The Power of Prayer

I have been attending a Bible study class at my church called "The Power of Persistence" by Michael Catt. This man is the pastor of the church in Georgia that has produced the movies "Facing the Giants", "Fireproof", etc. The study is one on prayer. I never realized that I did not know as much about prayer as I thought I had. Prayer is the one thing that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. They didn't ask Him how to evangelize or how to stand through persecution etc. They asked Him how to pray. And now I am learning so much about prayer and realizing my heart cry also needs to be, Lord teach me how to pray.

I have been a child of God for 15 years and in that time I have said plenty of prayers. However, I am just now realizing that a lot of times I do not pray in the right way. When you look at Paul's letters in the New Testament, many of his prayers are recorded. The thing is that Paul didn't pray for physical healing or for deliverance from persecution and trials. He often prayed for endurance for those going through trials and for spiritual growth of the saints. In Ephesians 1:15-19, Paul writes, 

"This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father. would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength." 

What a prayer!

 Many times I sit and recite my prayer list to God often full of requests for physical healing and deliverance. But those are not necessarily things we should be focusing our prayers on. It is definitely not a bad thing to pray for physical healing, but we should be more concerned with someones' spiritual condition than their physical one. When was the last time I prayed for my brothers and sisters in Christ to grow in their knowledge of Him? I am not sure if I can even recall praying for that more than twice. I am definitely going to make this a habit in my daily prayer time and as I go throughout my day from now on. Oh that the Lord would continue to teach me how to pray...

A Song for Sunday...

 From the time I was just a little girl I have treasured hymns. I was taught them by my mother and we sang them at church as well. I am so glad that I was given these gifts to hold on to in life. There are many times when I find myself in a spiritual battle and I can just sing these hymns that remind me of God's omnipotence and I feel the enemy flee. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a fear I can't describe and I turn to the Scripture I have stored up in my heart and these sweet hymns. I used to spend hours as a child pouring through old hymnals we had at home and singing my favorites. They still hold a special place in my heart. One of my favorite hymns is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". The story behind it is so beautiful. It was written in 1758 by a pastor named Robert Robinson at the age of 23. However, Robert had lost his Father at 8 years old and had taken on a life of drinking and gambling around the age of 14. He attended an evangelistic meeting where George Whitefield preached at the age of 17. He did not yield his life to Christ until he was 20 and then he followed God's leading to go into the ministry. He wrote this song at the age of 23 to go along with a sermon.-from sharefaith.com  

What a beautiful story of restoration; how God can take us dirty sinners and make us clean. My favorite part of the song is:

and the end of that verse "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above."

I am 23 years old and I have made this song a type of prayer in my life. O that the Lord could take my heart and seal it. It's been bruised, mistreated, and broken and it wanders when it should not. And yet praise God that I am a great debtor to grace. May it bind my heart to Him.

My Valentine Tradition

So here I am on February 14th single once again. I got used to going on Valentine dates for the past four years and getting flowers from the guy in my life. But there is a tradition I started way before I ever started dating and I have kept it to this day. I always read 1 Corinthians 13 on Valentine's Day. It is dubbed as the love chapter in the Bible. No, it's definitely not the only place in the Bible where God's love is mentioned. However, it is where godly love is really defined. And since this is the love chapter in the Bible, I decided about 6 or 7 years ago that I would start reading this passage each year on February 14. I pause after each verse and make it a prayer for my life. Because a lot of times I do not show godly love to those around me or even to myself. And I need to be more patient, kind, selfless, humble, and truthful among other things. I should probably start reading this passage every morning and pray that it would be evident in my life for that day. 

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy: 

love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

does not behave rudely, does not seek its own,

is not provoked, thinks no evil;

does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things." 

~1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV)

I love having this tradition, because each time I get something new out of the reading. Christ always reveals Himself to me in a new and exciting way. And it helps me to remember that I don't need a guy in my life to be complete, whole, and happy. I mean of course I do want to meet a godly guy one day and get married and have kids (please Lord before I'm 30, ha!). However, my worth is not found in whether I am dating someone or not. My worth is found in Christ. It's nice to know that my Valentine loved me so much that He died for me, but He didn't stay that way. He is living, and breathing, and He lives in me. His Word is alive and powerful and it penetrates to the bone. Oh "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word...."

Expressions of Love

The best part about Valentine's Day for me is that I work with kids. Yes this means we get to deal with them for a few hours at school hyped up with the excitement of the day and it can be stressful. But even though I don't have a man and I wasn't expecting anything at all this Valentine's Day, I got gifts from the kids. And in a way, this is how God smiles down on me and I feel so extremely blessed. I have been going through some tough trials in my life and it's easy to get beat up and discouraged. And yet God uses these expressions of love to brighten my day. I love all 18 of those sweet smiling kids, even when they are difficult and have rough days. Because we all have rough days sometimes and yet God still loves us. They are teaching me everyday how I probably sound to God sometimes (like a whiny 4 year old child) and how everyday needs to be greeted with grace. I was so blessed today when they came in with Valentines for me, a new fuzzy blanket, a mug, and some chocolates. I totally snuggled up on the couch this afternoon under the new blanket while watching "Toy Story"  and eating chocolate. Because I mean, what else do you do after spending a morning with hyped up kids? My favorite Valentine so far this year has to be this one from a sweet girl in my class:

How I cherish these expressions of love....