Can I Get a Praise Offering!?

Well if these past few weeks haven't been a whirlwind, then I have no understanding of that definition.  Student teaching has gotten off to a most crazy start. I have never in my entire life been this busy. Between the 9 hour days at school, church events I can't stand to miss, and weekend plans...I haven't been able to catch my breath.

This marks my 5th week in Student teaching. I have had to push myself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

After having a 4 day school week of days only semi-filled with class, going back to the elementary school schedule plus extra hours has been quite the adjustment. Waking up at 5:30 every morning has never exactly been on my radar. I mean only 4 months ago if someone told me to wake up at 5:30, I would think they were absolutely nuts. But lo and behold it's my schedule!

So yesterday everything decided to crash. My immune system decided to wage war on strep this week, the struggle of not being able to openly talk about Jesus to my students reached it's climax, and trying to remember every detail of each lesson was too much mentally, and then just fighting off the attacks of the enemy at school just left me feeling like I was defeated.

I had this mental image of the enemy's army surrounding me, as I sat there broken, and unable to pick up my sword anymore. I was utterly spent.

I decided to still go to Bible Study at church. My group prayed over me the most kind, encouraging, uplifting words. I felt them pull on heaven. The tears streamed down my face, something I had tried for so long to withhold. Forging a path through the enemy's army, they picked me up, powerless and broken. And they led me to my Savior's arms.

It was in the arms of my Sweet Savior that I was refreshed and renewed. Though my body was utterly spent, I could feel his life pulse in my heart. I went home that night, still feeling his hold. I sat there at his feet believing that in the morning his grace would be thick upon me and that I would be healed of my head cold and able to still go to school for my supervisor's observation.

Though I had come home after school and crashed in bed, after Bible Study I was able to stay up late and finish all my lesson plans and work that I needed to get done. I only got 4 hours of sleep, but when I woke up this morning there was such a refreshment in the air. His presence was tangible. I didn't feel nearly as bad as I had expected with my cold, and I went before him again believing for healing. Soon after that my sister came in with medicine I hadn't tried for congestion. At first I refused, saying that Jesus would heal me.

He then gave me the image of a story I've heard before:

There was a man who got stuck on his roof in the midst of a great flood. He cried out to God to save him. A boat came by and the driver called to the man to jump into the boat to go to safety. But the man said, "No, God will save me." Then a helicopter came by and threw him a life line, but once again he refused, saying God would save him.  Again a boat came by telling him this was his very last chance to escape. He refused firmly believing God would still save him. The man was overcome by the flood. Once in heaven he asked God why he hadn't saved him. God looked at the man with pity and said, "Son, I sent you 3 life lines and you took none of them."

Sometimes God answer our prayers with simple means.  We just expect this extravagant answer and so overlook the response of our Father.

Well when I remembered that story I took the nasal spray. As soon as I sprayed my nose, all this "yuck" immediately washed out. I just started laughing at God's grace and care. And so I went to school.

My supervisor came to observe my lesson. It went great. Afterwards my supervisor sat down with me and gave me such hope. He only had 2 little things for me to change, and said that my lesson was excellent. I was shocked. All this time I had thought that I was doing poorly and had so much to improve on in every possible way. To hear those words come from his mouth overwhelmed me with gratefulness to my Savior, who I know was in that room with me today.

I had only ever taught one group lesson like this before, and to hear such encouraging and complementing words from a man who has been in the education field his whole life was such a blessing.

I wanted to laugh multiple times because Christ's hand was so evident throughout the entire observation.

All that I can say is that my God is so utterly faithful to the very last detail of our lives. Here I was utterly spent less than 24 hrs ago, exhausted in every sense of the word, feeling defeated and hopeless in my work, when he picks me up and carries me to glory. I have never before felt such a filling of God's strength. I mean, I could tangibly sense that the strength inside me was not my own.

May we have more faith in our God, and may we give him the honor and glory that he deserves. He cares for us so much. May this day be a testament of God's faithfulness to his beloved children. He wants to do things like this and more for all of us. There is no one special. I did nothing to deserve this. But because my heavenly sisters lifted me up in prayer and because God is Love, he graced me with himself so evidently today.

Hallelujah, he is near. He is always faithful, always near. Praying for you. You are important and beloved. I can't wait to see his children come to KNOW him for who he truly is. He is so so so worthy of our affection and adoration.

Blessings.

Prayer Pt.3: You Ask, but Do Not Receive

Ouch. This is one of the toughest verses in the Bible in my opinion. It is James 4:2-3, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." 

