Lord, Help Me Distrust Myself Today

The Valley of Vision is the most insightful and easily the most impactful book I have ever read. If you haven't read it, you need to, today if possible.

This morning I was re-reading one of my favorite prayers in it, "Love to Jesus." The end of the prayer is striking:

"[God,] let me see that the truest revelation of thyself is when thou dost eclipse all my personal glory and all the honour, pleasure and good of this world. The Son breaks out in glory when he shows himself as one who outshines all creation, makes men poor in spirit, and helps them to find their good in him. Grant that I may distrust myself, to see my all in thee" (47).

That is my prayer today, that God would be everything to me and myself nothing, that I would be acutely aware of His infinite better-ness than all.

Lord, help me distrust myself to trust in You.

A Prayer of Hope to Ring in the New Year

From The Valley of Vision, "New Year":

"O Lord,
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year:
With Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.

Guide me to heaven:
With my loins girt,
My lamp burning,
My ear open to Thy calls,
My heart full of love,
My soul free.

Give me:
Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.

May:
Thy fear be my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.
Length of days does not profit me except the days are passed:
In Thy presence,
In Thy service,
To Thy glory.

Give me a grace that:
Precedes,
Follows,
Guides,
Sustains,
Sanctifies,
Aids every hour.

That I may not be one moment apart from Thee, but may rely on Thy Spirit:
To supply every thought,
Speak in every word,
Direct every step,
Prosper every work,
Build up every mote of faith.

And give me a desire:
To show forth Thy praise;
Testify Thy love,
And advance Thy kingdom.

Amen."

---

Yet You Were the Life

It's Monday - which means day-to-day reality grinds to a start again, school (maybe), work, whatever life holds for you. It's easy to get caught up in doing, going, rushing, tiring, being. We can lose our center, our focal point of life. 

That's why this ancient prayer from Gregory the Great gets us back to where we need to be.

"O Lord, You received affronts
without number from Your blasphemers,
yet each day You free captive souls
from the grip of the ancient enemy.

You did not avert Your face
from the spittle of perfidy,
yet You wash souls in saving waters.

You accepted Your scourging without murmur,
yet through your meditation
You deliver us from endless chastisements.

You endured ill-treatment of all kinds,
yet You want to give us a share
in the choirs of angels in glory everlasting.

You did not refuse to be crowned with thorns,
yet You save us from the wounds of sin.

In your thirst You accepted the bitterness of gall,
yet You prepare Yourself to fill us with eternal delights.

You kept silence under the derisive homage
rendered You by Your executioners,
yet You petition the Father for us
although You are his equal in Divinity.

You came to taste death,
yet You were the Life
and had come to bring it to the dead.

Amen."

– Gregory the Great, 540-604 A.D.

(HT: Trevin Wax)

What Are You Doing About The Children Who Are Killed?

Next week my church hosts its annual Vacation Bible School, one week of kids bouncing off our walls, inhaling our fruit punch by the gallon, and learning life-changing truths about the God who created them.

Yet I can't help but thinking ... what if?

What if these children were never born?

What if, before their birth, they were deemed unworthy and unwanted?

What if their mothers had killed them?

And what if their little body parts - their beating hearts and expanding lungs and moving limbs - were harvested and sold?

What evil.

What murder.

What desecration.

And while these children were not killed, while they are very much beautifully alive, millions are not.

Millions of babies are murdered every year before they have the chance to live, the chance to see the sunshine, to taste fruit punch, to hear the story of Jesus proclaimed at a church VBS.

So what are we doing about it?

I hope we're praying.

I hope we're speaking up.

I hope we're not voting for those who support this.

I hope we're getting educated.

I hope we're heart-broken.

I hope we're celebrating life.

I hope we're loving children.

I hope we're trusting God.

I hope we're hating evil.

---

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons and Tom Conger.

