Tag Archives: prayer

The rush

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Busy.  No stop-and-smell-the-roses time.  Activity swirling.  Good things.  Fun things.  Flurries of excitement.  Outbursts of thankfulness.  But, battles, too.  Violence against my heart by the enemy of my soul.  Picking up what got shattered, fully aware I possess nothing that can fix it.  Guarding the heart, o, guarding the heart.  Lord, cover me, here, when so much is at stake, when despair comes near.  Cover me.

One quick trip to the garden after a night rain.  I pull a weed that has dared to become a squatter, surely believing I won’t be around anytime soon.

Breaking the surface releases instant joy.  I smell earth.  I inhale the black, rich scent of the slightly moist soil and recklessly plunge my hand into that from whence I came.  I breathe it deeply for a second and linger for one more, my eyes closed with the sun warming the top of my very being.  I have to leave.  I have a meeting. The urgency that is propelling me, it suddenly becomes clear, will fade away.  The time I spend with my Life in the garden must increase.  I have found my place.  Deep breath.

I am merely dust.  I know my kind.  It is where I belong.

google image  But it looks a lot like what happened yesterday.

Note to self:  The garden.  Again.  Where He always meets me.  How could I forget?

I am the Nativity

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Living in darkness

I am a weary traveller.

There is a plan charted out, birthed before the ages.  This path has been worn not only by necessity, but in utter anticipation for my passing through.  One generation will praise His works to another. My part in the story keeps me moving forward.  Having received the baton of faith, I prepare to hand it off.

I am a census taker,

rigid and law-abiding.  There are rules to be kept and religion feeds that beast.  The church-girl in me keeps records and checks things off lists, shoulds and woulds.  Then Grace is born and the columns and lines cannot contain Him, cannot, even to the nth-degree hope to define Him.

I am the inn-keeper,

the rooms of my life and heart overcrowded and full.  Life and age and circumstances, not to mention the busyness of the times, filling every nook and cranny.  I almost hopelessly shrug Him off – no room, but a longing to fulfill destiny drives me to make a place for Him, keep Him here close…

A Light has come.  A Light has come!

I am the star.

There are people watching, looking for the hope I’ve been given and I am leading them somewhere.  May I lead aright, pointing them to Jesus.  All for Your name, Lord.  For your acclaim and Your fame in the earth…

I am Mary.

I am incredulous at the call of God on my life.  Heart palpitating, palms sweaty, “How can this be?”  I question God’s reasoning, His trust in me at all, His relentless pursuit.  I concede with a tentative sigh, “Then may it be unto me as You have said.  I am Your servant, I will obey…”

I am Joseph

whose goodness as a moral and loving man could be so wrong-spoken of, his motives and very character questioned in light of his participation in the Plan.  That he risked so much in spite of possible loss of reputation, possibly friends and family even – all for the Glory.  May it be said of me.

I am the shepherds,

kneeling low, sore afraid for the dazzling brilliant power of the revelation of Glory, the ear-splitting loudness of it roaring through my frame.  Everything being promised by these heavenly hosts, too strong to comprehend, almost –  I need, I need.  God has seen me, He has heard my cry and He has thundered in response:  Good news – great joy!!  A Savior is born today!  Peace on earth and goodwill toward men from God! God’s very good-will and Peace towards us.  Overwhelming, unbelievably good news!

I am the  angels

singing of God’s great love, a messenger of the joy of my salvation, spreading the great-great promise of His love, His good-will and His Peace toward those who dwell beside me on earth.  Sweet, sweet song of Salvation

I am a sinner,

trudging along, too many times unaware of all that God has given.  Forgiveness, at my fingertips.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Forgiveness, right there for the acceptance, a hall-pass from death to life from a faithful and just God, by the bloody, agonizing death of Jesus Christ – to His conquering resurrection.  Just like that! [snap fingers here} Forgiven.

Arise, shine.

I am a wise man.

Having seen and followed Your star, I bring my gold, my treasure (family), my belongings, all that I am or have or ever will be or possess and, bowing down, I place them at your feet.  Any thing I have came from You anyway.  There is nothing of it that I desire beside You.  Please receive all I place here as my worship…

I am a wise man.

I bring my incense, pouring out my prayers and petitions to You.  And in love, like the love You have shown for me, I pour out my life for my family and friends.  And I ask You, from the deepest recesses of my heart,  to mend and repair relationships and bring healing for hurt, beauty for ashes, and rejoicing for mourning.  And may this prayer be true and not contrived and may it be pure and not for self-gain.  And may it be a sweet-smelling offering to You.

I am a wise man.

