Prayer pt 2 Pray First & about Everything!

This is a must in my house! In fact my wife & I often remind each other when talking about anything , "Did you pray first?".  I quote it to everyone. God has given you the tools to overcome stress, anxiety, and worry- and it's called prayer! Worrying taking the steering wheel from God, when our job is to trust him. So let go today and talk to God!  The future if we stare at it to often can look scary, but God reminds us in ( Jer 29:11) I have a future for you. I have a plan.   So when you feel the worry set in, discipline yourself to pray.

With praying for everything, pray first! Pray before making that big purchase. Pray before you go to that next meeting. Pray before walking out the door, sending that email, etc..... It may seem excessive, but 1 Thess 5:17 tells us to simply pray without ceasing! 

My prayer for you:

God, I come to you now and humbly ask for your forgiveness of things I have done knowingly or unknowingly. I give you my heart, my thoughts, my will, and emotions. I let go of my worry and trust you! I rejoice and thank you because you are an amazing God who loves me!
Amen

Talking to God to doesn't have to be formal! It's about a relationship.  I hope that you were encouraged and that you develop a prayer life that is infectious!

Stay Hungry

It's funny isn't it. Look at the meal above. No one would sit down to a table and simply have just a pea. Yet, spiritually we do this with God's word. Why do we do this?  How can we stay hungry ?

 

Deuteronomy 8:3

New King James Version (NKJV)

³ So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord

It's interesting this scripture would be used again by Jesus against a temptation from the devil. I think we all go through days where we just DON'T want to really read. No one reads any more. Maybe you need to get back on track or maybe you have never really spiritually hungered after God's word. Some people literally don't even bring their bible to church anymore. Look around.
Here my top 3 things for not reading.

1. I can get what I need from my pastor- Imagine working  a 40 hour week and only eating ONCE  a week. Who would do this? While your pastor may be awesome, you need to get in the word FOR YOU!
2. I am too busy- Well we all have this, but we can pray and ask God for direction and yet not open up his word. God's word has so much for you! Try a few different things. ChurchoftheHighlands.com offers a 1 year bible study and it takes a second just each morning.
3. I can't relate- We all can relate to relationships. If you think about what the bible really is. A revelation of God is. Get to know him today. Know his promises.

First. Pray. Ask God for a hunger. Worship in his word. Pray according to his word. You wouldn't starve your physical man on purpose, why would you deny spirit the same nourishment.

May God grant you a hunger today for his word that you might know him more.

How to be a Fool

Everyday life can be complex. No this is not a lesson in  how to be a fool, but rather how to avoid it. Are you on the list:
1. Speaks too much - Proverbs 17:28
2. Hopes in money - Proverbs 11:28
3. Lacks self-control - Proverbs 25:28
... 4. Gossips - Proverbs 10:18
5. Never plans ahead - Proverbs 19:2
6. Meddles in the matters of others - Proverbs 26:17
7. Speaks quickly - Proverbs 29:11
8. Stubborn - Proverbs 12:15
9. Lazy - Proverbs 13:4
10. Stingy - Proverbs 28:22

Things we should avoid!

Prayer: pt1

Scriptures: Matt 6:9-11 & Eph 3:14
As my wife and I prepare for the next series , "Teach Us To Pray", we want to focus in several different parts of prayer. What did Jesus mean when he said we ought to pray like this, but I  wanted to start some place else this week.  In Eph 3  Paul starts talking about the great wonder and mystery of God's plan of how he weaves all people, no matter how different, into one big beautiful canvas called his Church. How God would even use him (Paul) in his wondrous plan.
Paul writes in verse 14 of Eph 3, "when I think of all this, I fall to my knees in pray to the Father".

There are two things I want to highlight.

1. Keep the wonder and awe about Jesus and his beautiful plan alive. Don't lose that. Don't lose your spark. Don't be overwhelmed by what God is calling you to in your life or the life of the Church. Don't get lost in the complexity or simplicity, you are in the midst of his plan for you life. Instead, let it drive you to your knees in prayer. Not in fear or worry/doubt, but in simple surrender to the Father who loves and leads you .