My Friend, the Perfectionist

I'd like you to meet my friend. I know her very well. She's nice and has a nearly implacable public aura. She's also a perfectionist and rather proud of it. She often thinks to herself (while rarely saying out loud) that perfectionism is a condition of the over-achiever, a singularity of the assiduous. She has come to think of perfectionism as an advantage, not a foible.

But I think she's lost her way. Her perfectionism is not an attention to detail and a drive to do her best for a worthy reason. Oh, she's deceived herself to think that this is the case, that perfectionism is making her a better student, person, and Christian. She thinks that as long as she thanks God for her A's and the praise that others give her that her perfectionism is somehow glorifying to Him.

She doesn't realize that her perfectionism is all about her. It's about feeding her pride and crafting an image. Really, it's not about striving to be perfect; it's about striving to look perfect and have others think of her as perfect. She's a perfectionist and a people-pleaser, a man-fearer, not a God-fearer. She's obsessed with image and wanting to feel good about herself. She is proud.

Like I said, I think she's lost her way.

Maybe you know someone like her. Maybe you are her. What my friend needs to know today is that masquerading perfectionism as a noble character trait is deception; perfectionism is sin. Surely paying attention to detail and striving to do our best for the glory of God is not sin. That is a careful Christian's virtue. Perfectionism is a drive to look perfect, a vice of arrogance.

The perfectionist has no time for the beauty of grace. As Hayley DiMarco writes,

The perfectionist has no time for grace, and in the path of perfectionism lies battered relationships that experience the prideful wrath of the moments when perfection fails.

But know today that there is also freedom from the pressures of perfectionism's chains. That freedom comes in humility and submission and repentance, an active acknowledgement of self-reliance and pride and a confession of man-fearing over God-exaltation. Furthermore, it comes through a pursuit of gentleness and worship of the only perfect Being. DiMarco again:

Gentleness carries with it a sober understanding of who we are, broken and frail, fallen and unrighteous. It agrees with God and can claim that only Christ is perfect. It doesn’t, in pride, demand more of itself, as if it were better than others, but instead agrees with God that we are sinners saved by grace and unable to make ourselves perfect, no matter how hard we work.

Know that there is forgiveness and relief for the perfectionist today. And for my friend, there is freedom.

A Prayer for a New Year

Here is a prayer penned (typed?) by Tim Challies based on one of the new year prayers in The Valley of Vision:

My Good and Gracious Father, 

 

You have brought me safely through another year. This was a year in which I saw and experienced so much of your goodness. You were good when you gave, and you were good when you took away; you were good when the sun shined upon me and you were good when the night fell around me. You were only, ever good. 

 

In your Word you give the sure promise that you have loved me since before the foundation of the world. That love was always with me and held me fast through another year. You led me in each step I took. You led me around the wilderness to the places of cool rest and quiet. You led me through dark valleys to the joy beyond. You were there even in times when I wandered and went astray. There was nowhere I could go that was beyond your love, beyond your reach, beyond your care and compassion. You are so good and I am so grateful. 

 

Father, I trust and I believe that your love and your kindness will be my theme in the year ahead. I entrust the future to you and I do it with joy and with confidence. I do it with sure hope that you already know each step I will take and that you will be with me to direct each one of them. 

 

If you have appointed trials and tribulation, I know that you will guide and comfort me through them all. If I have to pass through persecution or times of deep temptation, I can have full confidence that you will never leave me nor forsake me. If this is to be the year you call me home, I can receive that with joy, knowing that I will rejoice to be in your presence at last. If this is the year that Christ returns—Please, may it be the year that Christ returns!—, then I will join with all Creation in rejoicing and praising your name.

Read the rest here. 

When I Don't Like Answered Prayer

Sometimes I pray before I think. I pray hastily, "Lord, help me with humility!" and I don't actively and consciously think through the implications of what I'm saying. I don't realize that I'm asking God to convict me of pride, to lead me out sin, and to give me opportunities to exercise something I have a really hard time doing.

