In The Dash- Serious Surrender

A new year, a death of someone close, a life changing circumstance, all of these are times in my life when I have gotten completely serious about my faith.  Serious in reading God’s Word for myself and not just to write a message or a blog post.  Serious in prayer to hear from God and not just to give Him my list of requests or serious in sharing my faith not only when it is convenient.

There is a point where you realize that your faith is not about you, but about surrendering your will to an incredible loving God.  There is a point when you realize that you are here for more than surviving but are here to live out your faith with audacious power and commitment because how can you not get completely serious about a faith that has given you life?

 

ACTION STEP:

◊ Stop pretending.  Get real.  Eternity is at stake. 

Sun Stand Still

There are books that you read that have the power to persuade you or inspire you.  There are books that you read that can challenge you and cause you to search within.  Then there are books that will flat out reshape who you are as individual and when you read a book like that it becomes an instant favorite or a book that you instantly hate because you realize there is a lot that needs to change.  When I read Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick who is the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina I was blown away this book for me became an instant favorite and one that I have in my top 5 books of all time.

The principle of “Sun Stand Still, Steven Furtick challenges you to believe that the audacious faith that we see in the Bible, the faith that caused a man to pray and see the sun stand still in the sky, is the same faith we can claim for ourselves today. This is more than just another book. It’s a call to all of us to begin living the life of audacity God has created and saved us for.”

If you have not read this book you are missing out on the potential to see God do a movement in your life that can only be explained by Him.

10 Second Prayers

Sitting in life group last night something hit me about prayer, I really suck at it.  You probably do as well.  Not because we don’t use big fancy words or because we don’t try but simply because we don’t understand it.  We’re going through some series by Andy Stanley that is taken from Matthew 6:9-13.  What I’m getting is that it is not a formula prayer and I don’t have to pray exactly a certain way.  The Lord’s Prayer is simply an order of elements but it’s up to me in how I pray.

9.  Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. This whole idea keeps in perspective who He is and who we are.  It’s the idea of declaring God’s greatness. I don’t do that nearly enough.  Not because I don’t believe He is great but because I am too anxious to get to my stuff.

10.  May your Kingdom come soon.  May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  The main idea idea here is surrendering our will to His will. It’s saying God I want what you want for me more than what I want for myself.  Your agenda.  Jesus the night before He was crucified prayed and begged God saying if there is any other way that would be great, but it is not my will but yours to be done.  Amazing that even Jesus himself wrestled with God to be completely in His will.

11-13.  Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.  This is acknowledging your dependency on God.  It’s asking God for your needs and wants and begging Him to protect your life, heart and mind.

Interesting point that Andy made though…this third part of the prayer really will become the shortest part of the prayer once we recognize the greatness of God and surrender our will to Him because everything else will seem so small and insignificant.  It’s taking our agenda off the table.  ”When your faith intersects with His faithfulness then life change happens.”

I’ve always struggled with how long to pray and I heard this last night, “The length of your prayer should be determined by the condition of your heart.”  Jesus prayed a quick 10 second heart to raise Lazarus from the dead but He prayed all night in the garden before His crucifixion.

I wonder if you struggle with prayer as much as the rest of us do?  Be encouraged today that there is no magic formula.  There is no specific way.  I am learning to simply realize how great God is and surrender my will to His.  Easier to say than to do.

Be Good. Really? That’s All You Got?

What a ridiculously good question that maybe all of us who are in the faith have all struggled with and asked was asked at my life group last week.  “Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?”  That question stopped me in my tracks and I did not hear anything after that for a few minutes as I quickly wrote that question down before I forgot it, even though I knew there was no chance of forgetting it because it’s a question I have asked myself many times.

“Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?” I have thought so many times that I’ve sinned so God can’t hear my prayers or that God can only communicate with me when I am pure in His eyes.  I have struggled with trying to do good and be good so that God would hear my prayers.  Maybe I pray so God will GIVE ME what I want or maybe I pray for Him to reveal Himself to me or I pray for OTHERS but every time I pray, I wonder does God really hear my prayer if there is sin in my life and I’m just not “GOOD”?

Then there is Galatians 3:5 that says, “Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?” -The Message

Once again Galatians 3:5 in a different version, “I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.” -The New Living Translation

Based on that passage, God works miracles because of our belief, not necessarily because we are good.  Interesting point from a friend who said, “If God only heard us based on how good we were He would never have heard me cry out to Him to begin with.”  It is comforting to hear again and again that God hears my prayers because of my belief in Him not because of my belief in how “GOOD” I think I am.  So I ask this question because the truth is I’m still trying to figure this out.  Still trying to figure out this communicating with a God who loves me so much deal.  Still trying to convince myself that I will never be “GOOD” enough.  It’s a journey not a destination I’m told but what happens when the journey seems lonely and without answers?  For me its pushing through and trusting Gods Word and believing with a simple faith that God hears me because He loves me and I love Him.

So I think this is a great question for discussion, have you ever asked that question before?  What answer(s) have you come up with?  “Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?”

100 Day Prayer Challenge

Eric on Sunday challenged the church to 100 days of prayer.  I thought why not challenge everybody who reads this blog to jump on board and pray as well.  You pray for my church and I’ll pray for your church if you list your church below.  The only way we will see God move throughout is if people humble themselves and pray  for His will and not ours.  Below is what our church [Fellowship Church] is praying for and I believe it to be universal.

• Be unified and motivated to serve
• Grow as a community who love and accept each other and new people wherever they’re at
• Develop a heart for our local community, our schools, our neighbors, in demonstrating our love for them and meeting their needs, expecting nothing in return
• Become people who invest in our community and invite them into our church family

So how about it?  Can you commit the next 100 days to lift your church and mine up in prayer to God?

Discover God’s Heart from Fellowship Today on Vimeo.