2. Pray. Simply, Pray. No special place or event. Just direct your heart in conversation with God. Kneel both spiritually and physically(if need be). God has a plan and we most often fret, because we just don't ever stop ourselves and pray. We try to figure it out. So in praying let it lead you to surrender. My favorite part of the Lord's prayer is that the most important part is often overlooked. We've heard people say that our prayer isn't answered because we hold onto  a lack  of forgiveness , but before we even get to that part of the prayer Jesus is telling us to surrender. Think about it. God your will be done!  So today let us be in awe and surrender.

Through the storms

Matthew 7:24-27

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

It rains doesn't it. In our life. We have great times of peace and joy where the sun is shining and all is right with the world, but then the rain comes.

Jesus teaches us that it's going to happen. A simple  and yet profound teaching. I thought about this twice this week. The first time was because of an actual storm and the second because of a family who suffered the loss of a son.  My best friend called to tell me the news and after I hung up the phone I cried and prayed for the family.  I have been through that loss. A few times.

As I went the next few days I mulled over and over the storms that I have been through and that if I didn't have a foundation built upon who Jesus I wondered what kind of person or situation I would be in. I kept thinking that it would have be a house that would constantly need rebuilding. Imagine for a minute that your own house or where you live, that if a storm hit that you had to keep rebuilding and rebuilding every time  a storm came. That would be crazy! I know that I would get sick of that pretty quick, but I would have to build something with an actual foundation, something of worth.   It would not be based off my own understanding and my own will. Which let's face it. My will power is pretty weak. I am thankful everyday that I have a relationship that's built upon the teachings of Jesus. It's pretty solid but it's in those moments of weakness though. In the storms that I cry out to God and he hears me.  I get to be held close by him.  Ps 34:17 "The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help and he rescues them from all their troubles."

It's interesting because in this moment of my pain, junk, and weakness God desires to be close to me. When I feel my least bit like loving others and pouring out is the moment God wants to pour in me. So don't worry if you don't have it all together. Jesus came to heal the sick and the broken. Cry out to him and he will rescue you. So in your pain and in the storm stop and just cry out.

The Road to Here! (wherever that may be)

You know this scripture. You've heard it a few hundred times.

Jeremiah 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

 

What does it mean to you? Is this encouraging to you? I know for a while that I had some doubts about God's plan for my family because of my own lack of perspective. As my wife and I were on this journey we encountered frustration, depression, tension, feeling lost, defeated and then all of a sudden things started to change. We realized that my job as a Marine was taking it's toll on our spiritual lives together. I wasn't leading worship much and she was not getting to volunteer. We had become so busy with everything else that we weren't spending time together in God's presence.  I felt like we had no hope. No future.

 

1.The Change:Pray First

What changed was us wasn't a huge spiritual mystery. It was just simply a case of surrender and let God rid of us our fears. When this dawned on us we took a spiritual inventory and realized we needed to just draw closer to God together. So we started first with our prayer life. We made the intentional effort of praying before everything and I do mean EVERYTHING! When we woke up, pray. When we had our breakfast, pray! When I left the house for work,pray!  Almost immediately we both began to see a change in our attitudes and in our marriage. God began to whisper that what he had promised would be fulfilled!  That moment of "light bulb" went off:

 

New Living Translation (NLT) Matt 6:31-33

³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

 

2. Trust God: Don't let fear rule you.

 

The very first thing happens when you have change in your life isn't what you think. It's fear. Is this really God!? Is this right for my family? Where are we going to live? What will I do ? What will my girls DO!? AGGGHHH!? Then a still small voice speaks and you calm down and breathe in. Jesus reminds in Matthew's gospel that if we just Seek First God's way of doing things in our lives that all these other things will be taken care of! 

So in this moment. Breathe. Rest. Recharge and then be relentless in pursuing God. Things will not always happen in your time, but they will happen.  God is faithful.We had to go through some strange stuff to get where we are now. Lost  a solid job with benefits. Had a monumental failure. Had to move in with our in -laws. Pregnant with our 3rd child and it all started to feel hopeless but then it was as is if we just don't give up and don't give in just remain faithful, pray first, and seek first its going to work out. Then all of a sudden, it did. We started getting hints of a blessing on the way. We stayed faithful. We had to just cast fear aside and speak what God wants to do is bless us.  So in your moment doing all you can do to stand and stay strong , do it!