I carry Myrrh, the embalming oil.  And I fall face down with all I can muster, nothing in my hands but bondages of sin and death and my own feeble attempts to save myself, but I give it to You and You raise up the dangling-ring of the keys to death, hell and the grave, taken by force when you led captivity captive and set. me. free.  And in place of an oil that cannot heal the rips and scars on my nearly-fatally wounded soul, You pour a fresh oil on my head, a wild-ox anointing and my leaf is green  Forever-life is established and I am set free from the law of sin and death.  Forever.

I am.  the Nativity.

This came to me as a prayer just pouring from my heart yesterday morning upon waking.  May love and joy come to you these days leading to our Christ-mass-worship.  And may you comprehend your place in the story that began so long ago like you never have before. NOTE: I will try to go back soon and add scripture references.

 

Offering

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What it really means to be an intercessor.

….and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore  o u r  suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for {our} transgressions,

he was crushed for {our} iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds  w e   a r e   h e a l e d .

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life an { O F F E R I N G } for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors

{aka the wrongdoer, the miscreant, the guilty party, the villain, the sinner, the evildoer}.

Jesus, the great Intercessor.  He was familiar with pain.  So He knew how to take ours – both what we’ve been hit with and what we have dished out.

My sweet mama called today and we talked about love, the real stand-in-the-gap, intercessory-like-Jesus kind of love.  It is the love that says :: even if your sin/rejection/disdain kills not only my heart but also my mortal body, I will still love you ’til the day I die.  I’ll love you while you pound the nails into my hands, I will love you when you spit in my face.  I will love you while the blood runs from my body and my life-flow hits the ground.  I will love you until the day I die.

Wow.

It is a wonder, Jesus being who He was was, I can even lay claim at all to being a “Christian.”

When you pray

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Jesus taught us how to pray.

Matthew 6.6-10 NIV  “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.’”

So few words, yet they say everything.

The New Testament gave us insight into prayer.

They “joined constantly in prayer” (Acts 1.14).  They sought direction from God in prayer (Acts 1.24). They were faithful in prayer (Romans 12.12).  They were cautioned to devote themselves to prayer (I Cor. 7.5).  Paul asked them to pray for him (Eph. 6.19) and he told the Philippians (1.4) “I pray for you.”  Pray with petition (Phil. 4.6), pray earnestly (I Thess. 3.10), pray continually (I Thess. 5.17).  James 5.13 says to pray in times of trouble.  I Peter tells husbands to treat their wives well so their prayers won’t be hindered and later to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray (4.7).

Throughout the course of my life I have been told I wasn’t praying right/correctly/effectively if I…

  • didn’t pray very early in the morning (certainly before 7 am)
  • didn’t pray loud enough or with enough authority
  • didn’t command and speak the promises of God into existance
  • didn’t pray in tongues or, by certain groups, if I  did pray in tongues
  • didn’t pray with my mind or did pray with my mind
  • didn’t pray long enough (couldn’t “tarry one hour”)
  • wasn’t on my knees
  • wasn’t pacing around taking authority
  • didn’t go to the altar
  • prayed with my eyes open or prayed with my eyes closed
  • didn’t pray the scriptures in the first person
  • spoke too quietly, or carried on too loudly

Whew!  Tiring.

How will I ever get prayer right?  Well, His Word is His will and when my praying lines up with His Word I can know I am praying a prayer He will not only hear, but that I will most assurredly have that prayer answered. 

1 John 5.14-15 Amp.  “And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.”

But I also know that in the times I have been broken and can barely put together two syllables, when I am curled up in the fetal position, and can only manage Ab-ba….He has heard my prayer.  When there are no formulas and when I am respectfully following a liturgy that is different from how I was raised, I am praying.  He is hearing.

Yikes, everybody – let us pray. 

Let us pray when we know how to pray and when we don’t.  Let us pray when only groanings come forth and the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.  Let us talk to God like Adam when they walked in the garden in the cool of the day.  Let us talk to God like Moses when he questioned and avoided and moaned a little, or like David when he wanted God to gnash his enemies’ teeth, but also when he was just filled to the brim with praise and adoration and gushing over God’s wonderfulness!

Let’s quit with the compulsory formulas and mandatory prayer perimeters.  When you ask me to pray for you, tell me how I can agree with you in prayer {what are YOU praying?}, but don’t insist I follow your blueprint in praying.  You are already doing that.  Let me talk to God on your behalf in the language of love He and I share.  I feel trapped when some one asks me to pray and then tells me how to do it and what to say, or how it won’t work if it isn’t exactly like they pray.  Are they really open to God’s leading?  Will they really allow me to talk to the Father on their behalf and hear His heart about the situation?