Then God answers my prayer. I receive an opportunity to practice humility. And I get frustrated. I definitely don't think back to that prayer. I just think of my discomfort right now. In my wayward, complicated heart, I get upset at God for answering my own prayer.

There's something deeply telling about this. It shows a misunderstanding about three things: prayer, how God works, and my own sanctification.

It first shows that I misunderstand prayer. Prayer is not a chance for me to spout off pseudo-spiritual phrases, or "heap up empty phrases" like the Pharisees that Jesus called out. It's not an opportunity to be rushed through without thinking through exactly what I'm saying. It's a gift that God has given me, His child, to come to Him in humble adoration and lay honest requests at His throne.

It also shows that I don't grasp how God works. God works through prayer, something that I'm guilty of forgetting. Prayer changes things. Of course, God is still in total control but He has graciously allowed prayer to be a medium by which He ordains things to come to be. Be very careful before you pray. God works to bring His children closer to Him, sometimes through painful ways.

Yet it also demonstrates that I don't understand sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which God makes His children more holy. He does this through tests, trials, opportunities, and answered prayer. God works to make us more like Him. And there is, of course, no one more humble than God incarnate, the Word who came to dwell with us in the humble form of a man.

Maybe I'm not alone in this. Do you ever get upset at answered prayer? Perhaps it's when you pray for patience, or opportunities for evangelism. All I can say is that we must repent, seek to know God more through His Word, and pray all the more that we can be more like Jesus. For it was Jesus who always perfectly understood prayer, always knew how God works, and was perfectly holy.

So we pray to the Father: "Forgive us, and make us more like Your Son."

Image Credit: http://www.creationswap.com/artwork/14/6/3/19015/14603_19015_5.jpg

Our Colour TV Affections

I've been reading Bryan Chapell's book on prayer, Praying Backwards, and in a recent chapter stumbled upon a powerful illustration. Chapell was explaining how when a person is first given the Holy Spirit and they become a Christian, their affections change. Thus, they no longer lust after the world but they long for their Saviour. But see how Chapell illustrates this:

It is as though, after years of possessing only a black-and-white TV, a generous relative provides us a new high-definition color console. Suddenly the entertainment that appealed to us for so long loses its allure. We desire that which fills our senses with greater sound and color - and seems more real. Of course, if we wander away from the HD-TV and pass by the room that holds the black-and-white, it may still draw us in and even mesmerize us for a time with its old images. But it no longer has the appeal for us and the power over us that it once did. Our desires have shifted because we have experienced something better.

 

The believer discovers that life with Christ is better than the empty and colorless pursuit of the world's pleasures. Walking with him, loving him, and loving all that he loves now fulfill us and give our world its color. Old pursuits can still beckon us when we wander from him, but they will never fulfill us as they once did. Our hearts have been forever changed. As a result, the things of the world do not have the power over us that they once had and our prayers reflect more and more the priorities of the One we treasure. We become less selfish, less concerned for personal gain, and more eager to be used for and fulfilled by God's purposes. Jesus' glory becomes the priority of our prayers because we love him above all and most desire that he be honored and pleased.

(Taken from Bryan Chapell's Praying Backwards, pgs. 76-77)

Image Credit: http://www.wtsbooks.com/common/images/0801065275.jpg

My Tummy Ache Prayers

I have a problem with praying. It's pretty simple - I don't pray enough. Paul's command to "pray without ceasing"? Everyday I seem to keep failing. When I found out my dad had safely got to Louisville, Kentucky, Monday night, as the relief hit me, I didn't immediately cry out, "Thank you, God," (though I certainly did later). At the time, I just enjoyed the relief. When other good things happen to me (small good things usually), I just enjoy them, like I forget each gift has a Giver.

But there is one thing that always draws me to prayer. It's tummy aches. When I feel immediate, annoying pain, I pray. And I usually pray until the tummy ache eases or I go to bed and fall asleep.