 

3. Worship God with all your heart,mind, and strength.

 

From my perspective I have always just turned to worship. I know this seems odd, but for me. Just getting time alone with God and singing with abandon and just declaring who God is in my life makes me feel closer to God's heart. So if you are going through a season of doubt and change it might be time to take spiritual inventory. Examine and be honest with yourself. The road to we took was winding and often filled with dangers to just give up. So focus on his presence and not your problem. Fix yourself on God's will and not on your fear.  

 

Let me finish with this. My wife took a the posistion of Family Life Director and we moved to the small town of Port St. Joe, Fl but we believe that God has BIG things here for us. God's story for our lives is in a new chapter. This was my wife's dream posistion. What's your story going to look like?

WHEN GOD SAYS NO!

When God Says No

“Rejection happens! It’s how you choose to react that decides if you are really saying God's will or yours be done.” – Me

So these past 4 weeks have been an incredible ride. I will fill you in on the details of what I have been up to the last month or so. I was a day away from God allowing me to step into my first full time leadership role in a church, but a 15 minute brain lapse killed it all. I had applied to be the next Worship Pastor at The Bridge Community Church in Warrenton, Va. I did my research on the church, prayed, and really followed closely to what I really thought I was ready for. My wife and I fell in love with their passion and even the leadership the staff displayed. We wanted to be a part of this church. In early September we spent a weekend in VA getting to know the church and Senior Pastor. When we returned I felt the rush and pleasant feelings that go along with wanting a dream job, but what I was lacking a quiet peace of hearing God say, “Yes”. I continued to write and converse with the Pastors of the church for a few weeks. During that time we set up a date for me to come in and lead worship, meet with elders, and interview further with leadership.  Throughout this process my schedule with the Marine Corps had become outrageous and on top of that we are facing down an end date to my time as a US Marine, October 18th, 2012. To say that I had made it easy on us was definitely not the case, but still I continued to press on because I simply never heard God say yes or no on the matter.

To start things off, Saturday we had an interview with a church elder and the Connections Pastor. We felt like it went really well. The conversation was fluid and there was always something to expand on. After lunch my wife took the kids and gave me a couple of hours to myself so I could pray, run through the worship set a few times, and rehearse some ideas.  While I was praying and worshipping the Holy Spirit paid me a visit. He sat me down for a second, breathed life into me, and said, “you are about to fail. Not because you aren’t going to lead worship and pastor. You just aren’t going to lead worship and pastor here.”  I was heartbroken. But I went ahead to practice thinking, “Well I will go ahead and lead worship, have an amazing Sunday, and the Holy Spirit will just confirm this with other people.”   At practice something happened that I can’t explain.  It was as if I forgot for about 15-20 minutes how to do anything right. In a span of about 15 minutes I lost my internal metronome to stay in ¾ time. I bombed a song that I personally had led a 100 times and just in general my overall sense was lost! This feeling would eventually go away and I would correct it all, but the damage had been done. I crashed a plane into a moving train and was being taken out to sea! I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit during practice that just said, “Don’t worry, just worship.” We finished strong on the tail end of things. I prayed with the team and left. When I got back to the hotel I received a phone call from the pastor to meet him in the lobby.  We met and he released me from leading worship on Sunday.  We talked for several minutes about the whole practice. I know what happened and cannot change the perception of a bad day, but it was so much more than that. I wanted to defend, but couldn’t. I think it is in our nature to try and say well if this had happened then I could have done this better. I felt peace about it all and was thankful for the process and know what I need to do the next time around.

What I drew from all of this is the quote at the beginning of this post, “Rejection happens! It’s how you choose to react that decides if you are really saying God's will or yours be done.”  I have known where I was called to go and it was never a backup plan, because it was God’s plan! I rejoiced in the fact I didn’t get this job. Maybe I would have loved it! (I am sure I would have.) Maybe this or that, but God has someone for The Bridge Community Church that is going to be what that church needs.  My musicianship failed at the right moment to protect me and Bridge Church from a partnership. It would have been beneficial but they are in need of another type of worship pastor for the season they are in.

God’s will for my life always means that his agenda comes first. I cannot fall in love with a place more than I love him.