Good afternoon all! Well...at least, it's afternoon right now as I write this post for you, but if it's any other part of the day, then good morning/good evening!
Anyways, now is the time where I continue the updating of all the AWESOME things that we students here at LT are learning about what it means to truly walk with the Lord in our daily lives. It's been a whirlwind of a summer, and up to this point we are starting the beginning the second half of it. WHOA! Time really likes to fly when we are indeed enjoying ourselves.
This message begins week 6 of the summer, and I am pleased to introduce the speaker for the week:
His name is John Shah. He comes to us all the way from Columbus, Ohio. He is the head pastor at H2O at Ohio State University. He has approximately 20 years of ministry experience under his belt, a wonderful family, and a lot of experience with just how to walk with the Lord and all that He has in store. It's a pleasure to have him join us again this year in Virginia Beach!
And we're off! Let the message begin!
"Sometimes we just don't know what we're doing when we spend time with God."
It's the truth. We can spend ample amounts of time with God, but have absolutely no idea how to use the time effectively, or even what using time effectively with God could even look like. It's different for every person, but it's so true. We are good at wasting time, even if we have the best intentions with whatever it is that we're doing. Things are being invented everyday that are created just to waste our time.
The example that John used was Snapchat. Now, don't get me wrong, I find Snapchat to be quite entertaining sometimes, but it really is a perfect demonstration. It's an app that allows us to take a photo and send a message with it to someone, only for it to disappear 7 seconds later. Now talk about out of sight out of mind. It happens just to end up feeling like it never happened anyway. The hard truth is that sometimes in life, we could be doing things that are a lot more productive.
And something that we should be doing a lot of is spending time in prayer. It's our one major communication with the Lord, and surprisingly even the most prayerful person doesn't do it enough. And it's a huge struggle for a lot of us, myself included. Prayer is a HUGE part of our spiritual walk, and there's really no denying it. Followers of Christ WILL pray. There's no "if" about it. Effective leaders within God's kingdom have to be in prayer with him.
When I think about my own prayer life, I can totally see a lot of what John is talking about. I do so many things that distract me so easily. There are times where I can really be connected with the Lord, but that connection rarely lasts for more than a half an hour (if I'm lucky). There's so much time in the day (an ABUNDANT amount if you think about it), but somehow we always feel like we never have time. Contraire. We do, we just have to pay attention to what it is that we have as a priority in our lives. And God should be the first. God knew what he was doing when he created the day to have 24 hours. He knew that it would be enough.
Prayer is not simply meant to be a series of words to the Lord. It's meant to be honesty and vulnerability with God. Sure, God wants to hear about all of the other good things that are going on in life. Who wouldn't?! God rejoices when we rejoice. But he also mourns with us when we mourn. Being honest with what's really on our hearts is always a good thing, especially when the Lord is on the receiving end.
The question that John asked was this: "Is that what your prayer life is truly about?"
Honestly, it's a definite sometimes. I know that God has heard some of my most desperate desires and pains of my heart, but there are definitely times where I absolutely do not feel like communicating those things. Because honestly, sometimes it's just not something I want to think about. But God has other plans. He wants...well no. He DESPERATELY DESIRES to know our hearts intimately. Prayer is the door for us to reach out to him. As Josh Zolman put three weeks before, "prayer is the time where heaven truly meets earth." But most times I don't let my prayer really get to that point. I know for me this is something that I always can be improving on. God deserves so much more of my time and my attention. He should have more willingness and joy as well.
One of John's bottom lines was this: God is honored when we come to him boldly. He is holy and he is everything. And he is CAPABLE of everything. He hears us and wants to be a part of our lives and what's going on within it. We have some very hard things that we experience in our lives that we try to hide from God. Sometimes we don't want to dig it up, but we need to go to God with it. If we don't, the God knows that something is wrong. He knows our hearts, but he takes joy in us coming to him first!
John had some encouragement for us.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, he wo seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." -Luke 11:9-10
We have to be TENACIOUS in our prayer with God. It will be rewarded. We can't expect that everything will come exactly as we want it when we want it, but we don't have to worry. God's plan is by far greater! After all, "to him that can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine, to him be the power and the glory within the church and in Christ Jesus and throughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21) God desires tenacity. He enjoys boldness. God's heart is to give us good things. If we have the same attitude, then God is going to bless us in those things.
If we aren't honest before God completely, the we are going to lose out on the healing that God can and will offer. We have the choice to decide what we're about and what we want our relationship with God to look like. We have the choice to always go deeper with the Lord. Is that something that I desire to do with my life? Absolutely. Is that something that you want for your own life? I sure hope so!
And when in doubt and struggling to think of something to pray about, refer back to Luke 11:1-4.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lord lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, power, and the glory forever. Amen."
God is holy. His kingdom is coming. His will is prevalent in our lives as we daily seek him. He provides for our every need. He is a graceful and forgiving God who wishes that we are to do the same for others. He protects us, doesn't give us more than we can handle, and he is everything we could possibly need or want to know!
No comments:
Post a Comment