Prayer ritual/formula/rules doesn’t change things. God changes things – and I can trust Him in that.  He is faithful.  {He knows what I need before I even ask!} He hears us even when we don’t follow the current prayer craze. Or when we don’t pray “as well as” the next person.  I don’t trust my prayer, but I trust Him.  If all were dependant on my well-developed prayers, I’d make it my hobby to be great at it.  At times I have.  It is vanity.

I will pray for you.   Let me go to Our Father from the place I have learned to trust Him for you.  But the real thing you have going for you is that Jesus is interceding for us (Romans 8.33-35).

FOUND: in the drafts folder from early July 2009…should I have left it there???

MY FAVORITE PRAYER IN THE BIBLE: Mark 9:24 NKJV “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

1st grade.

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A million years ago (or at least 43)

My first grade teacher was Mrs. Devlin, a tiny woman with very flat, calloused heels in her black, slingback shoes.  She was nice enough, though not overly warm and by the time we were in 3rd grade she would see us and exclaim, “My, my how you have grown!  You’re as tall as me, now.”  And we were.

Now the first grandson

gavin1 gavin2 gavin3

gavin4 gavin5 gavin6

Gavin just started all-day school today.  He is a first-grader in a new school near his house and he has entered that part of his life (how did it get here so fast?) where he will spend many of the prime hours of his day with children and teachers and people other than his parents (and nonna).

He loves school.  He just loves it.  I am glad, but I want to keep him surrounded with prayer and godly perspective.  I want to protect what has been deposited into his life and guard his heart and mind.  I want him to grow in the grace and admonition of the Lord and be made holy despite the secular surroundings he will face.

gavin7 gavin8 Gemma thinks she is ready, too

So, I figure, my prayer life just got amped up up as I spend more time praying for my “little red-headed Kelley kid.”

Lord, You know….Gavin’s Nonna

NOTE TO SELF: Keep declaring the awesomeness of our God to the next generation!

pictured: Do teachers always have to wear sweaters even in the heat of August?  Is that a rule?

People help…we are in awe!

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The Northern Hills Church building is a-buzz with full-swing prep for Heaven Fest 2009.  Our friends and ministry partners are working their heads off, relentlessly committed to Jesus and this festival.  We remind each other over and over that it is to make His Name glorious.

The pace is so hectic I forget to take pictures, but I want to remember, when it is all passed, with gratefulness.  Here are a few things I will remember from 4 days before:

Stef-with-an-”f” and her crew lining up a thousand volunteers; Rocky on-the-go 

4-days-before-hf-035 4-days-before-hf-043

Lots and lots of materials being delivered  (including 10,000 mis-printed programs – yikes!)and Pam-the-intern making it all happen!

 4-days-before-hf-044 4-days-before-hf-041

25 or so of us gathered on the veranda for 40 Nights of Worship and Intercession, praying, singing, reading the Word

4-days-before-hf-047 4-days-before-hf-049

4-days-before-hf-051 4-days-before-hf-057 

O God, bless these people!  Show up again and show Your glory and may these who have sweat and cried and toiled be blessed with the fruit of their labors.  May they get to see that all of it has been worth it and that Your Name has indeed been made glorious!

George-Bailey-esque Trouble

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One of the best movie scenes of all times is the very beginning of It’s a Wonderful Life when you see the galaxy of stars and hear the chorus of prayers being offered to God on behalf of George Bailey who is facing such crisis, he is thinking of ending his own life.

“God help George Bailey,” you hear among a sea of voices.  Mr Gower prays, “I owe everything to George Bailey.  Help him, dear Father.”

The movie goes on to explore how important George Bailey was in the lives of everyone he knew.  He was truly a good person.  He truly helped people and sacrificed his own dreams for the good of others.  He was worthy of the prayers of the saints.

Not everyone lives such a valuable, selfless life.  But hopefully everyone knows people who will pray, people whose life have been touched by knowing them.  Wouldn’t you love to hear your name being offered to God like that?  Hearing everyone you know praying you up to the Father?

We know He hears us when we pray….Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  Lift up the people I know who may be in George-Bailey-esque trouble right now, whose skies may be arrow-blackened, who may be in a battle for their very souls…

40 Nights of Worship and Intercession on Heaven Fest Grounds

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Official announcement and invitation:

40_nights

It started on July 7th.  And we will be meeting EVERY NIGHT at Northern Hills Church (location of Heaven Fest) for 2 hours of prayer and worship through August 15th.

 Most nights will be live worship with a band or artist. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU to come out at least once. When we did this last year, it was amazing! Every single night great things happened!!

