prayer

Decide Yes Now

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“God speaks to people who decide they’re going to do what he tells them to do, even before he tells them.” @RickWarren

I read this quote earlier this week. Rings true to me.

If you put this to the test in the context of a coaching setting, a coach is drawn to those team players he knows are ready to follow his directions rather than those who think they know it all or can rest on their talents alone for success.

If you put this to the test in the context of a parenting situation, a dad is drawn to allow his high school son to start dating when he believes his son has decided to follow his dad’s instructions on how to treat a woman including keeping his sex drive in check.

If you put this to the test in the context of a business decision, an employer is drawn to offer a promotion to her employee who is all in on the business plan rather than one who is constantly challenging and questioning her direction.

If you are having a hard time hearing from God, maybe these questions might uncover the road block:

  • Are you ready to say yes to whatever He says?
  • Have you shown Him that your desire equals whatever He has for you?

More than an Imaginary Friend

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Some days of prayer are just jaw dropping. Or you might say evidence convincing. Sunday was one of those days. Here’s one example that illustrates praying is not just an exercise in talking to an imaginary friend.

Before leaving church, I was handed a cellphone that a volunteer left behind. I decided to take it to his apartment, hoping he would be home, on my way out of town.

I got there a little after 3. He lives in a new apartment complex downtown that is quite secure; pretty much just one entrance for visitors. That’s if the office is open. It didn’t even cross my mind that the office might not be open. I was just focused on getting him his phone before I left town for two days.

I walked up to the office door and read that the Sunday office hours were 1-5. Terrific. No problem, I thought. Tried to open the door. Locked. Not terrific. How am I going to get this guy his phone? And what’s with the door being locked during posted hours?

I stepped back toward the parking lot just staring at the complex. Somehow I’ve got to get in this building. Since God had already answered several prayers that morning, my immediate thought was to just tell him this situation. 

God, I really want to get this phone to him. He’s going to need it before I get back from GA. How can I….

Mid sentence, I heard someone behind me say, “Hey, I know you from church.”

I was a little stunned. I hadn’t seen anyone in the parking lot. I turned around to a guy walking toward me that I didn’t recognize.

“Yeah, we met at church a few weeks. How’s it going?”

“Uh, good…”

“You need to get in?”

“Actually, I do. Someone from church left his phone this morning, and I was hoping to get it to him before getting on the road to GA.”

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll let you in over here. We were just sitting here before heading out, and my wife saw you.”

I realized a truck was running, parked about six spots from me. Looked over, and his wife waved at me from the cab.

“There you go,” opening the door. “Glad I could help. Have a good trip.” And he was gone.

So I got in. Found his apartment. He was home. Phone returned.

Prayer Details:

  • First-time request
  • Two sentences
  • Immediately answered by friend in the lot who happened to be there at the exact time I came by unannounced, who for some reason hadn’t left the lot yet
  • One could argue that God already answered the prayer even before I voiced it

God is so much more than an imaginary friend.

Random Statements Re: Identity

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At your core, you are who God says you are.

Your job title is what you do not who you are.

Your bank account balance is what you have not who you are nor what you’re worth.

Your relationship status and history reveal your choices based on who you believe you are.

Anytime you identify yourself different from God’s identity of you, you may face hardship, confusion or regret.

When you wake up to a misplaced identity crisis, correction is as close as a prayer.

A Must Confession

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Confession: n. 1. Confessing. 2. A thing confessed, a statement of one’s wrongdoing. 3. A declaration of one’s religious beliefs or one’s principles, a confession of faith

Yesterday morning in my prayer time I had some confessing to do. The main item I remember needing to confess was passing judgment on someone the day before. As I voiced those words the lyrics to Kari Jobe’s song came to mind. In prayer and in this song the work of confessing both happen but come from different places. This proved worth some meditation.

In our natural state, we are bent toward wrongdoing like passing judgment. As Christians, when we are in tune with the Holy Spirit, He lets us know pretty quickly when we do wrong. Then we have a choice. Will we admit the wrongdoing? Will we go beyond a confession to God and share any other needed confessions to wronged people? Will we take the opportunity to taste the unholiness of our natural bend in order to pursue the holiness of a supernatural bend provided by God?

To more permanently adjust our bend, maybe we should routinely declare our beliefs. Why? 

  • Because they remind us of our frailties
  • Because they remind us of our need
  • Because they remind us of God’s provision 
  • Because they keep us on the right road
  • Because they establish the boundary between right and wrong, good and evil
  • Because they feed our souls
  • Because they keep us in agreement with God and others

A confession of the cross is probably the best place to start. Rather than a maybe it should be a must.

Important Question #1

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In chapter 9 of Awe, Tripp says there are two important questions to the child of God. The first one is, “What in the world is God doing right here, right now?”

Notice the question isn’t why is God allowing what is going on the world, nor is it how is God allowing what is happening to me. Those two questions, whether we like to admit it or not, turn the inquiry into worship of man rather than worship of God. Tripp suggests that our awe has been repositioned when we turn the question to focus on ourselves.

