Giving & Prayer

As I am reading How to Pray (R. A. Torrey), he goes through several hindrances to our prayers being heard & answered. Proverbs 21: 13 says "Whoever stops his ear at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard."

Torrey goes on to say that "there is perhaps no greater hindrance to prayer than stinginess" and reminds that with the same measure we use, it will be used with us as well (Luke 6:38).

"Many a man and woman who is seeking to find the secret of their powerlessness in prayer need not seek far, it is nothing more nor less than downright stinginess. George Mueller was a mighty man of prayer because he was a mighty giver. What he received from God never stuck to his fingers; he immediately passed it on to others."

Oh Lord refine my heart. Remind me that I am a manager of your wealth... It was never intended to be mine, to be hoarded. Break my fingers that they be released from all that I am gripping ever so tightly.

Jesse Tree

Looking for a family Christmas tradition? This is one we started with our family last December and loved it. It is called a Jesse Tree & is THE best advent waiting calendar I have yet to see. This advent calendar starts in Genesis with the story of creation (on December 1st) and goes through the Old Testament until December 25th, when you celebrate the birth of Jesus.

It can be easy to view the birth of Jesus as an isolated story... All the while missing out on the grand story of redemption that God has been writing since creation. For after sin entered in the Garden, God has been wooing the hearts of His children back to Him. We can see this all throughout the Old Testament as God prepares the way for His Son.

Hebrews makes it clear that the endless, daily sacrifices that were offered up could never cleanse the conscience or make perfect. (Hebrews 9:9, 10:1-4, 11-12) But God had a plan... A better plan than the sacrificial system that could finally reconcile a sinful people with a holy God.

Enter Jesus. The spotless Lamb whose blood does cover. Blood that once for all would be sufficient. No more living with guilt. No more condemnation. No more sacrifices in hopes of being "okay" for that day. No more veil to keep us from the Holy of Holies- the very presence of God.

Through the birth, life, death & resurrection of Christ, we now have right standing with God. The story of the babe in the manger is huge. For this is the life that brought us life.

Join us in making a Jesse Tree this December as we anticipate "The Word made flesh who made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14)

Making A Jesse Tree:

1. For each of the 25 Days of Advent, you will make an ornament for your tree. For example, Day One is a SUN for creation, Day Two is a MAN for Adam, Day Three an APPLE.... You can be as creative as you want with your ornaments. We've added googley eyes to our animals & people- just for a fun extra effect the kids enjoy. Make your ornaments as basic or elaborate as you'd like them to be.

2. Starting on December 1st, read the scriptures for that day. (included at bottom of blog post)Then the first ornament is hung on the tree. By Christmas Day you will have completed the Jesse Tree & will have a tree full of ornaments that tell the redemptive story of God's pursuit of man... Beginning with creation in the garden all the way through the birth of the One- the tiny babe- who would come to reconcile us & give us right standing with a Holy God.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1: 14

Scriptures for Jesse Tree: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc86hr5f_9hfvpnkcq&btr=EmailImport

For information on the history of the Jesse Tree: http://www.cresourcei.org/jesse.html

Right Action Follows Right Thinking

There is a dynamic principle shown throughout God's Word, and no person will ever walk in victory unless he understands and operates in it: Right action follows right thinking. Where your mind goes, your life follows.
-Joyce Meyer

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will if God. Romans 12:2

"I don't believe that one of us serious about God will forego this test. It's no 30 minute quiz; it's a lifelong essay test written in blood. Will we loose our hold on anything and anyone else as a prerequisite to following Christ in the intensity of aloneness? If you can answer quickly, I'm not sure you grasp the question's seriousness. . ."

("Beloved Disciple" by Beth Moore)

"For I am not ashamed of the Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes- the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."

Romans 1:16-17

"In the beginning God made man in His image. Man has been making God in his image ever since."

-Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase

Taking Headphones Off

Last weekend at a Lead Now conference, a music video was played when we first arrived. It was a Jars of Clay song entitled "Headphones". I could have stood up after that song, left and felt that it was sufficient. It spoke exactly what I needed to hear.

Sweet conviction. Refreshing refinement. Lord have your way.

The video was filmed in Dallas of a man sitting down to watch the news. At the sights & sounds of the tragedy he stands to leave, putting his headphones on.

