Prayer

Prayer for ordinary people

“But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Some days you pray while walking around, and that’s always a good thing. Some days call for face down praying right out of bed. Today was that kind. Really, every day calls for face down praying. If I think otherwise I am kidding myself. One glimpse of who God  really is would cure that in a heartbeat.
Lord, I confess that sometimes I think I can just walk through my day without asking you for help. What a mistake that is. Help me to walk in the light today. Make me a better person today, because I wasn’t happy with who I was yesterday.
Oh, I don’t think anyone noticed….everything looked fine on the surface, but there is always room for improvement in how I relate to people, the things that rumble around in my heart. You know those little complaints and gripes, flares of anger over things that don’t matter.
I need the blood today and everyday. Without that precious covering I don’t like to think where I would be.
Thank you gracious and merciful Father, for loving me when I get things wrong over and over.
I am so glad Your Grace never runs dry……Amen

Top photo: google
Bottom one: me

Morning Journal

When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer, to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
When you begin the day, O never fail to say,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
And at your work rejoice, to sing with heart and voice,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
German hymn, author unknown
The birds were busy this morning,  as they crisscrossed staccato clouds. Roused from their nightime secrets places of slumber, they now have places to go, things to do.
Bunny is busy too, zig-zagging further down the street. It was a gilded sunrise, everything washed in peach……I had a great night’s sleep and I feel rested, first time in four days.
The moon still hangs lazily above the cloud bank to my right. I guess she is not ready to wake up on the other side of the world just yet.
What a luxury it is to sit here and watch the world wake up.
In my memory, I see myself, my Dad, a group of us standing in a circle holding hands on a green lawn, still damp with dew. We are singing the song, “Morning Has Broken.” Celebration in the air……
It is Easter sunrise.
Today I had another.
 

Just today…..

“In the days before his death,his Aunt Louisa asked him if he had made his peace with God.
His answer was “I did not know we had ever quarrelled, Aunt.” Attributed to Henry David Thoreau
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Thank you God for placing me here in this world you have created. I could have been born anywhere or not at all, and I thank you that I was. Each day holds a glimpse of Your Heaven. Help me not fail to notice the small moments of wonder happening all around me. Too many days have passed when I haven’t.
Consider just one bird….the cactus wren, so busy, so industrious is this couple that they build not one nest, but two….one as a backup, or maybe a decoy to fool predators?
And when I consider the full moon hanging there just so, its own presence daring us not to believe. I wonder how anyone can deny that kind of majesty and say that it was not created…..
that….. it….. just….. happened
We are all born with a spark of Grace…..made for eternity.
No matter how bad I think things are, there is always so much to thank you for. Sometimes it helps to do just that.
So today, I pause.

Praying Always……

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” Ephesians 6:18

“Prayer, and only prayer, restores my vision to one that more resembles God’s. i awake from blindness to see that wealth lurks as a terrible danger, not a goal worth striving for; that value depends not on race or status but on the image of God every person bears; that no amount of effort to improve physical beauty has much relevance for the world beyond.” Philip Yancey

I was on my break the other day at work, and decided to sit in my car a bit and listen to the radio. I was just in time for David Jeremiah’s Turning Point which I used to listen to all the time. He was talking about prayer and reading from one of Philip Yancey’s books. In it, he described a man, a desperate alcoholic who prayed and prayed to be released from his terrible cravings, and yet every morning his first thought was not God but Jack Daniels. At one point in his process of prayer he realized that it was God’s mercy that kept the desire there. He realized that the prayer was changing him from the inside out.

Ever prayed for something for so long that you wondered whether it was doing any good at all? I know I have. But then I realize something else. Maybe that change in myself or someone else is not happening as fast as I think it should, but while I am praying about it, something else is changing.

I am drawing near to God……..my faith is not weakened but strengthened. My frustrations in what I feel are unanswered prayers draw me to the Word of Life……and that in turn gives me the peace I need to wait……because I know in the waiting, something very powerful is happening.

And be assured, that thing you’re praying for will happen when the time is right……

I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:13,14
I join with many today in the Gratitude Community…….#700-710
Thankful list: Hanging onto cool mornings for a bit longer, answered prayer about the sale of a home, green offerings from the garden, snatched times of peace away, continued good health, air-conditioner on borrowed time that still rumbles to life, good health of my parents at 81,82, beautiful Arizona sunsets, laughter, always laughter that has continued even through stressfulness of caretaking…..friends who pray.

