pray that God would help you to see what He is doing in your bad situation. Ask God to show you how you can bring glory to His name through this bad situation. Stay close to God! He will stay close to you.

Go with God,
Donald B

Why Pray?

Originally posted in a previous blog on October 23, 2006.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about prayer over the past week or so. And with that reading, I’ve been convicted by the Holy Spirit because of my prayer life. Yes … I pray. Yes … I believe prayer is effective. Yes … I believer prayer is communication with God.

However, I do not pray enough. I do not pray with intensity. I rarely pray boldly expected God to really care about what I am saying. I feel as if my prayers are more obligatory at times rather than relational.

Have you ever asked why we even pray? What is the purpose of prayer? To get God to act on something important to us? To ask him to protect us? To provide for us? God knows all these things, and he already wants what is best for us. He knows every need before we even come to him. He will protect us as he chooses to protect us. HE KNOWS IT ALL AND CONTROLS IT ALL … SO WHY PRAY????

I have come to believe there is a very simple reason why we pray. It’s because of the relationship! And there are 2 aspects of the relationship I would like to discuss.

ONE …
As we praise our God, we are reminded of how great he is. As we thank our God, we are reminded of how blessed we are. As we present our requests to God, we are reminded that we are always in need of his care. But most importantly … whatever the situation … as we present it to God, we slowly come to the place where we begin to see the situation from God’s perspective. And when this happens, we then are able to trust him to handle it as he sees fit.

TWO …
The other reason we pray is simply to be with God. God is an individual. He created us to have fellowship with him. He WANTS to be with us. Did you catch that? He WANTS to BE with us. The Almighty God who created everything wants time just to be with me. The sad thing is we … more than not … don’t reciprocate that desire. We do not WANT to be with him. We might say we do … but if we aren’t doing it … then we are demonstrating the true desire.

MY GOAL …
My goal is to become the kind of person that WANTS to be with God. My goal is to spend quality time with my God … as well as quantity time with God.

This life is hard. Why live it by yourself. Let God be your strength. Let God be your friend.

Go with God,
Donald B