Praying THROUGH not OUT!

I have been reading Mark Batterson's book, "Draw the Circle:The 40 Day Challenge" for Lent.  Today, day 4, was profound!

"Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them.'

"There is a big difference between praying away and praying through.  We're often so anxious to get out of difficult, painful, or challenging situations that we fail to grow throug them.  We're so fixated on getting out of them that we don't get anything out of them.  We fail to learn lessons God is trying to teach us or cultivate the character God is trying to grow in us.  We're so focused on God changing our circumstances that we never allow God to change us!"

"Can our prayers change our circumstances?  Absolutely!  But when our circumstances don't change, it's often an indication that God is trying to change us.  The primary purpose of prayer is not to change circumstances, the primary purpose of prayer is to change us!"

"Sometimes God delivers us from our problems; sometimes God delivers us through our problems."

I shared this book with my friend, Stephen Slocum and we are reading it together through Lent.  Here are some reflections Stephen shared on Facebook this morning on this chapter...

"Sometimes God Delivers us from our Problems: Sometimes God Delivers us through our Problems (Mark Batterson ).....How true for me for so many years. God please help me pass this test, God I need Extra Money this week , God please I need my daughter's cold to go away......God I need, I need, I need, but God is not in the need business nor is he an order form. I'm in a Battle with Cancer God I need you to Clear Me of Cancer. ( WRONG PRAYER ) God please halp me through my battle, clear my pain, help me drink this cup of water, medicine, food, help me through the battle and come out the other End Victorious . See friends I'm getting the full ride all my numbers are normal now, eating solids, walking, etc 30 Days ago Bed Ridden, in and out of the Hospital.  Praise God and His Glory for what he is doing is healing me by letting me experience all the symptons of what a Cancer Patient Goes Through.  I love it!  So next time you pray ( PRAY THROUGH ( NO PRAYING AWAY ) GOD BLESS <><"

Reflections on the last 10 years

During the overnights at our shelter, in the early morning hours when my mind is fried... I have been reading magazines I get.  One called Outreach Magazine that looks at various church related outreach ministries had some good article that I want to share quotes from.

The first was written by Dan Kimball and was looking at the church's mission and how it has changed in the last 10 years.  He says that he believes that the last 10 years have taught us three things about fulfilling the Gospel mission...

1. Churches that focussed on emerging generations and remained faithful theologically are still groing strong.  Those that didn't, aren't.  Time tests what is merely a trend or what is true mission.

2. Churches whose passion was evangelism continue to thrive.  Inwardly focused driven primarily by a desire to maintain the attendance of disillusioned Christians have experienced little growth.

3. The church must still be passionate about seeing new generations know Jesus.  Younger generations are more confused about the church and Christianilty than ever.  The good news is that many churches are focused on doing whatever it takes to help a new generation know and follow Jesus.

Still Waters....

Since Emma's accident on Friday night/ Saturday morning, we are sharing cars between the three of us.  Last night while I was waiting for Sharon to finish up her work at Coastal Hospice at the Lake which shares facilities with Deers Head Hospital, I wnet for a walk to fill time, as it seemed I would have a good while to fill.  The facility is located on a nice lake.  So, I was happy to walk down to a dock area they have and sit there beside the STILL WATERS and pray as the sun set.

As I sat there, I couldn't help but recall the familiar phrase from the beloved 23rd psalm... "He leads me beside STILL WATERS..."  The utter peace that came over me as I spent that half hour to 45 minutes praying and watching the sun set change the evening sky.   It is a practice I like to do often and everytime I do, I find so enriching.

We all need still waters in our lives!   I pray that you can find them too!

This was taken last night!

Not Yet There....

Hear this awesome quote from Andy Stanley this morning... "Jesus taught and pointed toward an ideal yet refused to condemn those who fell short."  

Take a few moments to let that simmer and I think you will see how on track that is!  If only we could catch that same truth and live it in our relationship with others... our world would be filled with a whole lot more grace and our churches would be places where huge life transformation is happening ALL THE TIME!   We need to learn to live in the tension between the real and ideal!

Great to Have FUN Together!

One thing I absolutely love about Community of Joy, is that we love to have fun together as well as we know how to be serious about Jesus and living as his hands and feet in the community and world.

Yesterday, we enjoyed preparing for and watching the Super Bowl.

 

 

 

And now this week, we prepare to join our two neighborhing churches - Bethany Lutheran and Beacon of Light Churches as we open our doors to host 20 homeless men from our community for the next two weeks as part of our Community Emergency Shelter Project!   Surely God smiles when we have fun together and when churches cooperate to be his hands and feet in the community!