prayer coach

God wants so much more for you than merely freedom from sin. All sin is just symptoms of deeper issues going on. Even if you are able to contain the act, some other sin will pop up in another area of your life if the heart is not addressed. That is why you see alcoholics trading alcohol for anger or overeaters trading food for exercise. If the heart is not healed, you will find new ways to soothe the pain.

Maturity is not measured by outward expressions or overcoming sin. Maturity in the Lord happens in the heart. Remember God’s rebuke to Samuel:

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7

Focusing on the sin also hinders you from celebrating the successes you do have. Thankfulness cannot happen if you are too focused on what you don’t have.

Try to imagine building a house. You clear the ground, grade it, dig the footers, pour the foundation, and start making good progress. Then comes the framing. In the early days of construction things move very quickly and progress is easily seen. After the outside is in place, work goes on within the walls and each step is not as visible. You get the wiring done and the insulation put up. The steps are no longer drastic and you start to long for the finished product. But, each step is necessary. If you don’t get the flashing put around the windows you would have high energy bills and water damage, but flashing does not appear to be progress.

image courtesy of Associated Press (via Times Union)

Today is a remembrance of one of the most evil attacks on US soil. There have been many memorial services honoring the lives of friends and loved ones we lost on that day. As Christians we are told to be joyful always and that the joy of the Lord is our strength (1 Thessalonians 5:16 & Nehemiah 8:10). How is this possible in the midst of such pain and tragedy?

In Nehemiah chapter 8, the Israelites just finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. In gratitude they all gathered to listen to the public reading of Scripture. As they listened they became convicted by their disobedience to God’s commands. Grief began to rise, so Nehemiah called a joyful celebration stating that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Nehemiah recognized that grief that lasts beyond its time saps energy and leads away from faith. Joy leads us into the heart of the Lord and helps us see His joy for us. Grief has its season, but joy is our lifestyle (Psalm 30:5).

How can we enter into God’s joy in the midst of evil?

1. Choose to believe that God’s goodness is greater than the evil you are experiencing.
2. Thank God for His goodness and actively look for evidences of his goodness that still lives.
3. Activate your faith in God’s goodness by choosing to focus on joy.

I am not insinuating that joy is easy, nor should we ever forget what has happened. Life can be extremely difficult, but joy is an act of faith in God’s goodness for you. If God is for us, which we know if true, than we can always find joy.

design courtesy of Lisa Samartino Atelier

The greatest way to grow in faith in God’s goodness is to thank Him for everything that comes at you. It is God’s will for your first response to any circumstance be thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Here are some of the benefits of being thankful:

1. Prepares you to experience God. We enter God’s presence with thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4).

2. Prepares you for more blessing from God. As you complain about what you are going through, it will stagnate your growth (Philippians 2:14-18).

3. Prepares you for the peace of God. It removes our focus on the situation and on the anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7).

4. Prepares you for God’s joy. Thanksgiving and joy go hand and hand (Psalm 100). Giving thanks changes our perspective and gives us hope.

5. Prepares you to hear from God. As you hold onto your negative interpretations of events, you will not hear what God is saying. The disciples heard Jesus plans of death and resurrection, but when it happened they were clueless because they could not see it as being good (Matthew 16:21-23).

Are you going through a hard time? Are you struggling with depression and anxiety? Try to take steps of faith and thank God for everything that has happened to you. Choose to believe in God’s goodness for you. He sees you and love you.

Christmas and Easter are generally thought of as Christian holidays, but I think Thanksgiving is one of God’s favorites. Giving thanks seems to be the oil that enables you to be filled with the Spirit. It definitely is the overflow of the Spirit-filled life (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Today I wanted to emphasize the importance for us to learn to recognize and appreciate the sacrifice and investment of those who helped you grow. Paul encourages us to “‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—’so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth (Ephesians 6:2-3).’” The obvious implication for this is to give honor to your parents, but there is a greater call to honor your fathers and mothers in the Lord.

It is too easy to pick faults with people and think we have grown beyond those who were a help earlier in our lives. We start seeing their faults and relocate them to a previous time in our lives or mentally move them into a non-essential role in our present lives. Most of these men and women gave sacrificially to your growth, and some put up with your immaturity to prepare soil for you to grow.

God desires us to continue to honor those who have gone before for our benefit. There is promised blessing for you in this honor—even if at worst they are no longer walking in the faith. Each of these people are wonderful in God’s eyes and were blessings from our Heavenly Father (James 1:17). As we honor these gifts, we are preparing the way for similar blessings to come.

