Pursuing the purpose and power of prayer.
This is an experiment–in my own pursuit of a deeper, richer prayer life, I want to share some of the struggles and triumphs I have had in and through prayer. I would also like to share (and gather) suggestions to enrich how we can grow closer to God, closer to others, and closer to becoming more Christlike in our daily walk.
We’ve had a lot of rain lately– torrential bursts that turn our street into a river for a few minutes, before running into the sewer drains. In that time, many small objects come floating by our apartment– fallen leaves, pebbles, cigarette butts, discarded plastic spoons, candy wrappers, etc. The swift waters propel them from wherever they had been– someone’s drive, the alley, the parking lot–past houses and stores and toward the drains. Some of them end up clogging a drain, forming a small pile of trash where there was none before.
In Hawaii right now, they are enduring a hurricane, with rains that are turning rivers into raging forces of destruction, eroding land, and spreading mud and debris across the islands and out to sea.
The opposite scenario is happening along several coastal areas, where debris from distant lands and/or garbage dumped in the middle of the ocean is washing up and landing on beaches, clogging up deltas and salt marches and having a terrible impact on the environment.
Flotsam and jetsam–the terms come up occasionally in literature or movies. There are characters in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” with those names. There is a chapter in Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy (the ninth chapter of the first book of The Two Towers, for purists) titled “Flotsam and Jetsam”. There is even a band by that name. They are almost always used in tandem, and most people use them interchangeably.
But there is a difference. Flotsam is considered debris that ends up in the water by accident, as in the case of a shipwreck. Jetsam is something deliberately thrown overboard or “jettisoned”. Legally, flotsam can be reclaimed by its original owner, while jetsam can by claimed by anyone who finds it. more about flotsam and jetsam from NOAA.
Most of what I’ve seen floating by this week is neither flotsam nor jetsam– it’s a bit of both and it’s mostly garbage. And that is what is causing so many problems along the coastlines, as well. Our lands and oceans (and our lives, too) can easily get overrun by waste and packaging and excess. We fill our lives with things that do not have any good purpose, and even if we dispose of them, they can come back to haunt us or hurt others down the road (or on another coast).
Today, I want to pray that God would continue to teach me to find my satisfaction in Him, and to watch out for spiritual flotsam and jetsam:
Last week we experienced a partial eclipse of the sun– a solar eclipse. This happens periodically, when the moon’s orbit causes it to pass between the earth and the sun, casting a shadow that temporarily blocks light from reaching the earth. The opposite can also happen, when the earth passes between the sun and moon at night, casting a shadow on the moon and keeping it from reflecting light at night– a lunar eclipse.
I was thinking about eclipses and how our spiritual lives can be impacted in ways that behave like an eclipse. We are to be a reflection of the light of Christ– in His own words, “The light of the world.” (see Matthew 5:14-16) So we are to act like the moon, reflecting the powerful light of the “Son” in a dark world. But we don’t always do that. Sometimes, as in a lunar eclipse, we allow the “world” to block out the light of the “Son”. The darkness and evil in the world can rob us of the light of hope and faith, causing us to live in shadow, and the darkness to triumph– temporarily. Other times, we actually get in the way of the “Son’s” light– grandstanding and promoting our own self-righteousness. Whether deliberate or just thoughtless, our actions can “eclipse” the Gospel of Jesus Christ and block out the truth of His Light.
God’s light is Holy, Powerful, and Eternal. We cannot offer a greater, wiser, or brighter light than Jesus. Our best efforts are darkness compared to His Holiness. Our job is to reflect HIS light to a darkened world as it awaits His return!
Wherever you were last week; whatever your experience of the eclipse, I hope you are able to rejoice in God’s light today! What a wonderful, powerful reminder that God’s Glory is brighter than 1,000 suns, and it will never be dimmed! What a privilege to reflect HIS love, mercy, grace, and wisdom to those around us!
I write a lot about praying. I believe in the power of prayer. But I am often challenged by people who say, “God helps those who help themselves.” The power of prayer is not found in the people who pray but in the God who answers. And sometimes, those answers take time and require patience.
I’ve had prayers that were answered almost before I finished saying, “Amen!” But there are other prayers that tested my patience and my faith; prayers for which I’m still waiting for a definite answer; prayers that were answered with a final and unexplained, “NO!”