July 7 – August 15

7-9 pm nightly at

Northern Hills Church

5061 E. 16oth Ave (highway 7, 3 miles east of I-25) in Brighton, CO  MAP

 

Now-here is why I think you should come~

I got to attend the very first night this past Tuesday and actually co-lead with my daughter, Tara.  And it was awesome!  About 20 people ended up attending, along with a few small children, and it was informal and sweet and there was scripture reading and praying for one another and grandmother types (me) and teen-agers (who read about it on Facebook and came. -I love this generation!) and we were all just one, happy family.

I know.  I know.  You are busy.  You had a long day at work, preceded by one and to be followed by many.  And I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep, but I attended a lot last year and this year started, at least, exacly the same: peace, joy, excitement about Heaven Fest and sunsets more beautiful than Maui (and I LOVE Maui)! 

Kick-off night had rays beaming in all directions in blazing hot pink and mimosa and orange.  We got a double dose as it reflected off the lake where the horses gazed while large birds sailed effortlessly overhead.  Little songbirds on the lightposts in the church parking lot answered our praises to heaven with their own.  Small children played and ran and laughed and also cried and tattled a little, but all kids should enjoy church so much! 

The sanctuary?  Outside, on the westside of the building, the veranda outside the Cafe.  The worship leader and/or staff member leading?  It varies.  The song?  Something to please the Lord and welcome Him here.  The purpose?  To worship Him and pray for our communities and this region and for Heaven Fest and for whatever God wants to do around here. 

If  I’d have been home, I may have missed the sweetness of the still waters, the glory of the Lord in the clouds, the green pastures of friendship with God’s like-hearted people.  I may have missed a glorious summer night and watched re-runs.

Un-plug.  Breathe in some air.  Worship the Lord.  And bring the fam.  You’re welcomed to help us welcome Him.

Not just trying to fill your hours, but to enrich them…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Summer of ’09, a return to the song of the joy of the Lord in my life…

THINK ABOUT IT:  Bring your small group each week for the next few!  Oh-and bug spray (they swarm suddenly just as the most raptuous moment of sunset is occurring)…hey it IS the country, sort of, after all!

Why I Write

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1 John 1:1-4 (Amplified Bible)  1[WE ARE writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our [own] eyes, Whom we have gazed upon [for ourselves] and have touched with our [own] hands.

    2And the Life [an aspect of His being] was revealed (made manifest, demonstrated), and we saw [as eyewitnesses] and are testifying to and declare to you the Life, the eternal Life [ in Him] Who already existed with the Father and Who [actually] was made visible (was revealed) to us [His followers].

    3What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may [realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

    4And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].

God, deliver me from the temptation to say too much, to make the story sound better than it is, but also from leaving out the parts that are hard to say – from making it seem easier than it has all been.  Let what I write when I write and what I say when I speak be truly the things I have heard and seen with my own eyes, the things I have observed for myself and touched with my own hands.  And may theses things reveal and declare the parts of You which You have made visible to me.  And may the things I have seen and the things I have heard bring joy: full joy, complete joy, double joy, to those with whom I share.

Lover of My Soul

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“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”  Ps 19.7

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul…”  Ps 23.2-3a

“I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”  Ps 31.7

“When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ Your love, O LORD, supported me.  When anxiety was great within me,  Your consolation brought joy to my soul.”  Ps 94.18, 19

“Be at rest once more, o my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.  For You, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”  Ps 116.7-8

Charles Wesley’s famous hymn called Jesus the “Lover of my soul,” and painting a picture of raging waters and a “storm of life” asks, even pleads with Jesus to be his refuge, his hiding place.

But this morning I am singing an older hymn – my current favorite “oldie” written sometime in the 1700′s:  Be Still, My Soul.  Amy Grant has an a m a z i n g rendition of it!

The soul, they say say, is the mind, the will and the emotions part of us.  It is the center of the human personality and at times we think if we could just get past that part of ourselves, we could really serve God, be faithful, be holy.  But I really think Jesus is the Lover of our souls.  I think that is the part of us He created that brings Him a lot of joy.  For even though that is where the anguish and battle of self-rule try to rage, the soul is also the part of us that makes the decision to repent. 

Does He love me?  All of me?  Does He love the mind He created in me?  Does He love my emotions?  Does He love my very personality?  Does some of it need a workover?  Oh, yes, at times.  But we are spirit, soul and body – and He made all of that – on purpose.  He is the lover of my soul.

Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side
Bear patienty the cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God to order and provide
In every change He faithful will remain
Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still my soul the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt here below…