"I don't have to hear it, if I don't want to

I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you

It's a heavy world, it's too much for me to care

If I close my eyes, it's not there"

He walks down the street, passing a homeless man on the corner. The homeless man looks up at him, hungry & needy with anticipation and hope that maybe this man will be the one to reach out. The man looks away, passing the homeless man while eating his snickers bar, headphones on.

A little further in his walk a young boy sits alone on the curb holding a football. Clearly hoping for a friend, a father, a hand to reach out and love him. The self-absorbed man looks away, consumed with his music & his life... with his headphones on.

On the bus he sits across from a hurting lady. He knows He should offer hope. He wants to offer a word, a touch, some love... But his headphones are on. It's easier to just drown it out. It's easier to "pull the curtain down".


Do I live life with my headphones on? It's easier many times to decide I don't want to hear it. I can drown it out and go on with my life.

But is that what we are called to? Did Christ die to give us comfy lives, free from suffering, secluded from the oppressed & hurting?

Suffering is difficult to look at. But it's all over the Bible. To turn my nose to it is to turn my nose to the heart of Christ.

Our son's verse, a verse we have prayed and spoken over him since he was born, reverberates the heartbeat of Christ.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

(Micah 6:8)

I cannot act justly, love mercy and walk with my God if I am drowning out the needs around me. If I am oblivious.

Lord take off my headphones. I began praying this over the weekend. Take off my headphones. Make me aware of those around me. The needs, the desires, the hurts. Awaken my heart again to the lost. The oppressed.

Take off my headphones.

The very next day as I walked into Walmart I begged God "Take off my headphones".

As I walked through the checkout line, the woman scanning my groceries was HUNGRY. Not physically, but spiritually. Emotionally. She needed something.

I could have been a monkey with a wig on, inviting her to any church, inviting her to a cult even... and she would have accepted. She just wanted SOMEONE to extend an invitation.

Thank you Lord that you took off my headphones. Now she is coming to check out our church... And I know YOU WILL REVEAL YOURSELF. May she find what her searching heart is longing for... in You.

May we take off our headphones. In our homes, in our neighborhoods, communities, churches, in our cities, in a hurting world, with a global mindset... To pull back the curtain, STOP long enough to look deep into the eyes of the one in front of us, and extend a hand.

With our headphones off.

Give Us Eyes To See

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Six Steps

Six steps... How I long to get the place where my heart beats in worship so passionately, so brilliantly, that I cannot go even six steps without praising.

This is why he is called the man after your own heart. David could not take six steps without breaking out in worship. He got it. He understood the One we call God.

"So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When whose who were carrying the ark of the Lord has taken six steps, he sacrified a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts & sounds of trumpets." (2 Samuel 6:13-15)

His first two items on the agenda as King: Conquer Jerusalem making it the city of God's people. Get the ark of God back to it's rightful place in the city of God's people.

In 1 Chronicles 13:3 he says "Let us bring the ark of God back to us, for we did inquire of it during the reign of Saul."

I wander what our motives & agenda would be were we crowned king & queen. What would my first priority be? Or what about each morning- What is my agenda for each day I've been given? That the glory of God would reign in me... or that I would reign?

Is it to have God's presence in my heart & my home? Is it to seek and worship the One... The Only One who is worthy.

Oh Lord may our hearts beat for the glory and honor of our King. Tear down every competing idol in our hearts, that YOU alone would reign as Lord and receive the praise due your Name. This holiday season... as Thanksgiving & Christmas approach, may our hearts & attitudes be FULL of praise. Give us the heart of David that cannot make it through breakfast, cannot make it through lunch, cannot make it through the afternoon & evening... without a heart overflowing in praise to our God.

So dry & longing to hear Your voice
To feel Your presence
To make the choice
And push aside the things to do
Quiet heart, and hear from You

May not seem huge like some sins are
But hurry & bustle keep my heart so far

Far from what's central
Far from what's true
Keeps me searching and longing
For all but You

Settle my heart now
Wandering though it be
Till face set like flint
I'm content in only Thee.

-Writings from a wandering heart

The Gratitude Journal

Beginning this week... A gratitude journal. A way to open our eyes and begin looking. We began early morning at Starbucks- and hope in anticipation to begin looking, seeking out Your hand.

"Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,

or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?" Psalm 88:12

How very easy it can become to live in the land of oblivion. Going about daily activities, mind consumed with the tasks at hand... And all the while missing the many blessings of your hand.