holy experience

Real Prayer

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord……
In prayer today, my brain was like a Sunbeam mixmaster. My mind full of stuff on my list. My agenda. In a few days I am leaving on a jet plane. I need to ship a box to California, I need to go to Walmart. I haven’t even showered yet. I feel time slipping by…….
I sat in prayer trying to quiet my mind and asked myself…….”Why am I here?” I needed to ask it of myself, because sometimes it seems even my prayer time is all about me, and I don’t want it to be. The answer that landed at the bottom of my pile of thoughts was:
I pray because I want to spend time with God, and I miss Him when I don’t.
Here is a prayer I read in Kathleen Beard’s wonderful book, Into the Mist that brought me up short, really short:
My Lord, I have mistreated You all my Christian life. I have treated you like a servant. When I wanted You I called for You; when I was about to engage in some work I beckoned You to come and help me perform my task. I have kept You in the place of a servant. I have sought to use You only as a willing servant to help me in my self-appointed and chosen work. I shall do so no more.
Just now I give You this body of mine; from my head to my feet, I give it to You. I give You my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain; all that I am within and without, I hand over to You for You to live in it the life that You please. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a sick bed with cancer. You may blind the eyes, or send me with Your message to Tibet.
You may take this body to the Eskimos, or send it to a hospital with pneumonia. It is Your body from this moment on. Help Yourself to it. Thank you, my Lord. I believe You have accepted it for in Romans twelve and one you said, “acceptable unto God.” Thank You again, my Lord, for taking me. We now belong to each other.
Raymond V. Edman
They Found the Secret
I can’t help but wonder how my life would change if I only had the courage to say that prayer and mean it. This prayer humbles me beyond words.

Church Etiquette

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14

Has something like this ever happened to you? You are sitting in church, trying desperately not to be distracted, but directly in front of you is a couple who can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. It happened to me this past Sunday. Now this was not a young teen aged couple, they should have known better. They were 30 something, maybe even 40. What made it worse was this was during communion. I elbowed Elaine, sitting next to me who I knew was trying just as hard as I was to keep focused. Usually I can focus. Rattling papers, whispering, people walking up and down the aisle, no problem…..I can pay attention.

It went on and on…….I had so many crazy thoughts. I was almost ready to wad up my program and toss it in their direction. Where is the mischievous little boy throwing spit wads in class? I wished he was there. C’mon, we are trying to have a Holy moment here! Concentrate, breathe……..focus. Even the Pastor, who was right in my line of vision and theirs, was looking at them.

He had his hand wound up in her hair, and she was making (as my Dad would say) cow eyes at him. She even puckered her lips at him, I swear! My mind twittered thoughts right and left…….”at least they could have sat in the back row…..don’t they have any clue about church etiquette? Why are they here? They really need to get a room.”

Finally, at a loss as to what to do, I prayed for them, and for me. I know it was Jesus idea. It did help, it diffused the irritation. Opened the channels to a bit of love and understanding…..everyone has to start somewhere after all.

What do you think? Was it good that they were there regardless of how they acted? Had something like this happened to you?

“What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” 1 Corinthians 14:26

My Prayer Cave

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4

It was very cozy in my prayer shed/closet today. I lit the little stove in the corner as well as the lantern that sits on top of the roll around toolchest……It was windy and cold, and the windchimes sang the accompanyment to my prayer this morning. I was thankful, so thankful for this moment, these moments that come at the start of every day. He has brought me through another week.

As I end my prayer I think of going out for a walk, but as I open the door it blows in like a gust……and I sit back down. Maybe a bit more prayer instead…..

He is near……

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13

This evening I wish to draw our hearts together in prayer for the victims of the tragic shooting that happened here in our Arizona. I pray for the families of the 6 who were killed and the 14 wounded 2 of whom are still critical. Words can’t express the suffering they and their families are going through now, and I pray that God will bring His comfort and healing to all involved.

One man was a church leader who covered his wife as the shooting started, she survived, he did not. A little girl born on 9-11 was also killed, each and every one were equally important to God and will be grieved by family members and friends.
Nothing escapes His notice…….Thank you for praying as I join with churches across our state and country in vigils tonight for the victims and all involved.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Let Heaven and Nature Sing…..

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth. Psalm 19:1-6
 
Many times I pray on the way to work, but this morning was different. I started out praying but as I prayed I felt like I had to lift my voice, so I did. I cried out for my family, my friends, and then I just lifted my voice in praise to the Lord…….Sometimes a quiet prayer just doesn’t get it. I had my own min-revival there in the car. I thought of all that this season means and all that God has done for me and my spirit collided with His Spirit in one voice……How many times do we raise our voices for other things, a shout-out at a sporting event, a “whoop-whoop” for everything under the sun these days. God deserves it more than anyone.
 
Our very creation does its own version of a shout-out if we open our eyes long enough to see it.
 
The animals cry and sing just for the joy of singing…….they sing their own praises to the Lord, for they know who created them!
 
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth recieve her King,
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!

Isaac Watts, 1719
A very Merry Christmas to all…..

On missing prayer time…..

“Oh Lord how I have missed this time with You. I was doing other things for awhile, important and necessary things, but I have missed this coming before Your throne of Grace….this time of morning quiet. I have had snatches here and there, but it’s not the same.
I know that I can pray anywhere, at any time, but this place is special, Holy…..it is my own little hollow, a little carved out place we have made together. When we come together again, its like we were never apart; a bit like an seeing an old friend, but much better. I settle into Your rhythm of eternity and timelessness, and once again I feel small next to You, and the world gets smaller too.
I back away, realign myself to You…..Your Holiness, Your timeless Grace. I listen and hear You in the quiet. I listen and repeat what You hear day in, day out……”Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come.”
One Holy praise for each, Father, Son, Holy Spirit
I reflect once again on Your coming. What it meant then and what it still means today. I can only bow in humble adoration as a simple shepherd did years ago by lamplight in a stable.

“My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.” Psalm 131

Right after I wrote this prayer in my journal, I opened the Bible to the above passage……