Prayer

Coming home…..


Home to Arizona again…..No leaves here. In California there are leaves everywhere right now, on the street, stuck to shoes, blowing in the doorway…..magical, messy, colorful, God’s artistry blowing down for us to enjoy. Watching my niece bury herself in dry dead old leaves, I saw them through her eyes….gleeful fun. The kind of fun we adults forget. We see mess, just imagine what could be lying in that pile raked along with all that color? But she sees only pure unadulterated joy. I let her bury me in it.

Reflection time now, sitting home. I let lose with a few tears. Tears that always must come when leaving ones you love. Knowing that it was helpful me being there, but also knowing when I leave the help goes away. My Mom and I said the same thing, we both started to give in to tears, and then prayed instead. Of course the only way, always and only. Prayer, our salvation, our lifeline when we are far apart.

So I pray….And as I pray, and feel sorrow breaking over me, I feel something else too. I see a scene in my mind of a summer day, boats bobbing off a green shore. A place where you would love to spend the Fourth of July. I see it, and I know it is God’s way of anchoring my soul to His peace.

I find, and feel, hope. It is good to be home, and I know that I am not so far away from loved ones there. We are bound together in prayer…..God’s hope.

Last of the fall leaves


They know their time is short, and still they hang on against the bitter wind….they cling to life against all hope.

Hope everyone had a very blessed Thanksgiving…..currently away from blogging enjoying family and friends….but will be back soon.

“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” Phil. 4:6

We all pray….


We all pray whether we think of it as praying or not. The odd silence we fall into when something very beautiful is happening, or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of us as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the skyrocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else’s pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else’s joy. Whatever words or sounds we use for sighing with over our own lives. These are all prayers in their way. These are all spoken not just to ourselves but to something even more familiar than ourselves and even more strange than the world….Frederick Buechner

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Leaving my "self" at the door

Autumn gate by Thomas Kinkade

Happy are they who throw themselves with bowed head and closed eyes into the arms of the “Father of Mercies,” and the “God of all consolation,” as St. Paul said! There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without Him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever He leads. All those who live the Christian life, and yet would very much like to keep a little in with the world, run great risk of being among the lukewarm of whom it is said they will be “spewed out of the mouth of God.” Taken from “Devotional Classics”
Sobering words by Francois Fenelon

The Christian life for me is a constant process of moving myself out of the way, and letting God take over. Today I started to pray when I realized that I was tripped up by my own “self.” It was something I had to correct as soon as God brought it to my attention. As soon as I started thinking about how much time I would put in and how much would be acceptable to God, the battle was lost. I had made a religious “thing” out of it. It’s like this: How would you feel as a parent if you knew your child was only spending time with you because they felt they “should” but not because they wanted to. Forgive me, Lord for all those times I try to playact with You.
I paused, I reflected, I started over with a purer heart. Then my prayer time became what it was supposed to be once again. A place where I connect to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and He connects with me. What a privelege, what a unspeakable gift!

If the Holy Spirit is our gateway to the throne of God, then prayer is certainly the pathway through that gate. Thankfully, the omnipotence of God is tempered with love and grace otherwise we would not be able to stand in His presence……

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16.

Prayer changes things


From Philip Yancey’s book on Prayer
Towards the end of Einstein’s life….When a doctoral student at Princeton asked, “What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?” Albert Einstein replied, “Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer.”

“I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet I believe that life with God should seem more like friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter. Philip Yancey, “Prayer”

I find this to be true. I enter my prayer closet with an expectation of change. Either change in a situation or change in myself or help for someone else. I know that even if the situation remains the same, prayer is the way I can ask God to help me deal with it the way He wants me to. I never quite know what to expect when I enter but I know that always, He meets me there.

I love this illustration from a man named John (also in Yancey’s book) he says this: “I’ve been working around street people, mostly homeless, for twenty-five years now. I help run a coffeehouse where they can drop in, and then on Sunday we hold a small urban church service upstairs. We never know what will happen there. Some of the people smell bad, disturbed people pray too long, and visitors wander in and out of the service. The other week one person prayed, “Thank you, Lord, for Metamusil,” and another chimed in, ‘That’s a 10-4, God.”

Romans 12:12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Morning prayer


Now that I am down the road a bit, I can see all the times
in my life where I left you out, Lord.
How much better they would have
been had I invited You along.

Of course I know You were there, waiting in the wings.
Hoping, waiting for me to acknowledge You
instead of being focused on my fears
my feelings
my needs….Or just simply thinking that
You had forgotten me,
or didn’t care.

I can imagine you saying, “I can help you with that,
if you just let Me;
Ask, seek, I am here knocking
but I will never violate your
free will.”

Help me to remember all the times I have been helped
by a perfect stranger. How grateful I was.
Help me to keep my spiritual eyes and ears
open to those who need help, or might be seeking You.
Remove the blinders that keep me so focused on my own agenda that I miss Your opportunities.

