Tag Archive | Faith

How do You Pray?

Mar29

How do you pray? I’m not asking about kneeling or standing, sitting or reclining, eyes closed or wide open, everyday language or King James speak.

It’s a simple question. How do you pray? Do you believe things will happen when you pray? Do you utter a bunch of words that you’ve memorized? When you pray, are you just yapping for the sake of yapping? Yes, I know the word ‘yapping’ is hardly spiritual, but then a lot of prayer that clutters the air isn’t at all spiritual either.

How do you pray? Do you pray to the God of the Universe? The God who created babies, and grass, and the sand. The God who set the sun and moon in the sky and created the stars and the oceans. Think about it! If you are real in your praying, that is Who you are talking to when you pray. The. God. Of. The. Universe.

Do you pray believing? Believing that God is listening? I had a sweet conversation with a dear friend recently. She told me about selling their house a while back. She and her husband had been in that house for a long time; they’d raised their now-grown children there. That house had been their home. A home where love was the language, and God was in charge.

They prayed about selling their home. They prayed about who would buy it. They prayed for a Christian family to buy the house. They didn’t pray for a quick sale. They prayed for the right sale. They prayed believing. They. Prayed. Believing.

Have you tried that? Have you tried praying believing? Actually prayed and believed that God would answer? Not that gimme, gimme, gimme stuff. Or, “I prayed,” and five minutes later, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Scripture teaches, “You have not because you ask not.” And continues, “You have not because you ask amiss” James 4:2b – 4:3a).

My friends received more than 15 offers in a couple of days. Leaning into what and for whom they prayed, they chose a buyer. They didn’t select the highest offer. Since they had prayed believing, they chose the right buyer.

My dear friend went on to tell me so many wonderful things about the family who now owns and lives in her former home, including how well the neighbors have received them, how these folks have been blessed in their new home, and how the new owners have blessed the neighbors.

In their praying, my friend and her husband asked for the right direction. They didn’t ask amiss.

They prayed believing. How do you pray?

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LOVE the LORD

Apr9

PART ONE

Is there a Christian anywhere in the world, at least in the modern world, who doesn’t know this verse or some form of it? . . .  Love the Lord your God with all your heart  . . .  Let’s set the stage.

In Mark 11, verse 11, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt (which we call a donkey), and the people were praising and singing Hosanna in the highest, and He went to the Temple. There, Jesus found “money changers in the Temple.” It was an abomination to the Lord. He continued, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.”

When the scribes and the chief priests heard what the Lord was saying, they wondered how they could destroy Him. (You know, those guys really thought they were all that and a bag of chips!) The fact is, they truly feared Jesus because all the people were astonished and hung onto His every word.

          Picture this: Jesus, in His divine wisdom, returned to Jerusalem. He captivated the crowd with His powerful parables. The self-important men, fearing His popularity, tried to trap Him with their cunning questions. Can you believe they even tried to ‘Catch Him in a lie ‘? The audacity!

          The men brought out their best hypocritical selves and asked about paying tribute to Caeser. Jesus knew they were up to no good and told them to give Him a penny. When they did, He asked them whose likeness was on the coin. They conceded that it was Caesar’s. “And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marveled at him.”

          Sometime later, and still trying to trip up Jesus, one of those pesky scribes came along and asked the Lord, “Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like the first, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31 KJV)

He’s a Good God!

Jul13

Overdrew your account and bounced five checks before you got the funds to cover it and all those overdraft charges cost you a small fortune?

Your brother heisted an old jalopy, swiped some candy bars, stole a few cartons of smokes, drove off without paying for a tank of gas, ran a red light, was chased down by the cops and arrested? After all was said and done, young Billy is in prison, and you’re going to tell me that God did this to straighten him out?

Oh puhhhleeese! Your foolish little brother got busted for his stupid, careless and dishonest behavior; these are called natural consequences.

You steal – you go to jail.

You lie – you lose trust.

You cheat – you suffer consequences.

You stick your finger on a hot skillet, you get burned.

God does NOT do bad things!!

Repeat after me: “God. Does. Not. Do. Bad. Things”.

(You fill in the blank: God does not _________”).

How do I know this? I know this because He is a LOVING God. He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. You may insist on YOUR own way and get into tons of trouble, but He is always there. He is with you always. He sent His Son to die for us so that we may have eternal life when we deserved to die.

Back in the day, God knew, even then, that some well meaning, self-righteous person would suggest that God put little brother Billy in jail, “to teach him a lesson”. Think about it: Today, if an earthy father put his child’s finger on the stove “to teach her a lesson”, that would be deemed CHILD ABUSE! Why then do we say that God is cruel like this? He addressed such foolishness in the book of James, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” (James 1:13). Why is it so hard to believe we serve a LOVING God?

When little brother Billy was sent to prison, he began to see the error of his (foolish, stupid) ways and THEN, he turned to a loving God. This young man made some very bad choices, and he landed in the pokey. But God met him where he was. God’s goodness is attractive!

My former pastor taught that God meets us where we are. If life has beaten you to pulp, God is there in the midst; turn to Him. He has never left you, and He never will.

Abba Father,

As I go about my day, thank you that you are always here, always with me. Please guide me to                     make the right choices, but when I don’t, please remind me to come back home.

I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

All scripture is taken from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

© 2015 Cat Brennan

FLOOD WALLS or FAITH WALLS?

Jun27

Many years ago, I lived in Huntington, West Virginia.  The Ohio River separates West Virginia and Ohio; normally that mass is calm, wending its way northward and staying within its banks.

However, one year we had an abundance of rain. As one who grew up in New Mexico where we measured our rainfall in drops, rather than inches, the idea of a flood was something new. There were flood walls here and there to contain the outrageous excess of water that accumulated from a flood.

I remember being in total awe of God in that man really thought he could contain billions of gallons of water with flood walls. And to this day, man thinks he knows better than God what can be controlled and legislated and ruled.

Along this same thought process of flood walls, I am reminded me that God had the foresight to set up a system of “flood walls” for His children.  He called it ASSEMBLING (gather together, fellowship, meeting, church).

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  KJV Hebrews 10:25 and in The Message: “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the bid Day approaching.”

Think about the enormous Ohio River! One lone brick (one Christian) will be swept away with a normal river flow (everyday life), not to mention FLOOD waters. But put a number of bricks (saints) together with good mortar (prayer) and the flood (adversity, pain, fear) will be pushed back or held at bay.

Jesus didn’t command us to get together on Sunday morning for His sake; He said if for ours.

Are your flood walls in place? Do you share your burdens with your brothers and sisters, or do you sit home alone with your problems and thoughts and let the flood of misery overtake you?

Are you denying someone the ability to share his or her gifts of faith or prayer or encouragement?  Or …

Do you want to find Peace that passes all understanding? Call a friend. Reach out. Ask for help. Give the family of God the opportunity to be the bricks and cement in your wall.

One or two bricks have no strength against a flood (of problems, concerns, fears, doubts), but a huge wall (your Christian friends) against this flood will help the one brick to stand strong, resist the flood and deflect the crash of waves of _______ (you fill in the blank).

© 2015 Cat Brennan (all rights reserved)