What a temptation. What natural questions. It goes against our spirit to not think how circumstances impact us directly. However, when we live life in that view, it can be extremely burdening. It’s a burden to have to understand all the whys of life. Freedom comes by changing the question from why and how to what. Focus is put back on God and away from feelings or even circumstances. When God is the object of the focus, hope is restored, faith is strengthened, and worship is realigned and unforgotten.

In these days of political uncertainty, try asking what is God doing.

In your days of family challenges, try asking what is God doing.

In your season of job insecurity, try asking what is God doing.

In the valley and on the mountaintop, in the winter and the summer, at the beginning of life and the end of life, protect your awe. Ask God what He is doing.

3 Character Traits My Mother Modeled 

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My mother was widowed at the age of 43. She lost her husband to a cancer battle that lasted less than a year. In roughly 18 months, she went from being a pastor’s wife with four children living in Northeast Alabama to being a single mother whose oldest daughter was going off to college, who still had three children at home between the ages of 11 and 16, and relocating to Southeast Georgia to start a new job. I don’t remember ever hearing my mother complain or show bitterness toward God. In fact, she modeled many character traits that illustrated faith and reflected resilience.

Dedication

  • She doggedly determined to finish the job that she and her husband started in developing their children into followers of God.

Commitment

  • I don’t recall her ever missing work. What I do recall is her bringing home work in order to get things done, to be a committed and reliable employee.

Discipline

  • Regularly I heard my mother praying or observed her reading her Bible through her slightly opened bedroom door. She not only led us in family devotions, she was disciplined to prioritize her own spiritual disciplines.

I call my mother blessed. I thank her for modeling faithfulness and giving her children a rich spiritual heritage for which her husband would praise her (Proverbs 31:28).

3 Productive Denials

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Production begins with a set direction, a determined goal. Each morning the choices you make determine your direction, your production. So the production of each day is determined by the things you choose to do and the things you choose not to do – what you allow and what you deny. 

To be productive, here are three things that should be denied:

Deny any bend toward laziness

  • A productive day begins with exercise of mind, spirit or body – determination to get up and start moving, to stretch your mind, to engage your spirit (Proverbs 26:13-16)

Deny any bend toward holding on

  • A productive day begins by resisting temptations of anger, bitterness, negativity, unforgiveness (Philippians 3:12-16)

Deny any bend toward independence 

  • A productive day begins by admitting we are better together (Psalm 49:13-14)

Pray, “Lord, I desire to be productive today. Whatever bends I have away from you, I deny them in order to move toward you. Your will be done today as it is in heaven.”

Finishing Well

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In his conclusion of It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over, R.T. Kendall listed the following ten principles to follow in order to finish well:

  1. Put yourself totally under Holy Scripture
  2. Be accountable to reliable people
  3. Be squeaky clean regarding finances 
  4. Maintain sexual purity
  5. Come to terms with jealousy you feel by another person’s gifts or popularity
  6. Be willing to not get the credit for what you do
  7. Always keep your word
  8. Live in total forgiveness
  9. Be a thankful person
  10. Maintain a strong personal prayer life; spend much time alone with God

  

Today, I Witnessed Love

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I witnessed love today in a hospital room.

I witnessed love today as a dad pulled his son around in a red wagon on the hospital fifth floor distracting him from his hunger before his surgery.

I witnessed love today as that dad tried to find a chart to show his son’s flat line that finally got the doctor’s attention.

I witnessed love today as the mom who birthed this son one year ago tomorrow stood holding him until he fell asleep.

I witnessed love today as another mom and dad offered to carry the burden of their scared friends.

I witnessed love today as both mom and dad said, “This just got real,” after the doctor left the room before surgery.

I witnessed love today as this toddler was placed in the arms of His creator through prayer.

I witnessed love today when what was projected to take around two hours only took 30 minutes with a perfect outcome.

Today, I witnessed love.

Practice, Practice, Practice

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Tonight I was reminded of the importance of repeating fundamentals in any discipline to maintain the opportunity to be great, or at least to improve.

Most great accomplishments are the result of doing little things faithfully over a long time.

  • For a pianist, the little things include scales and arpeggios.
  • For a runner, the little things include hydrating and stretching.
  • For a journalist, the little things include listening and questioning.

You have disciplines, whether you see them as that or not. You may have the discipline of being a student, or being a mother, or being an employee, or being a dancer. When we stop to think about all areas of our lives, we maintain many disciplines. Sounds tiring. Hard to maintain.

So what keeps us honed, sharp, improving, growing? Not ignoring the fundamentals. Practice, practice, practice.

You want to be a faithful employee? Show up on time. Meet the deadline. Say thank you.

You want to be a faithful husband? Take your wife out on a date. Ask her what needs to be done around the house. Give her a kiss right now.

You want to be a faithful follower of Christ? Talk with God about other things besides your plate of food. Read His letter to you as often as you can. Talk with others about your faith in God.

We all desire to be great or at least moving in a forward direction. Remember the fundamentals of your discipline. Practice, practice, practice.