Tag Archives: God

Wake Up!!!!!

Sometimes. Sometimes I really need people to be obvious with me. I mean REALLY obvious.

After 21 years of marriage, I think my wife finally has it figured out. Get my attention first. THEN tell me what you want me to hear.

For me, it’s no different when God is trying to get a point across. I really do need the attention-getting moment before He drops a truth bomb on me.

This is exactly what happened to me recently. I can’t go into the details due to confidentiality and privacy issues, but suffice it to say, He woke me up when I heard some shocking words.

After the shocking words, it dawned on me I’d been failing at praying for a situation in my life. Until this moment I had been floating along as a casual observer.

Now that I’m awake, I’m looking back on all the movement, motions, and actions that have taken place surrounding this particular situation.

I should have been praying long ago.

I really thought the situation didn’t fully involve me. I’m wrong.

Instead of being a casual observer, I need to be an active prayer warrior. There isn’t much else I can do. But praying is certainly be the most important thing I can do.

Has God ever “smacked” you awake to a situation going on all around you?

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes (Part 2)

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Last week I wrote about changes. (Read part 1 here: Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes)

This week I’m trying to answer a question put to me by one of you.

At the end of last week’s post, I asked you a few questions.

How do we adjust? When things are changing, what do you hold on to? Is there something in your life keeping you stabilized during changes?

One of you decided to be smart and ask ME to answer the same questions. Seems logical. I probably should have answered them in the initial post. But hey, now I get two posts from one topic! 🙂

I guess the simple answer is I hold on to my relationship with God.

And while this is true, it kind of feels like the Sunday School answer. You know what I mean. Every question in Sunday School can be answered the same way: JESUS!

(Side note. When I teach middle school Sunday School classes, I tell the kids they aren’t allowed to used this answer. It may be true, but they can come up with something better.)

As I’ve been wrestling with these questions, I keep circling back to another set of questions. Am I really holding onto God during changes in my life? Am I really giving my struggles to him? Am I really grabbing hold of him to stabilize my life?

The answer? Sometimes.

Sometimes???

Yep. I’m a failure. I don’t always hold onto, and rely on, my relationship with God.

Good grief. What’s the matter with me? Why wouldn’t I rest all my worry and stress on the rock of my faith? Why don’t I spend time with him every single day discussing situations and life with him?

Simple answer: I’m a sinner.

I fall short. Every single day.

But, every single day I have the opportunity to restore and renew my relationship with God.

Every single day he is waiting for me. He is willing to listen, and ready to help.

So I guess I am going with the Sunday School answer.

How do I adjust? What do I hold on to? Where do I find stability during times of change?

God. Jesus. My Savior.

A Holy Experience

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Something happened to me on Monday. It’s hard to describe. I think the best way to explain it would be to say the Holy Spirit moved in me.

During Lent this year, I’ve been working through a 40 day prayer challenge. Using Mark Batterson‘s book, Draw the Circle – The 40 Day Prayer Challenge, I have daily spent time reading a devotional and learning how to pray with intent.

Monday was day 35. At some point early Monday afternoon, I began to feel a strong urge to go pray. I’m not talking about finding a quiet place at work to pray for a few minutes. This was a full-on urge or push or whatever you want to call it, to leave work and spend significant time in prayer.

I didn’t know what to do.

How could I simply leave work? What would I say to my boss? What about my customers who were expecting to see me when they arrived later? And it wasn’t like I could simply hold out until 5pm. This “feeling” began early in the afternoon. Maybe around 1pm. On Mondays I work until 8pm.

I decided I’d at least begin with leaving for lunch. Usually I eat at my desk, but I knew this needed to be different. My intent was to grab some lunch and go sit in my truck somewhere and pray.

As I walked to my truck I realized I needed to ignore my hunger. It could wait. This needed to be a time focused on prayer.

I drove to a nearby parking lot where I wouldn’t be bothered. And I prayed. I prayed for over an hour. I prayed for the four items I’ve been circling in prayer during the 40 day challenge. I closed my eyes, opened my hands, and prayed.

I prayed for God to calm my mind.

I prayed for God to open my ears.

I prayed for God to open my heart.

I prayed for God to speak to me, and to pour His love and power into my heart so I could be more obedient to His calling in my life.

The call to pray was crystal clear. I answered the call the best I could at the time. I had to return to work. There were people relying on me.

The time I spent praying was wonderful. The experience was what I had been searching for, and at least partly the intent behind participating in the 40 Day Prayer Challenge.

There is certainly a rebirth occurring in my prayer life. I’ve learned how important it is to be intentional, committed and consistent with prayer.

Prayer can begin a rebirth in your life. It has in mine.

Through these last weeks I have grown exponentially in some areas of my prayer life, and not at all in other areas. It is a learning experience. It is a growth experience.

I’m growing closer to God. I’m learning how to listen for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve been planning all along to write about the experience of the 40 Day Prayer Challenge. I hadn’t been planning to do it this soon. But this was necessary. Very necessary.

In the weeks after Easter I will share more about what I learned during the 40 days. I hope you’ll come back to read more.

Have you ever felt you should drop everything and go pray? I’d love to have you share your story in the comments!