So why can I pray without ceasing when I'm in pain? Simply enough, it's rooted in my own pride. I believe that I am strong enough, healthy enough, happy enough in my circumstances that I don't need to go to God. But tummy aches show my weakness. And so I stumble back to God wearing my inability on my sleeve.

Tummy aches remind me that He is God, and I am not. He is strong, and I am weak. He is good, and I am proud. So I guess then that I'm thankful for them, because they draw me closer to God.

But there needs to be more. I can't be content with half-hearted tummy ache prayers. That is not "praying without ceasing." It is "praying when you darn well feel like it." That is not how the Christian operates. The Christian knows that prayer is a discipline to be cultivated, worked, and practiced. It is a tool of ministry, a conduit of communion with God. It is a beautiful, miraculous thing. Yet I "use" it like a telephone when I have a tummy ache. Prayer is not meant to be "used." It is a holy conversation. Your words go up to the King of the heavens, the Sovereign God, the divine, and He blesses you in a special way through that conversation.

I won't continue to be content with tummy ache prayers, and if you're like me in this sin, I pray you won't either. Once Christians realize the blessing and beauty of true fellowship with God in prayer, how can we neglect it? It is a discipline of joy, meant to be fostered.

"Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God."

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A Prayer for the Weekend

I've noticed something in my own life recently that has had an impact on how I spend my weekends - I get lazy. I look at Friday night through Sunday night as "time off" from godliness. Not that I would actually say it like that! I would never consciously pursue ungodliness, but I fear sin creeps in quite quietly. So here is a prayer I've crafted for the weekend:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for another week - of breath, of life, of smiles, and even of snow. I take my very life for granted so much, but the fact that You have brought me to another weekend is indeed praiseworthy.

As I look at these next few days, Lord, I know that You have good works prepared for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10) Forgive me for being lazy when it comes to pursuing them, for thinking that Saturdays are for taking a day off from good works. Give me open eyes to see them and a willing heart to do them, for the good of others, and for Your glory.

Give me discernment and awareness about how to best use my time. (Ephesians 5:15-17; Colossians 4:5) You know that it's too easy for me to waste precious minutes in many ways.

Help me not to get lazy in relation to my thought life. (Philippians 4:8) Studying all week leaves me mentally tired, but I know that's no reason to "shut off my brain," whether it's through TV or fluffy novels. I echo Jonathan Edwards' 61st Resolution, that I desire to be "[r]esolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it-that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc." I know that I can only do that by Your power, Lord.

Help me not to get lazy in relation to my words. (Colossians 4:6; Proverbs 4:24, 6:12, 22:11; James 1:19, 16) It's a great temptation to not "bridle my tongue," as James commands, to be slow to hear, but much faster to speak and faster to anger. Forgive me.

Give me the desire to hunger and thirst for Your Word this weekend, and to "pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) It's easy to get distracted with meaningless things, to sleep late and ignore morning devotions. Give me the strength to be disciplined, but with joy.

I pray for the grace to look past this weekend to eternity, to keep the coming of Christ in mind through the mundane Saturday routine. (James 4:14) Help me remember that this life is but a mist, a passing breath. Give me hope and an urgency fueled by that.

Help me to prepare well for Sunday, to not waste my Saturday, but to ready myself to hear Your Word proclaimed and on this first Sunday of the month, to take part in the Lord's Supper. (1 Corinthians 11:27-28). Help me to examine myself and my motives, for I know that You know me better than anyone.

Father, bless me this weekend as I pursue Your glory, through Your Word and the edification of my physical and spiritual family. Make this weekend less about me, and all about You. Forgive me of my sins, and lead me in righteousness, for Your name's sake. Give me the strength to mortify sin, to not "wait for the miracle, but to "act it," as John Piper put it, by Your power. Give me purpose and willingness and joy and an overwhelming desire to pursue godliness this weekend.

