So, for this post, I'm going to let you into my life a little bit. I was having our date night with Jesus in the library and I was reading James 5:13-20 (can you tell I like James?). It's not a very long passage and it talks about prayer. I figured that it would be a good place to read considering our theme for this week is advancing on our knees. Basically a week dedicated to prayer and fasting; we are having a meats and sweets fast starting tonight (Wednesday) going through Saturday night. Anyway, James 5:13-20 talks about how we should always be in prayer. When we are sad, happy, or sick, we should always be in prayer. There is so much power in prayer, I can think of a handful of stories without even trying of how God has answered prayer. The example in James is Elijah. He prayed that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years and God answered his prayer. When he prayed for it to rain after that time, it did.
You see, we need to pray for everything. We are called to pray and pray according to God's will. Just think of the Lord's prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Did you catch that? YOUR will be done, not ours, God's. For me, this is really hard to do. I want God's will to be done for sure, but I also want mine to be done and this is where I faced some frustrations when reading this passage. I want to live for God but I also want to make sure I'm secure in life. When it gets down to it, I just want to be comfortable and serve God, which is probably not how most of us are called to live our life.
How often do you chose comfortable topics to talk about when God could easily be incorporated? How many times have you sold your possessions and gave the proceeds to those less fortunate? How many times have you gone to an unreached nation to share the Gospel? How many times have you failed to share the Gospel in your own home, job, or school? I don't mean to pose these questions to judge or condemn you because that's not the point. My answer for each of these is definitely not where it should be. My point in asking these questions is to get you to think about your life and who's really on the throne of it. Are you truly living your life for God or is he just an aspect of your life? So, I challenge you to pray. Pray for God's will to be done, pray for opportunities to suffer for Christ, pray for an uncomfortable life, pray for a heart for God, pray, pray, pray. Along with this, don't be selfish in your prayers but pray for ways in which you can advance the kingdom of God.
Now, here's where I get a little vulnerable with you all and the part that relates to the title of this post. I'm just going to type what I wrote in my journal so here it goes. "Jesus calls us to pray and pray hard. Pray according to his word and will. This seems to be relatively obvious, especially with the theme of this week but why is it so hard to apply this to our lives? For me, I don't want to give up control I think. I'm afraid of what God may do in my life. I'm afraid of the friendships I may have to give up. I'm afraid of the close friendships I would make and then move away from. I'm afraid of not being financially secure and not having that be in my control. I'm afraid of not having a family. I'm afraid I'll never have a great friendship or relationship. I'm afraid of not being equipped to answer a tough question. I'm afraid of being hurt. I'm afraid of being inadequate. I'm afraid of feeling. I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid of God. I'm afraid of what he might have me do. When it gets down to it, I'm just afraid. There's so much to do for God and I have so much potential for that. I'm on track to have a great career, life, and future by worldly standards but that's not my standard and most certainly not God's standard. I'm so frustrated with myself."
So yeah, that's how I'm feeling and what was going through my mind at the time. God really broke me down and I had a great time with him. I wanted to post that to just show all of you that I still struggle with sin and not giving up control of my life. I don't want you to see me as someone who has everything I post about figured out because I really don't. So, I would encourage you to pray as often as you can this week.
God Bless and Go Blue!
Tedd Sheets Jr.
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