LPT- Day 1

So I completed the first day. Not too bad. One thing though, I need to scrap the schedule for tomorrow. No, I'm still going to pray at those times, but at least for a day or two I need to come to God in my times of prayer and allow Him to prune me, and point out the things that I'm doing or thinking or saying that are not of Him. In BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) we are currently working through John 15 where Jesus is the vine and the Father the Vinedresser and me a branch, grafted in that He wants to see bear fruit. And I'm going to devote at least the next days prayer times to that. Worship of my Triune God reveling in His holiness and love and asking Him to reveal anything that clogs up His flow of holiness and love in and through me. God revealed to me today that my prayer time is often focused on what He can do for me or others across the world, this should not be. Yes, good to pray for self and others, but pray in such a way to bring glory to God, that the prayers, at the deepest part of them need to be for God to be glorified, Jesus honored. Oh Lord, teach me how to pray.

Lenten Prayer Times--LPT for short

So I've been praying about what I should do for the time of lent and I've decided to follow the mslm daily prayer times. I know it's alittle late to start Lent stuff, but better late then never. I'll be praying 6 times a day at the times of day I would pray if I were a mslm in Uganda. Of course, I am not mslm, or in Uganda yet, but I will be praying as a follower of Jesus. So I'm going to divide up the 6 different times of the day, and each time pray for something different. The dawn prayer which will be around 5:50am will be for something to do with the United States, the Sunrise prayer (around 7am) will be Uganda , the Noon will be Congo, the afternoon (around 4pm) will be Sudan, the Sunset (around 7pm) will be Middle East and the Evening (around 8:15pm) will be a focus on some aspect of the Trinity. Then I will follow a schedule suggested by Andrew Murray (one of my favorite authors) called Helps to Intercession. This schedule will help me to focus on a certain aspect while praying for these countries, etc...And I'm going to try...to TRY to blog at the end of each day about what God revealed to me in my times of prayer, the struggles of trying to pray 6 times a day and the rewards. I share all this so that I will not back out of it, b/c I don't want to give up on this. And what God teaches me in this time I want to share with anyone who reads this. So that He too may touch your hearts. I start tomorrow, the theme for the day is the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Dance of Time

With the prospective departure date of March 13, I am left with 8 weeks in these United States. And I realize I'm doing the dance of time. There are funds to be raised, there is homework to be done, there are people to see, games to be played, or should I say won...hugs to be given, shots to be had and research to be done, neices to play with and nephews to wrestle, good-byes to be said, have i left anything out? probably. so I'm trying to balance that all out, and it's not easy. Plus, there's the ever-increasing reality, that I am going to a third world country that is at least mostly stable for now, I will know about 8 people there to start, disease and violence are working overtime, and I will be around 2 long plane rides, one long bumpy van ride, 24 hrs worth of travel away from any of my family. And as crazy as it sounds, I love it. As much as I'm scared, as much as I'll miss my family and friends here in Michigan, I love being beckoned in to my Father's heart, to a place that is forsaken by so many to tell His love story. AND I CAN'T WAIT! Oh the beautiful things He will do.

Jesus Customer

I thought I'd include another quote from another book I'm reading, because it made me stop and think for a while, and really I'm still thinking about it even now. It comes from the book In God's Underground, by Richard Wurmbrand. He's a pastor that was tortured in Romania during communist rule around the 1950's. He writes about how two guys, Daianu and Ghinda readily gave up their faith so that life would be easier for them and they could leave the prison. A man in the cell with Wurmbrand comments, "Strange that men who wrote with what seemed deep Christian faith should turn traitor so easily!" Wurmbrand's response is, "Perhaps the answer was that in their writings Daianu and Ghinda praised Christ for the gifts. He gives us--peace, love, salvation. A real disciple does not seek gifts, but Christ himself, and so is ready for self-sacrifice to the end. They were not followers of Jesus, but customers; when the Communists opened a shop next door with goods at lower prices, they took their custom there."
Am I just a customer of Jesus, seeking the gifts He has to offer or am I seeking after him? If at a given time all He has to offer me is suffering, will I still cling to Him, still trust in Him, still praise Him? Lord teach me to be your bride, not your customer.

In Jesus' Name

I am currently reading a book called Deep Wounds, Deep Healing by Charles Kraft (it has been very good). I wanted to share one thought that I had been learning about over the last couple months that I think he puts into words well. "I once had a discussion with a friend who was discouraged in her prayer life. It seems that she had prayed for several things 'in Jesus' name' but was not receiving what she prayed for. We discussed some of the possible reasons. Praying in Jesus' name, I told her, is not so much about how you pray or what words you use in prayer, but more about who you are in prayer.
"Many Christians take Scriptures like praying 'in Jesus name' and use them like magic incantations. They think that if they get the phrasing right, then the desired answer will follow. My friend needed to understand, though, that praying 'in Jesus' name' meant living in Jesus' name so that the desires of her heart would be more closely associated with the desires of that 'name.' Her desires would be more in tune with God's desires. Powerful prayers are initiated by those who live and pray in Jesus' name.
"Such intimacy doesn't have to be a mysterious thing for us however. I don't think it was for Jesus. We need to spend time in the kind of give and take that cultivates a close relationship. When we talk with God, we usually call it 'praying.' This term, however, obscures the fact that talking and listening to God are to be natural and constant, not an occastional ritual. We are prepared for ministry if we try to practice intimacy with the Father in Jesus all day, every day. (p81)"
Mr Kraft challanges me to live a life in line with the name of Jesus, the character of Jesus, and pray out of that, rather than just adding the words, 'in Jesus name' to end of all my prayers. The more I listen to God, really take time and listen, the more I get to know His heart and how it beats and longs for every person to experience the love that He offers, and the better I am able to pray in His will and thus see answered prayer.

christ-ianity

what would christianity look like if we took away the "ianity" and were left with Christ? Following Jesus, it goes beyond cultures and beyond rituals and rules. What if we strip away all that we humans have added to the raw good news of Jesus? How would our lives be lived differently? What would the church look like? How would the spread of the Good News of Jesus be affected?

Song lessons II: even Obama will bow before Him

I kept forgetting to finish my song lesson series, well, more like a mini-series I guess, since this might be the last, though maybe not. This is from another song we sang at a church in Uganda. "We bow before You God, We bow before you Jesus, even the presidents, they bow before you, even Obama will bow before you." When I think about this, I am reminded that no matter how powerful we think certain humans have become, Jesus is still more powerful. Even I have the capacity, the capability to be more powerful than the president because I have the Holy Spirit and have authority by the blood of Jesus. It is weird to think about, but true. As followers of Jesus, the King of the entire universe invites us to ask of Him things, to approach His throne with confidence, tells us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us. How responsible have I been with that power? Have I even done anything with that power, have a I realized it's potential yet, have I even scratched the surface? As I am here training to go to Soroti, Uganda, I hear of the powerful work of Christ around the world. I realize I need to be more sensitive to Him, to His direction, to His calling in day to day, moment by moment, and more open to what He calls me to now. I need to have a perspective of people out of love, always through the lense of the love of Christ.
So I didn't talk too much about the song, it got me thinking to say the least.