I love the way Ann Voskamp words this:

"I am seeing things I have never seen before, atuned and aware of this constant, endless stream of gifts from His hand. I am one waking from slumber....from the stupor of indifference and ignorance. I have sight, fresh and keen---the world is new and full of His gifts.Too often I miss Him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, He is everywhere, always. But maybe, before The Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things."

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things.html

May we began to pray for an awareness, a spirit that is sensitive & eyes that are wide open to your many graces. Your word tells us that you are near when the praises & thanks of your people are on our tongues:

"We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks, For your Name is near." Ps. 75:1

"Let the peace of Christ rule in my your heart... And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...as you sing psalms, hymns & spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Colossians 3: 15-16

Grab a journal and begin jotting. Here is a glimpse of my first page... The first page of many:

1. Best friends racing on bike endlessly down the driveway

2. The sound of laughter as boys wrestle

3. Life growing within me

4. Quietness in Your presence- sweet refreshing stillness

5. A warm breakfast brought in by my man

6. A jog in the cool autumn air

7. Brother park

8. Pillow mountain

9. Morning hugs

Refining

The raw peeling back of hard places in my heart. The unearthing of soil I would prefer sit untouched.

And then comes His Spirit... turning up hard places, hurts, frustrations, fears... I would rather leave well alone. But praise God He won't just let me be. It must be faced. It must be prayed through. And much must be removed.

As we read the Relationship Principles of Jesus at church, it is a touchy subject. One I would rather leave well alone.

And as I poured my heart out to the Lord asking Him "Why do I have to go through this? Why do I have to face these hurts & the junk within my heart?" He spoke so tenderly..."Would you rather I left you here?" "No sir!" "Well then press on with me".

So press on I shall. He is unearthing some tender places. But You are the safest One to tear through it with.

He designed us for relationships... Yes for connection & intimacy. But I'm starting to see also for refining. Lord help me to not shrink back from the work you want to do. Continue unearthing all the junk that must be removed, all the fears that I must be set free of, all the hurts I must lay down at your feet... Let there be no callous places within my heart. No matter how painful this journey.

"Enough"

As I was recently thinking through the grace God has given, starting in the Garden... and running through the course of time... and all throughout my own life... He reminded me of how many times He could have ended the story. He could have given up on man in the Garden as two sinful people chose independence over trusting God. All throughout the Bible we see how even the chosen people of God rejected Him time & again.... Yet His faithfulness continued. And personally it amazes me the grace He has given, despite my ungratefulness and wandering heart. But yet, praise God, ending the story & giving up on us would not have been "Enough" for our God. He has given so far beyond. He has given more than "Enough".

This is a poem God spoke to me as I was journaling these thoughts. On the faithfulness & grace of an awesome God....



It would have been enough to let us go our way
To shake your holy hands in sorrow & dismay
“I had so much in store for you,
Such blessings yet to unfold.
But now that you have chosen sin
My blessings I’ll withhold.”

It would have been enough
To leave us wandering on our own
But instead Undeserved Grace
Is what we’ve been shown

Through vast deserts, scorching heat
Your own shade you did provide
You parted seas, came down in glory
On that magnificent Mount Sinai

It would have been enough to take us to the altar every single day
A dove, a lamb, a sacrifice we would have to slay
In hopes of there you looking down and forgiving us for that day
But instead praise God You had a plan, You said
“Oh there’s a better way”

This would have been enough but not for
The Truth, The Life, The Way
For our God revealed in loving kindness
His redemptive plan one glorious day

The day that God-made man in a horse trough was lain
The One who came to earth, the sinless spotless Lamb
Was born… to soon be slain

That would not have been enough, you said
For My purpose and plan I must fulfill
That’s why to have you by my side again
My Son will walk that hill

The Lamb was slain, the blood was spilt
And now one day you’ll see
The life you were created for
In My presence and glory

Now trust me child when I say
This story still unfolds
Tis not the end while here on earth
There’s glory yet to behold

But until my face you see one day
When you will worship and adore
Know that mud pies in the sand
Is not what you were created for

While on this earth ‘till I return (between the trees)
Endless enticements are all around
Know my child with eyes fixed on me
There my blessing will abound

Don’t start with here; Don’t start with now
For this land is not your home
The land, the life you are destined for
My child you will soon know

And until that day when faith is sight
Keep your eyes turned to the cross
Knowing earthly idols fades away
To soon become just loss

My precious daughter, heir to the King
In Me your calling stands
For nothing earth may bring your way
Will ever unfoil my holy plans

Further Still: Day 2

Through a desire and conviction of the Holy Spirit to go deeper, I am sharing some ways I enjoy God's presence.