In the name of Jesus and only because of Him,
Amen

Growing in Grace: January 2014

Some Thoughts on Reading Books - Dr. Mohler: "I cannot really remember when I did not love to read books. I do know that I was very eager to learn to read, and that I quickly found myself immersed in the world of books and literature. It may have been a seduction of sorts, and the Christian disciple must always be on guard to guide the eyes to books worthy of a disciple’s attention—and there are so many."

Actively Engaged in the Abortion Battle - An excerpt from Matt Chandler's sermon on abortion. This is especially noteworthy with the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade coming up on January 22.

When Women Lust - This article was not what I expected. "We all know that men struggle with lust. But what about women? While it's becoming more common to hear of women's struggles with pornography use, many women still perceive that they have the moral high ground over men. Such comparisons don't help because men and women often struggle in different ways."

Isaiah 9:2 - A neat illustration of a powerful verse.

The First Council of Constantinople - Challies has a weekly series going "on the seven ecumenical councils of the early church." If we think this history unimportant, we ought to change our thinking. The history of the church is extremely important, for as the saying goes, "if we don't know history, we're doomed to repeat it."

Jesus Must Increase: A Prayer for the New Year - What a beautiful, powerful prayer that I hope we all do pray this upcoming year.

The Ten Commandments of Twitter - If you're on Twitter, this is a must-read!

Change is in the Oatmeal - "Last week, the girltalkers met at Janelle’s house. We brought Chick-fil-a, sent the kids to play with Christmas toys, and set our laptops, notepads, and colored pens on the kitchen table. It was time to plan."

Reading the Bible - Lisa Spence has some excellent thoughts on Bible reading plans.

CROSScon - I was incredibly blessed to livestream the CROSS conference the last weekend of December. All the video sessions are online now, and I highly commend them to you.

My First Anne Shirley Exam

I was sitting in the back of my dad's silver Mazda, Dad and Mom in the front, rolling down the tree and lake lined highways leading to Prince Edward Island. It was eight o'clock Monday morning, and we'd already been on the road for an hour and a half. I was sucking Lifesavers Wint-o-Green mints and attempting to drink a coffee-stained thermos of vanilla rooibus tea. There were chocolate chip granola bars in my purse and a million things going through my mind. It was the day of my first exam, or more precisely my first "Anne Shirley exam."

Okay, let me explain: They're not really called "Anne Shirley exams." They're called CLEPs - College Level Examination Programs. These are the standardized tests I'm taking that earn me college credit. These must be taken in a registered CLEP Testing Centre, and the closest one to us is in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. But instead of calling them "CLEPs," I prefer "Anne Shirley exams." And if you know Anne of Green Gables you'll totally get this. To take her teacher exam, Anne had to leave Green Gables and go to Charlottetown to write her test. And I have to leave Halifax to go to Charlottetown to write my tests - just like Anne! And since I love Anne of Green Gables, you may see why I'm excited!

Monday was my very first exam, and that's why we were up at six o'clock to leave Halifax by six-thirty. It was a long drive, but the weather was beautiful. We listened to two sermons - one by D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones on the beginning of Genesis and one by Voddie Baucham on Revelation 3:14-22. We stopped twice - once for coffee and once for gas. Our drive was just under four hours (we hit a bit of construction), and though my exam was scheduled for eleven, we got there at ten-thirty.

The "testing centre" was pretty interesting. It was situated in the small, single-building Maritime Christian College (which I'd never heard of before), right across the street from the bustling University of Prince Edward Island campus. MCC is not affiliated with CLEPs in any way; it just hosts them there. Despite arriving early, I was ushered by Ben, the academic advisor of MCC and head of the CLEP Testing Centre there, into my exam right away. First, I was led downstairs into a slightly creepy basement and then into a very tiny library. It was hardly a library - just a mid-sized room with a couple of shelves of books. And then there was a small, stubby desk, a creaking swivel chair and one clunky, ancient computer. This was my testing centre.