But some of the most amazing moments in my life have been the ones where God “showed up” at just the right (and seemingly last) moment. The time that we needed a certain amount of money to pay bills– and it showed up almost to the penny! Or that time I prayed about the teaching position. I lost out to another, more experienced candidate and spent much of the year doing substitute teaching in another county. And then, without warning, the school called to ask if I would consider coming back on probation for the same position I had lost out on– the teacher they had hired had developed significant health issues, and they needed a permanent sub for the end of the year. I was able to prove my worth, restoring order and bringing the classes back on track– I stayed for seven more years!
Waiting is not easy or pleasant. When I was almost five, I had a chance to go to kindergarten– My birthday is in November, and the school would allow “young fives”– students who would turn five before December 1st could interview for a chance to be accepted in the current year’s kindergarten. My parents considered it. I desperately wanted to go to school. But I had some lingering health issues from early childhood, and my parents worried that I would be susceptible to viruses and injuries. So, they held me back. I can still remember the ache of watching the school bus pass by my house– the humiliation of having adults ask if I was in school and having to answer, “not yet. I got held back.” It was like a badge of failure in my mind. “Not ready. Not healthy enough. Not good enough.” Years later, I can say that my parents made the best choice they knew how, and it worked out just fine for me. I loved school. I loved my classmates and teachers. And I had more time to be with my baby sister before I spent every day at school. I was older when I made decisions about college and career. I was more mature.
I waited a long time for a husband. I prayed for decades about marriage. And always, the answer seemed to be, “Not yet!” No explanation. No insight into whether I ever would be married. But in the waiting, I grew as a teacher and librarian. I found out that I could not have children of my own. I learned to manage on my own, and also how to reach out for help when needed. And I developed habits of Bible Study and Prayer that have become precious to me. My marriage is a fulfillment of patient waiting and listening to God’s voice, instead of making impatient and rash choices and shutting out the lessons along the way. Oh, and those children I could never have? I never had them. But I ended up with stepchildren and grandchildren who bless my life with love, laughter, and excitement.
God’s best is worth waiting for! I can testify to this on many levels. God doesn’t help “those who help themselves.” They literally “help themselves!” But God blesses those who wait patiently for Him. He doesn’t just show up at the last minute. He stays beside us in the waiting, He encourages us along the way, and He rejoices with us when we see the end from the beginning.
For more, see the following verses (and their context!):
Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:25, Micah 7:7, Psalm 130:5, Romans 8:25, Psalm 40:1, Isaiah 49:23, 2 Peter 3:9, Psalm 27:13…
Have you ever been to a conference for work, or a large meeting or convention, where you were required to wear a temporary name badge? It might be a simple sticker with a space to write your name, or it might be a pre-printed card set inside a clear plastic pouch attached to a lanyard or a safety pin. It may have a stripe or box in a bright color, and/or an introductory word or phrase, such as “Hello..” or “My name is…”
Perhaps you’ve had to wear a name tag for work on a daily basis, or you have to carry an ID tag pinned to your shirt, lapel, or around your neck or waist.
Such tags serve a purpose; they are functional, if boring, and even if they are also annoying, they are temporary. Some of them give a little more information, such as where you are from or what company, or plant, or building you represent. Name tags make it easy to identify someone and put a name to a face. But a name tag cannot reveal much beyond a person’s name. Sometimes, a name tag doesn’t even meet that simple criterion. I have a simple name, Lila, that is commonly misspelled and misspoken. I have had people look right at my name tag and call me, “Lisa,” “Lily,” or “Leah.” Wearing my name on my shirt or hanging from my neck may (or may not) make me identifiable. It does not make me knowable or known.
When we come before the Throne of God, we need no name tag. God not only knows our name, He knows us intimately– our thoughts, our attitude, our fears, our hopes, our weaknesses and strengths. He has numbered the hairs on our heads, and knows the words we will say before they reach our tongues.
We do not need a name tag to come before God, but we also cannot wear a false name tag. God doesn’t just know who we SAY we are– or how we present our “best side.” He knows us better than we know ourselves– warts and all!
This knowledge might cause us apprehension– there can be no hiding from God–even if we can lie to ourselves about our actions, motivations, and feelings, we can’t lie to Him. But this intimate knowledge should also ease our every fear– God knows all about us, and loves us unconditionally.
And that matters when we pray. God doesn’t want a laundry list of generic wishes or “spiritual” thoughts. He wants to hear from our heart. That means He wants our authentic voice–halting, confused, overwhelmed, questioning, tripping over the words, groaning, laughing, sobbing– He would rather hear US than hear the “right” words we think are “supposed” to say. He doesn’t want the kind of small talk you make when you are wearing a name tag and trying to impress a roomful of strangers.