More Thanksgiving Resources:

• Giving Thanks This Thanksgiving
• How to Give Thanks
• Why is Giving Thanks Important?

image courtesy of IwoJima.com

Lately I have been spending time at work helping train others. Some of the things I need to train them on are things that I had to learn for myself. I was dwelling on this today and realized this is the life we are supposed to live. We are called into a lifestyle of taking new ground so that others may come up behind and carry the baton even further.

We all have those who have gone before us that have helped paved the way for us to be who we are and where we are today. Our country exists because of those who have laid the sacrifice before us. In the picture above, only two of the five lived a week after it was taken. They claimed new ground that others may exceed where they had been.

Growing up my older brother also did this for me in a way. I would see the things he was able to do and came to the conclusion I also would be able to do it. If he hit home runs, then I would be able to hit home runs. If he did well in school, then I could do well in school. That is what an older brother is for. He shows you what can be done and you go exceed it.

Our goal in walking with Jesus is not to make spiritual superheros, but find those who have exceeded in taking new ground then follow their example to take it to new heights. George Müller was known for being a man who God answered his prayers. Therefore let’s find out what he did and apply it. The Moravians set up 24/7 prayer virgils that ran for 100 years and spawned hundreds of missionaries around the globe – the first large scale Protestant missionary movement. Let’s look to them to see how to recreate that type of spiritual movement.

One of the most interesting traditions that I enjoyed from the Episcopal Church is the Maundy Thursday service. This is the first service in the Holy Week where they have a foot washing, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and strip the altar. Traditions like these gives us hints at what was going on for the first disciples.

While we are more congenial with authority, the foot washing service still attacks our views of authority to have the priest kneeling down and rubbing your feet. Even knowing the symbolism, it is humbling to allow someone who has been leading you in your relationship with God to come and touch your dirty feet.

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is very common within the liturgical tradition. Having it on this Thursday gives it more meaning in relation to the other events and the celebration of the Holy Week.

Finally, the stripping of the altar is final part of the Maundy Thursday service. For those who have not gone to high church traditions, it may be hard to understand the meaning. Every other day of the year, there is an abundance of the symbolism to the altar that point to many attributed of Jesus. While many get distracted by the actual things, each symbol is placed there to help the church focus on Christ. At the end of the Maundy Thursday service these items are removed. Silently and methodically each our removed out of site. All of our understanding of who is Jesus is hidden from our understanding as He prepares to go to the cross.

As a follow up to the Giving Thanks series, this is an article I received from a Koinonia House eNews. This is perfect example of thanking God for even what seems to be circumstances that are not good. As you read try to think the frustration of these women if they prayed for those fleas to leave and wondering why God was not answering the request.

Thank You For The Fleas
from the November 24, 2009 eNews issue

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  – 1 Thess 5:18

It’s simple to thank God when He does miracles and answers prayers just the way we want them answered. It’s also pretty easy to thank Him when we can look around and see many blessings in our lives. When our situation seems awful, though, and we’re struggling through tragedy or just plain hard times, it can seem hard to believe that God is really there taking care of things; it can be hard to say, “I know You love me. Thank you for what You are doing even now.”

Jobless rates in 29 US states rose last month, with Michigan suffering the worst rate at 15.1 percent and Nevada and Rhode Island close behind at 13 and 12.9 percent respectively. In California alone, payrolls have dropped by 687,700 workers in just the past year. It’s a very difficult time for a lot of people across America and around the world, and giving thanks to God may be the last thing in the minds of those who don’t know how they’re going to pay their electric bill or put gas in the car.

Finally, we come to the difficult part of this giving thanks series. You may say to yourself, “Sure there are many things which we can give thanks for. Okay, I see how this is important, and I can see there are many ways in which I can do it. But, how can I always give thanks to God in all things?”

There are many unpleasant, hurtful, evil things that happen in this world. There are wars, poverty, hunger, sicknesses, deaths, injustices, and just plain evil in this world.  Am I really expected to give thanks to God for such things? The answer appears to be yes. 1 Thess. 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

The Scriptures constantly remind us that we are to live by faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). When we respond to God with a spirit of thanksgiving – even in times of difficulty – we are demonstrating our faith.

Several years ago now, my wife and I went though the most difficult time in our marriage. It was a very painful and strenuous time for us, and it did not look like we were going to make through. Our lives were thrown upside down, and we were being painfully humbled. During two weeks that we were living apart I remember going to God with my pain and expressing my sense of hopelessness. As I was praying I remembered the command to thank God for everything. I did not want to. My whole world was collapsing. How could I ever thank God for something as terrible as that?