My exam was Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, and I was more than a bit nervous. Ben was also nervous - for me. (Luckily I only clued into this afterward when he mentioned how nervous he gets for the people taking the exams.) My exam was seventy-eight multiple-choice questions and I had just ninety-seven minutes to complete it. Why those amounts, I have no idea. It covered areas of prose, poetry and drama, from Classical and Pre-Renaissance times all the way up to the Twenty-First Century. I was given a section of literature and asked different questions about it, analyzing and interpreting it.

As I tested, students were in and out of the library, making it a less than peaceful place. I tried not to let it bother me though and with many prayers worked patiently away at the exam. Meanwhile, upstairs, unbeknownst to me, Mom and Dad were waiting in the lobby when the receptionist got a very interesting call. The person on this call wanted to shut off the power at the college. All the power. At first the receptionist gave them a ready okay, and Mom was getting ready to jump in when the receptionist realized, "Oh, wait! We have someone taking a CLEP exam downstairs! If we cut off the power, she'll lose everything." And I would have. So they didn't. Thankfully I wasn't aware of any of this as I tested. If I was, I may have started freaking out just a little bit - or a lot.

Finally I finished the exam with lots of time to spare and, after answering a few of the College Board's silly survey questions, they gave me my grade immediately. And I got an A! Now, CLEP grades are a little different than normal grades. A normal percentage is out of one hundred, but not so with CLEPs. These are out of eighty, eighty being the highest score you can get and twenty being the lowest. And I got a 75. So I think that translates to about a 94%. Which I was thrilled with! Even Ben congratulated me on getting such a great score! Mom, Dad and I went out for a celebratory lunch after (which included a delicious hamburger and raspberry cordial and then some ice cream from Cow's Creamery). And we may have stopped by the Anne of Green Gables Chocolate Store - but only to buy a chocolate lollipop for Travis.

And now, after a dozen giant exhales, I'm kicking back, getting ready for our family vacation next week and starting the preliminary prepping for my next two CLEPs, Western Civilization I and Western Civilization II. I now officially have nine college credits under my belt and am over halfway done my "first semester." I thank the Lord for His goodness and graciousness and glorious sovereignty. And even if I had failed Analyzing & Interpreting Literature, I know that that would have been the best for my good and, more importantly, His glory and so I praise Him for His omniscience. But I thank Him for His blessing and am so excited that He has given me this special opportunity to take these "Anne Shirley exams"!

Ulrich Zwingli's Prayer

In Bible Study, right now, we've been talking about hermeneutics, the study of interpretation, and specifically, the Bible. Last night, after talking about the Holy Spirit's work in our interpretation of the Bible, my dad shared this prayer, penned by Ulrich Zwingli, a Swiss Reformer from the 16th century, asking the Lord for understanding in reading His Word. I think this is something we all need to put into practice. When we read the Bible, it's easy to forget that to understand and interpret it correctly, we must rely completely on the Holy Spirit. So be blessed by this prayer:

"Living God, help us hear your holy Word with open hearts so that we may truly understand; and, understanding, that we may believe; and, believing, that we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, Seeking your honor and glory in all that we do. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." 

The Blah Days

You know the days I'm talking about. The grey days, the boring days, the tired days and the altogether blah days. The days where you dress in sweats and kick around the house feeling bored when you wish you could dress up and go out. We all have blah days. Today was one of those for me. The sky's grey, I have nowhere to go, Mom and Travis are sick and I'm starting to feel ... well, blah. But I'm starting to realize that blah days are gifts from the Lord, and they need to be redeemed for Him, used for His glory, just like every other day. So how do we change a blah day to a bam day? And, yes, a bam day is a good day.

