prayer

I know many, many studies can be devoted to prayer, but last Sunday (11/11/07) we took a glimpse at it. This was by no means a complete study on prayer, but we looked at the Lord's Prayer and a couple of other things about it.

We first started in 2 Chronicles 33. This chapter refers to King Manasseh, someone who completely ignored God at first and did many evil things. We're talking about making altars to other gods, sacrificing his sons, witchcraft, and more. Manasseh and his people ignored God. But sometimes the Lord gets our attention in dramatic ways. He did so with King Manasseh by having the Assyrians capture him and do some amount of torture to him. Manasseh called upon the Lord and truly repented. It says in verse 13 that the "Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea."

We looked at the four different areas of prayer as well (praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition) and compared that with the Lord's prayer. Often when we pray, we just ask for what we want, or when we are in serious need or trouble, confess our sins. It's a habit to build up each area of prayer and remember to do them. And this is just the time when we talk. It is also very important to listen to God. This takes time to build up as well, and is something I need to work on.

I also used a couple games with the junior high kids to illustrate a couple of other points. We played the game telephone. That's where you pass on a message down the line by whispering and see what you have by the time it reaches the last person. You can only whisper so the person next to you can hear, and you can only say it once. Often times, it produces hilarious results! The connection is this. No longer are priests or any in-between people needed to talk to God. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the only one allowed to enter in the presence of God in the tabernacle. And this was only once a year after long, elaborate cleansing rituals. But now, as it says in Hebrews, we have Jesus as the great high priest who allows us to talk directly with God.

Next we played pictionary. Where you have an object to draw, and your teammates try to guess what it is. This is a little bit of a looser connection, but prayer is one of the ways we can see what God is doing- in our own lives and the world. I'm a very interested in the big picture. Through prayer, reading God's Word, and fellowship with other believers we can grasp a better understanding of what God is doing.

God longs to hear our prayers. He tells us in Luke, that we do not have because we do not ask. And when we do ask, we must be patient for answers. God knows what is best for us and wants to bless us. But sometimes we cannot see the big picture as He can. God only answers in 3 ways- yes, no, not now. It's kind of like the person who prayed, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now!" Doesn't quite work that way. Waiting is where we build our character. Waiting is where God sees if we will be persistent with our prayers and depend on Him.

lots has happened

I was gone on vacation and then we lost power. Needless to say, youth group and time at church in general has been quite irregular for me lately. However, when I was gone on Friday 8/17, Ming filled in and talked with the youth group about prayer from Matthew 14:22-33. This is the passage where Jesus walks on water towards the disciples in the boat after praying alone on land. He then calls out to Peter to walk on the water towards Him. This blog will contain his points as well as my own.

Here's a good passage on what prayer and faith are and are not. It should be any one or more of the following things: 1) further God's kingdom, 2) glorify Him, 3) make us closer to Christ, 4) make us be more like Christ. It is meant to focus on Jesus.

But just speaking the prayer and doing nothing afterwards is not enough. We must act. It is important to note that Peter was not testing Jesus in verse 28 when he was asking Jesus if it was really Him. Instead he was responding impulsively, as he typically did. When first going out on the water, Peter was actually walking on it. But then he saw the wind, saw he began to sink. Basically he took his focus off Jesus. When we see our problems as bigger than what we think Jesus can handle, we will sink.

As I mentioned earlier, faith is focusing on Jesus. It is not looking at our environment, surroundings, past experiences, or our feelings/emotions. For Peter walking on water, his faith in Jesus at that point should not be focused on the wind, the waves, the scientific notion that people cannot walk on water, or fear. But how difficult it is to do that sometimes! In the end, no matter where we are, it is good to know that Jesus is always there when you need help the most.

A Prayer for the Ephesians

Youth Group on Friday, June 1, 2007:


Games and Activities- With many youth around, we were able to play a couple of fun games. First was shuffle your butt, where someone is it in the middle, and they have to try and take a seat in the circle. The players sitting down avoid the person in the middle from sitting by "shuffling their butt." Next, we got to play another pretty hysterical round of "I've never..." Then we got on with the devotional.

Do you believe in miracles? Is there something that you either witnessed or heard an account of that cannot be explained in human terms? This was the topic of our discussion last Friday. I told a story of how Amber, a friend of mine, went on a mission trip to India. There she met a man who was unable to walk most, if not all, of his life. Amber commanded the man to walk in the name of Jesus- and HE GOT UP AND WALKED!

Paul's prayer to the Ephesians in chapter 3, verses 14-21 include this idea. He prays that the power of the Spirit would strengthen them, that they would know how high, long, wide, and deep the love of Christ is. At the end of this prayer, Paul says that Christ is able to do more than we can possibly know or imagine, and He is at work within us.

A couple other places in the gospels relay this sort of power we have in Christ. A parable Jesus says states that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed we will be able to move a mountain. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says with faith, we will do greater works than He.

To sum this all up- if we are inside of God's will, put our faith in Him, and give Him the glory, we can to mighty works for the Lord. This is my prayer for all of us.

study of James 3-5

This was our study on Sunday, May 6, 2007:

A couple weeks ago, we went through the first 2 chapters of James. Last Sunday (5/6/07) we completed our study. James has a lot of practical advice for living the Christian life.

3:3-12 The tongue is compared to many things, including a rudder on a large ship and a spark that starts a fire. It can cause a huge change in direction or cause a lot of damage. We best watch the things we say and don't say!
One example I used was me driving in traffic. I'll be the first to admit that I get upset when traffic is heavy. It's crazy how I will be singing worship to God along with CDs one minute, then curse other drivers that annoy me the next! I certainly need to watch my tongue as well! As it says in this passage, a spring cannot produce both fresh water and salt water.

"2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." James 4:2-3
When we ask for things from God, sometimes we ask for the wrong things or ask for the wrong motives. We need to ask yourselves: Am I trying to satisfy my own desires or fulfill God's plan. It was unanimous that we should study "listening to God" in the future.

"7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:7-10
5 ways to be near to God: 1) submit to God, 2) resist the devil, 3) lead a pure life, 4) grieve for your sins, and 5) humble yourselves. There were questions regarding the 4th way. We need to grieve over the sins that we do because while many of them are enticing and may feel good at the time, they cause God pain. We need to grieve over those sins and not fall to them anymore!

The rest is very practical and straightforward. James writes about judging, doing good today and not boasting about tomorrow, warning the rich who oppress the poor, persevering during suffering, and prayer. Like I said, James has a lot of practical advice for Christian living. It's short- and should be read frequently. My prayer is for all of us to follow these spiritual pearls.