In the film, War Room, there's a senior citizen who has a Prayer Room in her home. This prayer warrior was focused, determined and in deep relationship with God. Because of those things, she was purposeful in her prayer. She had learned how to seek God.
Earlier this week I wrote a
blogpost about Seeking God. What that meant. That seeking God was the threshold to
adventure. Today I'm feeling that God is challenging me to take that seeking to another level. To seek God with all of my heart. To seek when I don’t feel like it.
Seek in the middle of the frustration and disappointment. Seek God through all of this and see mountains move.
There is no secret to it. Set aside a
place and set aside a time and seek God regularly.
To seek God in God's word, seek God in God's presence and let God speak. I need to speak out in
prayer. Let the prayer flow like a conversation. Even if it’s “Lord I don’t
know how to talk to you.” Most prayer warriors begin from this very basic
place.
Before going any further, I need to admit, I am no prayer warrior.
I do ok with the basic stuff. I read from Proverbs every morning. I journal (recording my thoughts). I try to read a few chapters from the Bible in the evening and pray for friends. And I speak out God's promises to me as well. I also keep track of things I'm thankful for, encouraged by Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Giving Thanks.
But until recently I haven't been especially motivated to go further. To really press in. To actually take a chance and see what it would be like to press in to the very heart of God.
It sounds like the sort of thing a saint would do.
But I'm no saint, at least in the traditional sense of the word. I struggle like everyone else. I doubt at times. I'm easily frustrated and judgmental and am too easily sidetracked. So where is this call to go deeper coming from?
I'm sure if my soul were writing this it would say, "Hello! Guess who?!"
So I'm banking on the mercy of God. I'm choosing to trust and hope on a more consistent basis.
A long time ago I was part of a great group of folks at Metro Ministries (now Metro World Child). During an internship there, one of the leaders put forth this challenge to us: "What if we all began to live as if?" He went on to explain, "What if we all began to live as if the promises of the Gospel are true? As if God really can be trusted? As if our lives depended on God?"
I'm choosing to live as if.
photo credit: www.elevationekidz.com
I do ok with the basic stuff. I read from Proverbs every morning. I journal (recording my thoughts). I try to read a few chapters from the Bible in the evening and pray for friends. And I speak out God's promises to me as well. I also keep track of things I'm thankful for, encouraged by Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Giving Thanks.
But until recently I haven't been especially motivated to go further. To really press in. To actually take a chance and see what it would be like to press in to the very heart of God.
It sounds like the sort of thing a saint would do.
But I'm no saint, at least in the traditional sense of the word. I struggle like everyone else. I doubt at times. I'm easily frustrated and judgmental and am too easily sidetracked. So where is this call to go deeper coming from?
I'm sure if my soul were writing this it would say, "Hello! Guess who?!"
So I'm banking on the mercy of God. I'm choosing to trust and hope on a more consistent basis.
A long time ago I was part of a great group of folks at Metro Ministries (now Metro World Child). During an internship there, one of the leaders put forth this challenge to us: "What if we all began to live as if?" He went on to explain, "What if we all began to live as if the promises of the Gospel are true? As if God really can be trusted? As if our lives depended on God?"
I'm choosing to live as if.
photo credit: www.elevationekidz.com
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