• Spend some time in the Word. This will get your eyes focused not on your circumstances but on God. It will readjust your priorities and what you're getting too concerned about.
• Listen to edifying music. Who doesn't love good music? Turn on some tunes that will encourage you and strengthen your faith and you'll definitely start to feel better!
• Go outside. Even a short walk or trip to the park will boost your spirits. It gives you an opportunity to revel in some of God's beautiful creation!
• Read a good book. Pick up a book that will bless you and give it a read.
• Memorize Scripture. No, I'm not kidding! Memorizing and meditating on Scripture is such an encouraging thing. Try it. It will give a purpose to your blah day!
• Serve others. I can tell you from experience that on blah days, the last thing I feel like is serving others. But it can change your attitude from being self-focused to being others-focused, even with little things that others might find unexpected.
• Email or call a friend. Not to complain or whine but to just to talk and encourage. Sometimes connection with other people can help cheer you up.
• Think of things that you're thankful for. With Thanksgiving coming up this weekend (at least for us Canadians), what better thing to do? That's what I'm going to do after I publish this post. There are so many things we have to be thankful for, so let's make an effort to think of them and thank God for them!
• Pray. The only way your blah day will really change into a bam day is if you entrust it to the Lord. He wants you to talk to Him about everything, including the blah days.

Hope this will change your blah day to a God-glorifying bam day!

When We Don't Pray ...

I don't know about you, but I have a problem. That problem seems to be pretty common among North American Christians today - it's a prayerlessness in our lives. We don't pray. But why? And what does that display? Well, the other night, when I was thinking about the lack of prayer in my own life, I thought about a list of things that our prayerlessness says about us:

• We have a lack of faith. This is often brought to light in relation to prayer. When we don't pray, we demonstrate that we do not have faith in God to answer our prayers or we demonstrate that we don't need to cling to God in prayer. It demonstrates a self-sufficiency and lack of reliance on the Lord.
• We have a lack of fear. A proper and right recognition of God's character should strike a holy fear in our hearts and throw us to our knees. If we aren't praying, it shows that we are not fearing God.
• We have a lack of fellowship. If I have a strong relationship with my mother, I'm not going to never talk to her. On the contrary, I'm going to talk to her all the time. And that's the same with our relationship with the Lord. If we're never praying to Him, our fellowship must be very weak or practically nonexistent.
• We have a lack of favouritism. God needs to be the top priority in our lives, the thing of most importance, the favourite. But if we're not even talking to Him, we're aren't showing Him favourtism. Prayer and our relationship with Him is being put on the back burner of our lives for stuff "more important." But when we choose to sacrifice our prayer life for other things, we're demonstrating that God is not the favourite, most important thing in our lives.
• We have a lack of feeling. As John Piper so famously said, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." When we desire God, we want to talk to Him. When we are yearning for Him, we will always be praying. But when we're not praying, it shows that we have no feeling for God, no desire or love. 

Wow, after re-reading that list, I almost want to delete this post it's so convicting. But I won't. Because this makes me want to pray more. It challenges me, makes me not want to lack faith, fear, fellowship, favourtism, or feeling. It makes me want to get on my knees and grow closer to God. And I hope it does the same for you.

The Great Mystery of Answered Prayer

How God answers prayer is a great mystery indeed. How often is it that we pray for something, expecting the Lord to strike us with some miraculous gift or healing or saving, and we're answered so differently, so unexpectedly, yet so clearly?

For example, there have been times when I prayed for patience and just waited for the Lord to answer me with this clear of feeling of serenity and calmness that overshadowed all frustration. And He answered me all right, but instead of what I expected, He put me in places in His Word that speak directly of patience and then He would throw me in some seemingly especially difficult circumstances in which to practice that patience! But at the end of the day, when I looked back, God answered my prayers - He gave me patience, just not in the way I expected.

A more recent example is that of praying for witnessing opportunities. For quite a while, I've been praying for these opportunities to witness to my friends. A part of my has just been expecting the Lord to send someone walking up to me, asking, "Jaquelle, can you tell me about Jesus, please?" But that hasn't happened. Then suddenly I started talking to this one friend who I don't know really well. We were e-mailing, just small talk, and then suddenly I felt like a huge neon sign that said "WITNESS HERE!!!" whacked me over the head. This was an opportunity I had been praying for. So thus began a series of e-mails with this friend about the gospel!

