Tag Archives: prayer

May 28 2013

Dear God –

AndGodLa

I love this letter to God from a child –

“Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying.”

So simple, yet so overwhelmingly powerful.  But is it true for you?

How would your day be radically transformed if this statement was true for you?  So often, we only think about God:

1.  When we get ready for church
2.  When we are at church
3.  When we pray for a meal
4.  When we tell our child that God doesn’t like what he/she is doing
5.  When something good or bad happens
6.  When/if we pray, study the Bible

But how would it change your day if scattered throughout, you just stopped and thought about God’s love?  God’s grace?  God’s mercy?  God’s awesomeness?  God’s power?

There’s a difference between thinking about God and praying to God.  I think about my wife and my daughter often, but I’m not speaking to them.  I think about them because I love them so much, and they occupy my thoughts throughout the day.  Does God have that same impact on you?

Read this verse – and think about God.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:8-14)

 

Sep 17 2012

Personal Spiritual Growth: 30 Day Challenge

Here at the Granny White Church of Christ, we are going through a journey of personal spiritual growth. We began yesterday with an emphasis on getting to know God on a deeper, personal level.

The best way to grow a relationship with anyone is through a conversation, and that’s what we emphasized yesterday, is to have a conversation with God. I issued a 30 day challenge to the family of GW. Here are the details :

Find a time during the day when you can talk and listen to God.

Start by praying – saying hey to God, acknowledging Him as your creator, your Father, your Friend. Spend time thanking Him for all He has done and continues to do –

Then, grab a blank journal, and pray “God, I am here for You – Please show me who You are.”

Open up your Bible to the Psalms, one of the greatest places to really get to know who God is, and begin to read.

The goal is not massive marathon reading – but quality reading. You may just need one or two verses to stop and focus on –

But as you read – look for an attribute of God that really grabs you. You’re simply looking for something that’s true about God. A part of what He is. A part of His heart. One of His names.

Maybe you’ll learn more about His mercy, or His love, or His holiness.

Maybe you’ll learn more about how He wants to be Your Shepherd.

Or how He wants to protect you.

And when something really captures you – write it down in that notebook, and write the verse down as well.

And then I simply want you to think about that part of God’s character, and what it means to you.

And after you think about that for a while, write your thoughts back to God. Maybe its time for you to write a new Psalm to God. Or it could just be a random gathering of words and sentences directed from your heart to His.

Or maybe it reminds you of a song, from the Hymn book, or a devotional, or the radio – write the words to that down as well.

Whatever you do – make it personal. Make it intimate.

There’s no right or wrong way to make this happen. You might write two words. You might write two pages. You might draw a picture.

What you’ve just done is had a conversation with God. Now carry that conversation with you for the rest of the day – keep it going. – and by doing this you’ll grow in getting to know God better.

(ideas are adapted from Louie Giglio’s book “The Air I Breathe”)

Mar 8 2012

Praying for Guidance

Proverbs encourages us to stay on the path of wisdom, and to be careful not to start “to the right or the left.”  In 4:25-27 it states: “Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

Is this a problem for you?  Ask yourself these questions while thinking about your attitude and behavior in life:

– What is your influence on others?  Whose life have you genuinely touched and changed for the better in recent years?

– What is your direction and purpose?  If you continue to work of the next ten years as you are currently working, what will you have gained?  What will your life look like on its current path in ten years?

– Are you honoring God?  Can you cite three things that you have done in the last year that you believe have clearly brought glory to God?  What are some ways in which you have honored Him at work, in your home, and in your community?

– Are you avoiding evil?  What one thing have said “no” to in the past year in order to “remove your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:27)?  What did it cost you?  What did you gain?

– What is your testimony?  What one characteristic would you say clearly distinguishes you from non-Christians in your workplace, school, neighborhood, etc.?