Today I start with one of my very favorites: Praying Scripture.

If there is anything I want my boys to remember of me it is that their mama prayed. She sought God in expectation. I want them to remember countless ways God answered prayers & countless miracles we witnessed through our partnership of prayer.

Prayer is a powerful weapon in and of itself. Sadly though, as John Piper says, it is our most unused weapon in the arsenal. Oh that we would wise up to the enemy, to our flesh, to this carnal world system we live in and begin using this weapon of prayer. And what more powerful prayer can we lift up than speaking the very words of God?

When words do not come, when we are uncertain what to pray, when we seek the unleashed power of God over ourselves, our families, our circumstances,
may we begin to pray the very life changing, heart rending, power inducing words of the Living God. And watch as He. Comes. Down.

(Based on Ephesians 6)

Today Lord would you make me strong in the Lord and your mighty power. Help me put on the full armor of God so that I can take my stand against the devil's schemes. Help me wise up and know that my struggle is not against flesh & blood... We are engaged in full-on spiritual warfare and I must yield the weapons you have given in order to have victory in this battle.

May I stand firm with the belt of truth around my waist. Give me integrity Lord. Sow it in my heart, my thoughts, my lips. Your word says you desire truth in my inner being. May truth dwell in me richly.

Help me take up the shield of faith. Let me know you Lord and your Word so that when the enemy comes to distract and discourage me, I can walk in faith and belief. Without faith I know it is impossible to please you.

May I wield the Sword of the Spirit today, which is your Word. Sow it richly in my heart & mind that I would KNOW your truth which is my offensive weapon against the enemy.

(Based on Philippians 1:20-21)

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but that you would give me sufficient courage so that now as always Christ would be exalted in my body. For to me, to live is Christ & to die is gain.

To live is Christ. Make that my hearts greatest desire that You would not be a part or a portion of my life. But that you would be my LIFE.

(Based on Psalm 119:33-37)

Teach me O Lord to follow your word and give me understanding that I may obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your commands, and may I find great delight in your presence.

Turn my heart toward your Word O God. In a society that does not honor You nor your Word, may I have a reverent fear for You and the commands you have given. Bind my wandering heart to Thee Lord. Take my heart Lord, Take & seal it, Seal it for thine courts above.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things Lord. May I begin to love the things that you love and hate the things you hate. Cast down every idol that is exalted above you in my life, that my eyes would be fixed upon You God.

Further Still

There is a stirring within my heart to go deeper.

Last Monday morning in the dark, cold, rain a group of women gathered at Starbucks to do this very thing. Not content with mediocrity nor complacency, we gathered to go deeper.

Give us this day our daily bread...
May YOU God be my daily bread.
May I not put a bite of food into my mouth until my heart bows in submission to your authority for this very day.
May my hands not type a single text or email until they be lifted to the King in surrender for the upcoming hours.
May I not fill my cup until it is first filled by You.

How do we do this? What does this look like? For each one it will be as unique as we are. But the common thread is that we PURSUE the living God in the midst of our days.

For some that means rising while it is dark and stopping to listen. To bow. To beckon.

Ps. 119:147 "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope is your word."

For many (including myself) who wake early to the sound of scurrying feet and hungry tummies, it is stealing some quiet moments with children by my side (Children's Bible in their hands, my own in my hand) while we seek God together.

Other days it means rushing to my "quiet place" on the couch,
journal, pen & Bible in hand as soon as children lay down for afternoon naps.

Whatever it looks like for you, may you beckon on further still.

Over the days & weeks ahead I will share ways I enjoy diving deeper. Variety is key. Who wants chicken everyday for lunch & dinner? We have a buffet of God's glory to revel in, to be amazed by. He has given us many ways to enjoy & SAVOR Himself.

May we not fill up on the nibblings of this world,
But instead feast at the banquet table of our God.

We have been created to know and savor Him. Pull up your chair today with eager expectation... and find your fill in Him.