God already knows. And He loves us eternally, abundantly, and perfectly!
Prayer can be many things– joyful, contrite, needy– but it never needs to be small talk!
For the Beauty of the Earth
The United Methodist Hymnal Number 092
Text: Folliot S. Pierpoint
Music: Conrad Kocher; Arr. by W.H. Monk
Tune: DIX, Meter: 77.77.77
1. For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
2. For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
3. For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony,
linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
.
4. For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
5. For thy church, that evermore
lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore
her pure sacrifice of love;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
6. For thyself, best Gift Divine,
to the world so freely given,
for that great, great love of thine,
peace on earth, and joy in heaven:
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.
This week, may we raise hymns of grateful praise to the creator of all the beauty of the earth.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all tings were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1:16
St. John 1:1-5 (ESV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Anger can be a difficult topic among those who are following Christ. The Bible has a lot to say about anger, and most of us concentrate on the negative. But we are created in God’s image, and God himself experiences anger. Anger itself is not a sin, but what we do with it can be dangerous, even deadly.
I don’t know anyone who has completely mastered the art of being angry without sinning, but here are a few things to consider, both negative and positive: In our anger we can–
In contrast, the Bible gives us some godly principles for anger:
Ephesians 4:26 New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)
26 Scripture says, “When you are angry, do not sin.” (Psalm 4:4) Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.
Anger unchecked causes us to use all of our energy in emotion and action. Anger, controlled by the Holy Spirit, will cause us to use our energy to seek after answers, justice, resolution, and help
Psalm 37:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
Check out these great verses about Trust!
Here are 33 verses to help with Anger Management
Wildfires have been raging in Ontario, our neighbor to the north. Hundreds of thousands of acres of forest, land, homes, and towns have been destroyed. And the smoke from those fires is also causing damage hundreds of miles away. My husband and I woke up last week to bits of ash on our flowers and thick, smoky air causing visibility to shrink drastically, and breathing to become difficult– especially for those with lung damage or asthma, like my husband.
I was reminded of the time, in 1980, when Mount Saint Helens erupted in Washington State. Even though it is hundreds of miles away, some of the ash from the eruption made it to Michigan and coated our cars and plants. The smoke and ash caused many breathing problems and killed plants across the nation. Smoke doesn’t just “get in your eyes” as the old song claims. It gets into your lungs, it chokes out fresh air and light, hijacks rainwater, and settles in a coating on vulnerable plants, cloths, animals’ coats, standing water, and much more.
I normally don’t spend much time thinking about my next breath. I take it for granted that I will fill my lungs with fresh air and breathe out again. The carbon dioxide I produce will be absorbed by plants and fresh oxygen will be replenished into the air. I don’t have to “decide” to breathe– it happens automatically unless I choose to “hold my breath” and NOT breathe. But I also don’t think about WHAT I am breathing in. I take for granted that the air contains the appropriate amount oxygen to keep my body energized and working properly, and that it doesn’t contain noxious gases, carbon monoxide, tar, ash, etc.
I read somewhere once that God’s name (Yahweh) actually mimics the breathing process. Yahweh is two syllables– the first requires you to inhale in order to produce the right sound. The second allows you to exhale for the exact same reason. You cannot say “Yah-weh” without breathing! (Actually, you can, but you have to make a conscious effort to do so– breathing comes naturally in the two syllables otherwise.) The Bible never actually suggests this, and some religions and sects have misused this idea to suggest that God is somehow IN our breath or in the way we breathe. But I think there is something else to be pondered here.
My next breath depends absolutely on God’s sovereignty. I assume that the air I breathe is pure, healthful, and life-giving. And even when it isn’t– like the past week or so– I assume that air filters, breathing masks, or other mitigations will make the air “safe” to breathe. My husband is a little more aware of his breathing, because he has suffered from asthma attacks, apnea, bronchitis, and lung damage from COVID. Still, he doesn’t spend most of his waking hours in fear of his next breath. And even if we both spent time thinking about it, we have no way to control Earth’s atmosphere, no way to create our next clean breath and guarantee that it will be pure and good. We can buy tanks of oxygen, but even that requires that we trust what is in the tank. Our lives, and every function that sustains it– breathing, blood circulating, brainwaves, digestion, nerves, etc., are in God’s hands. And that’s an amazing and comforting thing, indeed!