Thank you Lord, for being with me now.
What a miracle that I can bring eternity
into every little moment, and know
that Your are smiling on me when I do.
Amen

Revelation 3:20
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Life is a prayer


God doesn’t care if we use big words when we pray,
He already knows the biggest words anyway.
Sometimes silence is prayer because we run out
of words, but God knows our heart.

Sometimes I fall asleep right in the middle
of a prayer at night, and I think that is okay.
I think He smiles at that. Sometimes you aim
for Heaven and that is enough.
He likes that I am thinking of Him.

Don’t worry if your tongue stumbles over itself,
To His ears it is eloquent, because
You are His child.

And sometimes, the burden of life is just too
overwhelming, that is when I can pick up the prayer
where you left off…
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26).

Why church?


‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the House of the Lord”’(Psalm 122:2). Why do we go to the House of the Lord? We go ‘to give thanks to the Name of the Lord’(Psalm 122:4). We seek His mercy for our past sins: ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!’(Psalm 123:3). We seek His help for our future temptations: ‘Our help is in the Name of the Lord…’(Psalm 124:8). As we receive mercy and help from the Lord, we worship Him: ‘Blessed be the Lord’(Psalm 124:6). In our worship, we ‘look to the Lord our God’, drawing encouragement from His Word: ‘The Lord is on our side’- In Him we have the victory (Psalm 123:2; Psalm 124:1-5). Rejoicing in God’s blessing, we pray for others: ‘May they prosper who love You’(Psalm 122:6).

So often we leave church with the same burdens we had when we came in. This should never be. We turn and greet the person behind us, shake their hand, maybe a hug and smile, maybe give our name. All the while our hearts are aching. God never intended that. “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42

I attended a prayer service last night and it was really a blessing. Just getting together to talk to God, lift each other up. That is when it gets real, and sometimes that can be scary. Emotions show up, and tears….but after all is said and done, burdens lifted, hearts lightened, strangers grow closer. Real change happens from the inside out…..

Today I am thankful for the circle of prayer that reaches around the world. Heads bowed, hands clasped….in homes, churches, battlefields, sporting events, commuting cars, hospitals, in hearts and heads. He keeps them all in His bowl of gold.

“And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Rev. 5:8

Thankful for the promises of God today, my gratitude list grows:

57. All our needs will be met. Phil. 4:19

58. We will have enough Grace to do whatever He asks. 2 Cor. 12:9

59. Blessings are ours through the promise of Abraham and the redemptive work on the cross. Genesis 22:18

60. We have deliverance from ALL temptation. 1 Cor. 10:13

61. We have victory over death itself. Acts 2:32

62. If we keep trusting Him, ultimately everything will work out for our good. Romans 8:28

63. We never have to be alone. John 14:26

64. Peace in every circumstance. Phil 4:7

65. Assurance that our prayers are heard. 1 John 5:14

66. With God there is always hope. Heb. 6:19

Continue counting your blessings with Ann here:
holy experience

Heart to heart prayer

Some days my prayer sessions with God go something like this, I open with praise. Thanking God for who He is and all the things He continues to do in my life. Then I go through my list of “people” that I am praying for; sometimes that leads to looking up a certain verse of Scripture, which leads me into, “now where is that verse anyway?” Sometimes I have no words at all, just sit in the silence and know that He is near.

Sometimes it turns into something like bargaining with God, sometimes my prayers edge dangerously into manipulation territory, sometimes I sound like a whining child. Sometimes, He surprizes me with something I never expected! But always He is there. Always, He hears me, and always He loves hearing from me.

Today, I just handed Him my wadded up tangled mind, “Here you take it!” My thoughts were scrambled today, and I felt unfocused. Finally I just told Him all that was on my mind. I sensed Him saying, “I already know all this, but it will make you feel better to share it, so just climb off your prayer pedestal and talk to me.”

So I did….After that I reflected on a study I had awhile back, that impacted me greatly.(Thank you Lucy for answering Gods call to lead it) It was on the names of God. The Holy Spirit reminded me of how He has been all those names to me at different times in my life, and I cried as I remembered.

YAHWEH-RAPHA: “The Lord Who Heals” (Exodus 15:26) After the death of my husband, and dear sister in law….and the morning long ago when I woke up and knew that God had healed my anorexia.

EL ROI: “God of Seeing” (Genesis 16:13) – The name ascribed to God by Hagar, alone and desperate in the wilderness after being driven out by Sarah (Genesis 16:1-14), when she met the Angel of the Lord and realized she had seen God Himself in a theophany. She realized that El Roi saw her in her distress and testified that He is a God who lives and sees all. How many times I have felt alone, and have been comforted by the “God who sees”

YAHWEH-JIREH: “The Lord will Provide” (Genesis 22:14) – The name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. I reflect on all the years God has so wonderfully provided for my needs by giving me good jobs, and without a college degree!

I left my prayer closet with a very thankful heart and a renewed sense of God’s power today. I will post the full list of the names of God tomorrow!