Uprising

Are you like me? Do you find it easy to discount the activity of our enemy in this world because you don't want to be "one of those" who see "a demon behind every bush?" I still remember the woman who tried to cast "the demon of sniffles" out of me because I had a cold. I made up my mind right then and there that I didn't want to be like her. And I'm not. However, too often my pendulum may swing too far the other way; so far that I am a little naive to the enemy's role and scheme's in opposing the ways that God is calling me to partner with Him in advancing His Kingdom in the world today. Too often I forget what Bible writers took for granted: We live on a planet ruled by powers intent on blocking and perverting the will of God.

I don't want to be naive in regards to unseen opposition; and I do want to be involved in an uprising for the Kingdom of God in the world today. I really do. Therefore, I must pray. I must pray and ask the Lord to continue teaching me to pray. Karl Barth wrote, "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."

Perhaps there is even just one of you out there who like me has been tempted to over-react to someone who saw a demon behind every bush, or, in my case, up your nose. Let's encourage one another not to be naive to the reality that we do have an enemy who is intent on blocking and perverting the will of God in our life, the life of our family, the lives of the leaders and members in our congregation. Let's ask God this year to teach us more about prayer and to infuse us with a desire to actually do that - pray. Let's clasp our hands together and start an uprising for the Kingdom of God.

The Lord bless you (and me) today with a renewed longing to be aware of God's presence with you, to bow your knees and clasp your hands in His presence, and pray.

Dreading Something This Week?

I've been home these days, recovering from a bout with bronchitis (feeling better today). It's made me stay home, rest, and about all I've been able "to do" is read and pray (it's been painful to do that with beautiful days crying out, "this is the day the Lord has made, go forth and golf in it").

Anyway, I'm reading Philip Yancey's book on Prayer and a passage this morning struck a particular chord with me, and perhaps will with you. There have been times in the past when I have wrestled with something I needed to do, or a conversation with someone I needed to have; wrestled with it, and at times, dreaded it. I've used up energy putting off addressing whatever it is, all the while imagining how conversations and encounters would go in my head.

Yancey speaks to that kind of week when he writes:

"If I remember (and I blush at how often I forget), I can commit to God in advance a difficult letter I must answer, a thorny problem I must deal with in my writing, a nagging physical ailment, a phone call to a needy relative, a social engagement I dread. The very process of presenting these requests to God puts me in a different frame of mind before the event. And if I remember to pause afterward and reflect on what happened, often the traces of God appear, seen not by proof but by faith."

Got something this week you're not looking forward to? Dreading? Putting off? In times like these, let's encourage each other to take these things to God in prayer, even if we don't "feel" like it, even if we don't "feel full of faith" as we do so. It'll be interesting to see, looking back, how many "traces of God appear."

Love you all, and praying for you to not miss anything God has for you this week.