Imagine a world where God was NOT in control; where the very air around us might quietly morph into noxious fumes with no warning– no smoke or clouds, no smell–just instantly shutting down our lungs, brains, heart, and life. Such things have been known to happen, in isolated incidents or in the deadly gas chambers of World War 2. We know that we could not breathe the air on other planets, such as Venus or Jupiter. But our Earth was created and is sustained by an abundant life-giving God, who cares about every aspect of our life, including our next breath.
“Father, I am so grateful for your Sovereignty and your compassion. I will fill my lungs with your gift of breath today, and I will use it to pour out praise to You!”
There are many ways to describe who I am (or who you are). I can describe myself in terms of my appearance, my social status, my occupation, age, familial role, or any number of other labels. These labels help distinguish me from other people around me, while also grouping me in with still others. Even my name functions in this way. My surname connects me with my current family; my maiden name with my birth family–my first name distinguishes me from my siblings within the family. However, there are many others in the world with either the same first name, surname, or both!
I know that I am a unique person, but I am not singular. That is to say that while I am a unique combination of genetic materials, with unique hopes and dreams, I still belong to the human race, to my family group, and to the culture and time in which I live.
Only God can say “I AM!” and not have to add any modifier. God is..God. There is no one like God–no label that can be applied to Him and to anyone or anything else. We use words like “King”, “Father”, “Lord”, “He” even “God”, but none of them convey the fullness, the enormity, the eternity of the great “I AM.” Many ancient cultures worshiped gods; supernatural beings who ate and drank, married and had families, ruled the skies or waters or land or underworld, fought, loved– some even died. But none of them could say they were “I AM”. I AM stands in the face of doubt and unbelief; I AM remains unchanged and unchanging in the face of progress and technology; I AM defeats our attempts to shrink Him into our own limited understanding and our own limited lifespan; I AM is ever present, ever aware, everlasting.
And this I AM created each of us to BE. Because of I AM, I can say that I am, too! And my purpose is to be, and to become more like He is, to the glory of I AM, and the fulfillment of what I am in Him.
Lord, Father, and the great I AM– help me to see you more clearly for who you are. Help me to become more like you, and more like the person you created me to be. Help me to reflect your glory in the words I speak and the actions I take today.
In this blog, I try to focus on three basic aspects of prayer:
I love to write about the first two– the Purpose of Prayer and the Power of Prayer. Today, I’d like to just put in a plug for journals as a very practical way to pursue a better prayer life. For a more detailed list of ideas to get started, please see this page: Prayer Journal
Journals are as individual as the people who create them, but the very practice of writing and keeping a journal has certain universal benefits.
If you don’t already keep a prayer journal, I hope you will consider starting one. It’s never too late or “the wrong time” to start one, and it can be as personalized as you wish– keep a notebook, a sketch pad, index cards, an electronic journal, a calendar– whatever works best for your resources, your personality, and your needs.
I grew up in an old farmhouse. It had a small room off the kitchen, with a back door leading outside, a place for shoes and boots, a small sink to wash up, and endless shelves. Some people call it a “mudroom,” a place where farmers got rid of the mud and muck from working outdoors. But we didn’t own the farmland surrounding the house, so mom used it as her pantry. She used the shelves to stock up on canned goods, spices, canisters of staples like flour and sugar, and even Tupperware for leftovers. Dad used the sink to wash up when he got home from work at the factory, and we kept boots on a rug off to the side– handy when winter arrived, and out of the way for the rest of the year. Mom also used some of the space as a broom closet– storing a broom and mop and a few cleaning supplies.
I grew up taking this space for granted. But, looking back, it was a luxury to have so much space and to have it filled with food. Sometimes, we would get snowed in for several days, and we never had to worry about running out of food. These days, I have a couple of drawers and a cabinet for storage, and I am so grateful when I “run out” of handy storage space, for it means that we have plenty.
I am so grateful to God for His abundance in my own little ‘pantry.’ And its contents can also prompt my pursuit of prayer and worship! Here are some examples:
And of course, I have many reasons to thank God for all the other blessings He pours out– in and out of my pantry! And often, I am reminded to share that bounty with others– both the bounty of food, and the bounty of God’s Word! Today, I pray that you have a bounty (BOUNTY, as in paper towels?) in your pantry, and that you have a bounty of scripture to encourage you and guide you through the day.
Pursuing Prayer 