prayer

I started a journal some time ago.  I haven't kept up with it.  But here was my first entry.  I used it during a Sunday School lesson on a Sunday that we didn't have a planned lesson.  I hope that you can take something out of it.  Journaling isn't one of my strong suits.  I'm not very artistic, so I don't do it very often.

prayer

1.  Prayer begins in solitude.

• "Solitude" means "the state or quality of being alone or remote from others".

2.  Prayer includes speaking honestly to God.

• When you are being honest verbally to God you deepen your relationship with Him.
• He already knows.

3.  Prayer involves asking God for help and thanking Him when he provides it.

4.  When tempted to complain, pray.

Solitude:

Psalm 46 and 62

verse 1 of Psalm 46:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"

verse 10 of Psalm 46:

"Be still, and know that I am God."

"Be still" is a Hebrew verb that can be translated "to relax".

verse 5 of Psalm 62:

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him."

Matthew 9 is the Model Prayer

"The first thing we need to do when we get in God's presence is be still.  The second thing we need to do is be still some more.  Then we can begin to listen, and then we can begin to hear from Him and experience His power in our lives."  - Steve May, "Silence in Solitude"

Speak Honestly

Psalm 73:1, "Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart."

Tell God your deep, dark, secret thoughts.

Asking & Thanksgiving

Psalm 13

David had four burdens:

1.  feeling forgotten by God

2.  feeling cut off from God's favor

3.  experiencing deep depression

4.  suffering the humiliation of losing

Be patient and wait for the Lord.

Temptation to Complain

When you're tempted to complain, use your temptation as an opportunity to ask for God's help and thank Him for His blessings and love.


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Do This In Remembrance of Me

Tomorrow is a 5th Sunday.  Our church commemorates this day by partaking of Holy Communion.  We do this every 5th Sunday.  So, since we only do this four times per year, it's a really special occasion.  

Holy Communion is representative of the Last Supper.  This is the last meal that Jesus was able to have with His beloved disciples.  Paul takes the words of Jesus and proclaims that we should do this until His return in his letter to the church in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV) 

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Let's look at these two items:  the bread and the wine. 

First is the bread.  Bread is symbolic for Jesus' body.  The body that was beaten.  The body that was bruised.  The body that took lashings from a cat of nine tails.  Have you seen pictures of that?  It has pieces of broken bone on leather-like straps.  They mocked him and placed a crown of thorns upon his head.  The thorns cut into his head.  Have you ever had a cut on your forehead?  My daughter hit her head over a nightstand and she bled and bled.  I'm sure that Jesus was bleeding so badly that he had blood running down his face and into his eyes.  After being beaten so badly he had to carry his own cross.  Most men wouldn't even make it through the lashings. Can you imagine the pain and suffering that He went through? 

Next is the wine.  The wine is symbolic of Jesus' blood.  Blood is life.  All throughout the Old Testament, God required his people to offer blood sacrifices to atone for their sin.  They would offer the best of the flock or harvest.  Look at it this way:  God sent the best He had for us.  He gave us the ultimate sacrifice.  He was perfect and without blemish.  He bled and died for you and me.  And, God is a God of forgiveness and grace.

What does all this mean in regards to communion?  Well, God wants us to prepare our hearts before partaking of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion.  When you are sitting in the pew waiting on the bread and the wine consider the following:

1.  Is there sin that I have not repented of to God?  Am I struggling with a sin that I haven't confessed?

2.  Look around.   Is there someone that you're holding a grudge against, that may even be sitting next to you?

3.  How is your current relationship with Christ?  Do you have one?

Make sure that these questions are answered before you take the bread or take the wine.  God wants us to have a clean heart so that we can truly understand what that sacrifice was.  Do this in remembrance of the one that sacrificed so much to secure our eternity with Him.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, I humbly come before you.  I ask that you create in me a clean heart.  You know what I'm struggling with.  I bring that before you now.  I ask your forgiveness.  Be with me when I face temptations and help me to make the right decisions.  Thank you for what you are doing and what you are going to do in my life.  Let me be a light that points to you.  In Jesus' precious and holy name, Amen.