Here are some of the reasons I've  heard in regards to why prayers are not answered:

1. We do not repent of sin, and continue to live knowingly in that sin.

2. We ask with wrong intentions.

3. We don't believe we will actually be answered.

I want to address the third reason.  Spurgeon says that "Many prayers fail of their errand because there is no faith in them. Prayers which are filled with doubt, are requests for refusal" (108). 

I believe he is absolutely right. If you called a friend and said, "Hey, I need some help putting together my bookshelf, would you come help me? But I know that you won't come help me because you're busy and you don't want to. You have better things to do. Thanks anyway." How likely would they be to help you if you have no faith in their love for you? 

If God delights in giving us good gifts, by doubting him we take away His joy of giving.

If we truly understood who God is and all that he is capable of doing, MAN! We wouldn't hesitate asking him for every little thing we needed help with. 

satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Well if he can steal our confidence in our God, then we won't ask God for all that we would have. And if we don't ask God for things then we are not being equipped to fight in the battle. 

Imagine being a Roman soldier who enlists in the army and you are told to ask the General for whatever you are in need of. You've heard some say that the General will give you anything, but then you've also heard that the General only gives to a few people and doesn't always give what you ask. So you decide not to bother the important guy, and ask around from others for supplies and a weapon.  The time comes for battle and you still haven't gotten a weapon or shield. You have no hope except to fight with your own hands. The enemy sees you and aims his arrow at you, laughing at the pitiful sight you make on the battle field.

This is every believer who does not equip himself in prayer and reading of the Word. You have no weapon or defense against the enemy. 

God stands ready to arm us with the Armor of God and to teach us how to take a stand against the devils schemes (Eph. 6:10-18).  We need only approach him and ask. 

Sweet brother or sister, ask him for faith. Ask him to help your unbelief (Mark 9:24). He will answer you. He tells us himself that if we ask, how much more will  he give of himself! (Luke 11:13). The Almighty God of Heaven and earth wants to give you more faith, more belief, more courage to believe that your prayers are heard and will be answered.

There is no catch, there is no game we have to play. Simply believe. It is so simple, yet made so difficult. And that's why we can start with asking for faith. For if we have faith, the asking comes easy.

If nothing else, know that God is good, and because he is all good nothing bad can come from him. He does not see your sin.

There is a story of a woman who had visions of Jesus. A priest wanted to see if she was telling the truth so he went and told the woman that next time she sees Jesus to ask him what sin he had just confessed. She was shocked and asked him if he was sure he really wanted her to know his confessed sin. He said yes. A few days later she came back, and told him she had asked Jesus what he had confessed. The priest was excited to hear her answer. She told him, "I asked Jesus what sin you had recently confessed. He said, 'I can't remember.'"

You see, sweet friend, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).  He doesn't see your sin. He sees the purity of the blood of the Lamb. He sees a perfect child, white as snow, spotless, blameless. So know that you can approach the throne of God with confidence and assurance that you are worth listening to. You are worth the time of God because of his Love. Because he loves you, you are worthy.

Talk to him. He hears you. He will answer you. He knows what is  best, so trust that no matter what you ask you will be answered and you will receive what is best in regards to your request.

You are adored. You are important. You are worthy. You are heard. You are loved. So loved. 

Prayer Pt.2: Why Not Ask for It?

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel guilty asking God for things. There are a few reasons for this: 

1. I feel like I'm being selfish asking for something for me.

2. I feel like I'm not worthy of what I'm asking for.

3. I feel like I should be content just as I am. 

Notice anything about these reasons? They all reflect a feeling of my heart and have to do with ME. wah wah. 

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." And that only God can understand it. 2 Corinthians 10:5 teaches us to be careful with what our heart tells us, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 

This verse leads me in examining my reasons for feeling guilty for asking things from God. What does GOD say about asking from him? 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened...If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matt.7:7-11).

"And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matt. 21:22).

"Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13).

"If you abide in Me, and My words in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7).

These are seriously only a few of the verses I found...I don't know about you...but I get the feeling God really wants us to ASK him for things!! 

So am I saying that we can seriously ask him for anything and just get it? Cause for one, that totally doesn't sound Biblical, and second, I've tried...it doesn't happen. 

When we ask, our heart must be in the correct posture, as James 4:2-3 tells us, "...You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." 

First of all...this verse flat out tells us that we don't have because we don't ask! But before we get to asking for everything on our wish list, we have to examine our hearts. 

Our prayers must stem from a correct view of ourself and our God. The view that we are children approaching our Father with a request coming from our narrow perspective, trusting that our Father will know if it is best for us or there is  yet something better. As you grow closer to Him, God changes your heart and the reason for your desires. When you realize who your God is and you mature in faith and prayer, everything shifts.  

