Prayer Time

Would you join me in my prayer time this morning?

“Father, is it possible to be exhausted and grateful at the same time? I have so much for which to be grateful. But I’m bushed trying to find where you want us to live. OH, we have the 10 acres right beside our daughter’s 45 that is just gorgeous. But we need a building.

“Plans were to build what I thought was my dream home – advertised cost to build: $!69000 (stick built). Bids came in from $375 to 500,000. That was hard to give up. So we checked other builders and other options. Building in Northern Kentucky seemed out of reach.Then we saw what we thought was a modular home that we fell in love with. 2500 square feet. Turned down at the last minute by the county. Not enough road frontage for a mobile home.Makes no sense. 10 acres and can’t put the building on it we want.

“Options, Father, seem to be apply for a variance, which would take 6 to 8 weeks and who knows if it will be accepted. Or, start all over and keep looking. What are we missing? Or is this just time for buildng forbearance, patience? Learning to trust You, Abba Papa, even in exhaustion?
Guide our steps today."

Thanks for praying with us.

Prayer

A great friend, John Vawter
A prayer nugget from Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe in “Longing for God.”
“Through prayer we work to sort out what role we will play as secondary agents in God’s primary purposes. Prayer is not telling God what we think, or simply thanking Hm for His provision of food and drink. Rather it is our active, intentional effort to understand what God is doing and how we can join Him. Thus through prayer we become coparticipants with God. God’s will sets everything in motion. Our will, directed by devotion and prayer allows us to participate in His purposes.

Prayer has evolved for me from the early, “Come Lord Jesus be our guest. Let this food to us be blest;” to, “The Bible says you have not because you ask not, so I’m asking for….” And the result of that prayer style caused much cynicism and resentment toward God for not answering the prayers I was offering (the way I wanted them answered.)” Then intercessory prayer lists were the emphasis, that after a time. became drudgery, for which I would feel guilty when neglecting the lists.

At three score and ten, I’m thinking all those aspects of prayer are important especially during certain times of a walk with God. I’m at a stage in my spiritual journey where I have my requests, my intercessions, my gratitude, but I’m sensing the need to “pray without ceasing” with my ears tuned to what God would want to say to me.

As my good friend John Vawter and I were talking this morning, it is easy for a performance-oriented guy to pray for blessing as we are or have acomplished a task. The vim and vigor of younger years is not a format conducive to pray without ceasing, rather “work without ceasing” and slip in prayer now and then as you go.

As the aging or disease process calls for a slowing down in performance, our walk with God can become more reflective and intimate because the “doing” is diminishing, causing the “being” to become more of a challenge. At this time our prayer becomes an active, intentional effort to understand what God is doing in our lives and also how we can join Him in what HE is doing elsewhere.

Prayer for John

Please pray for John Eichenberger. John was walking in lead position when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan. It blew him six feet into the air. Blew off his foot and lower log. Schrapnel penetrated his body. The punishment he took, saved the lives of the others walking with him.

His dad, my prayer partner from Portland, reports his attitude is so positive, that he ministers to others in the hospital who have lost limbs. He is on Facebook if you desire to follow his recuperation.

Pray with us that John will maintain a positive spirit, not becoming bitter or cynical and in tune with how God wants to bless him through this tragedy.

He has a son, Isaac, 6 years old, living with Dan and Shirley.

Prayer

Calvin Miller has an interesting thought on prayer. “It seems that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of the will, the starting, the acting, the doing.

Starting to pray, we undoubtedly confess the noise and haste that prevent prayer. Where we volunteer for silence, and put our personal agendas to sleep, God comes to us, and His coming instructs our lives. Indeed, His coming becomes our life.”

Meditation: significance of prayer

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God.

However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?" "My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything." "You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings." "Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?" "He prayed that all your prayers be answered." For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. (Source unknown)

Mark Goodwin challenged the student body at a Northwest Nazarene University chapel service last week when he quoted Corrie Ten Boom, “Can your prayer life be described as the steering wheel of your car or the spare tire?”