Answered prayer is definitely a great mystery, but it's a really, really cool mystery! Sometimes the Lord answers prayer is ways we expect, other times, not so much. Do you have answered prayers that at one time seemed so unexpected and mysterious to you, but you now recognize were from the Lord? Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail - I'd love to hear about them!

What Colossians Says About Prayer: Part 1

"Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving." Colossians 4:2

What an interesting, somewhat puzzling, yet convicting verse. Tucked in between a command to slave owners and a prayer request, it's so short, if you're not careful, you'll miss it. But despite its small size, there's certainly a lot to learn from it! We'll divide it into three parts: 1) devote yourselves to prayer, 2) stay alert in it, and 3) with thanksgiving.

"Devote yourselves to prayer ..."

The first word really sets the tone for this first phrase: devote. Don't just dabble in prayer, try it out, use it occasionally, or only when you need it, pray just in church, or only in devotions. Devote yourselves to prayer. Make it a top priority. Think about it constantly. Pray without ceasing. Never let your devotion to it waver.

Now I'm just going to admit that prayer is something I struggle with. Often, I find myself not devoted to prayer. Not because I don't want to be; simply because I forget. I struggle with praying without ceasing, thinking about it constantly, making it a top priority. Maybe you feel like me, and prayer is something that you find yourself often struggling with too. So it's for people like you and me that I made a list of ways to practically "devote [our]selves to prayer."

• Have a prayer buddy. Having someone to keep you accountable and pray with you is awesome! Mom is my prayer buddy, and I find that I'm in prayer so much more because she's there to encourage me to pray and help keep me accountable.
• Set a designated prayer time each day. Mom and I meet to pray at 8:30 every morning, and we sit down and pray through the day. We discuss what I have on, and then pray through those things. I have a friend who specifically marks out three times a day to pray by herself. Having that set time is a really good way to keep you in prayer.
• Read godly books on prayer. A great one that I read was "A Praying Life," by Paul E. Miller. My parents read another good one called "Praying Backwards" by Bryan Chapell. Books on prayer can help give you more ways to have a prayer-centered life.
• Pray throughout your devotions. This is another one Mom taught me. While I read through my Bible during my private devotions, I pray throughout it. I'll read a portion of Scripture and then pause to pray. 
• Have a prayer chart. This is a helpful list that I have that is divided into days of the week. Each day I have different people, situations, and groups that I pray for. This will also help you in remembering more people to pray for.

These are only a few ways, but I hope they are helpful to you. As Christians, we must devote ourselves to prayer, as Paul so graciously reminded the church in Colossae. But there's more in this verse that Paul discloses. We'll look at the rest in What Colossians Says About Prayer: Part 2.

Christmas Countdown: 16 Days Until Christmas

In yesterday's post, when I pointed out 6 practical ways to keep Christ central this Christmas, the last one that I mentioned was making a prayer chain, a tradition our family has. Today I wanted to tell you exactly how to make a prayer chain. Yes, I know it's only 16 days before Christmas, and though it would have probably been easier to start December 1st, we still have over two weeks! Two weeks of counting down to Christmas through prayer! Enjoy!

1. Begin by cutting 1"-2" wide strips of paper. You can use scrapbook paper, construction paper, or even computer paper. The number of strips you need depends on the number of days until Christmas. For example, if I started today, I would cut 16 strips.
2. Once you've cut the amount of strips you need, put the dates of the days leading up to Christmas on one side of each strip (i.e. December 8 on the first strip, December 9 on the second strip, etc., etc.)
3. On the back of each strip write the name of a family or individual you want to pray for on that date.
4. Staple the two ends of the first strip together.
5. Loop the two ends of the second strip through the previously stapled first strip and then staple them together.
6. Continue in this manner until you have all of the strips stapled together and in a chain.
7. Count down to Christmas with prayer!