Those who know their Creator know his character of grace and giving. 

Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, and his writings also show us that he expected nothing unless he asked for it. "If you may have everything by asking, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is, and I beseech you to abound in it" (Spurgeon 109). 

A few months ago I had a vision of Jesus standing up in heaven surrounded by millions of gifts, all wrapped beautifully. He was saying "Just ask!" He was simply waiting for someone to just ask him for one of these gifts, and he was ready to shower them with not only the requested gift, but many more because there were so many for the taking!  "All heaven lies before the grasp of the asking man; all the promises of God are rich and inexhaustible, and their fulfillment is to be had by prayer" (Spurgeon 111).

"Once you get in the position of an asker, and you shall have what you never asked for, and never thought to receive" (113). This echoes Ephesians 3:20, 21"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" 

AH! That boggles my mind! How great is our God, that not only does he receive our request but he overwhelmingly answers. Remember that these blessings stem from a life rich in communion with God. "He that will not pray cannot have communion with God....Prayer is the great door of spiritual blessing, and if you close it, you shut out the favor" (110).

Keep the door open, friend. Keep  it open, and access the way often. God is ready to send those gifts your way because it delights his heart to give you good gifts. It's ok to ask! So ask him. He is listening. 

Prayer Pt.1: Good Prayers

Proverbs 13:20 says that "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise..."

If you know me you know my love for the work of Charles Spurgeon. And I totally claim this proverb as truth, hoping that by reading and studying Spurgeon's insight into God's Word, I too may gain such insight and wisdom. ; ) Today I picked up his book on prayer.

I think that we have allowed ourselves to be deceived into thinking that prayers are something that they are not. They are not silly little petitions sent up to heaven and put into a box waiting to be filtered through by angels, and maybe just maybe get to God. And if they do get to God, the chances of him actually answering them is so small it seems hopeless.

Or what is this idea that when we pray in public it has to be "a good prayer"?? Heavens! Who made up rules about what makes a prayer good or bad? I've never seen these rules nor do I know anyone who has, and yet we all somehow know what a good prayer sounds like.

I'll take the chance of sharing why I think this "good prayer, bad prayer" came about and how. It's really complicated. Get ready. You might have to read it twice.

"Good prayers" are simply prayers of those who understand who they are talking to. Simple huh?

Some people believe they are talking to those they are praying with. Some think they are talking to an angry judgmental god. Others think they are talking to a busy boss who has little time for them. And still others think they are talking to a distant figure who does not notice them.

But it is when a person understands they are speaking to an intimate, personal, all loving, compassionate, zealous, kind, patient, omnipotent, and just Father, that others realize something special about their prayers.

There is no such thing, in my eyes, as a good prayer, only one of humility and confidence in the God of their trust. People coin these prayers as good because in their spirits they witnessed a true interaction between man and God. Whether one realizes it or not, one's spirit knows when the presence of God is manifest. A child of God, when speaking to God, understands that they are being heard in the throne room of God, and not only is God hearing their requests and praises, but ALL of heaven is listening!

They know they are being heard and noticed by their heavenly Father, who loves them and who gives only good gifts. Their prayers are spoken out of fervency and zeal, because they know God intimately, and are intimately known by Him.

Spurgeon nails it when he says, "He who prays without fervency does not pray at all. We cannot commune with a God, who is a consuming fire, if there is no fire in our prayers."

All it takes is simply understanding who you are and who you are talking to. God does not care about elegance, higher level vocabulary, deep wisdom, or if its even intelligible. It's not about impressing him, or any other set of ears around you. He just wants to hear your voice speaking to him. That's it.

Think about a child's prayer. There is no deep theology or reference to the latest tidbit of wisdom. It is a simple conversation, with full faith that every word is heard by God. Simple talk in simple faith.

His love for you already abounds, and he can't love you any more than he already does. So just talk to him like you would your closest confidant. His nearness and ability to understand everything you throw at him will astound you.  But even more beautiful, is how absolute his love will become to you.

The more you pray, the more like breathing it will become. Natural and necessary. And when you have become intimate with your Creator all it will take is simply whispering his name, and you will feel the presence of God Almighty.

That's the most mind-blowing part of it all. THE God Almighty draws near to a broken, sinful prodigal son with complete love and grace. And when you realize that, your prayers don't become a speech. They become a simple conversation with a good Father.

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." James 4:8

May this minister to your heart sweet friend. "Good prayer" or not, He will never forsake you.