Prayer should be restful right????

So prayer is important. That is a pretty easy statement for any Christian to agree with. I have struggled with having times where I focus on one or two things and pray about them, my mind wonders. But I have enjoyed a pretty good conversational prayer life. What I mean by that is that I pray as I think of things while walking around or doing anything. So what I want to do here is talk a little about some of my thoughts on prayer, but also about something I have been learning recently...

Prayer is pointless if you do not trust God with what you are talking to Him about.

So to set up how I got to his point, my thoughts on prayer.

Prayer is communication with God. It is a conversation with our Father. Meaning I see 2 mistakes commonly made, myself included.

1. We do all the talking.

Many times when I pray I pray until I am out of things to talk about. Then I move on to whatever else is going on. We would never do that (or rarely, lol) to a friend. They would get tired of it.

"Hey, Dave, can you help me with this project for class. Ok cya later."

That isn't waiting for a response, or giving a change to start helping. But so many times we say

"Hey, God, can you help me with school/ a relationship/ other issue. Ok cya later."

I think we miss out on hearing his voice when we do this. I mean for Elijah in on instance God's voice was a whisper, check this out.

The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ~1 Kings 19:11-12

I think we get so caught up in life that we forget to listen for that soft voice. Don't get me wrong God wants to hear what is on our hearts and minds. He wants us to talk to him. We have this awesome and confusing relationship with him where he is our Lord and King, our Father, and our Friend at the same time, we should honor him, but we also get to approach him in a intimate manor. I can give a few verses for this, ask if you want them. We just need to balance talking and listening.

2. We forget to give thanks and remember who he is when we ask for things.

I do this all the time too. I start and go straight into my needs and wants and problems. Part of this is ok, in John is says:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ~John 15:16

He says he will give us whatever we ask. Granted for that to happen we have to remain in him, but the promise is here as in Luke, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9) But I think the main part of prayer we miss in this aspect is not that we are to be abiding in him for our request to fall under this promise, and it is absolutely not the idea that we will be soooo holy by being in him that we will only ask for people to be saved or for his kingdom to come. I mean I pray those things, but I think this is also covering immediate personal needs and wants too, like food, rest, strength, and even relationships. But He won't grant us sinful or harmful requests, I think Romans 8:28 supersedes His promise to grant our requests. But anyway back to my point, how should we pray? I think the Lord's Prayer is more than just something to be recited.

This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
~Matthew 6:9-13

If you are like me you have seen this many a time, and recited it. But I wanna look at this a little. I see phases in this prayer that are to be emulated (my words but this idea was in a book I read a year or so ago, thanks author).

1. Naming and Glorifying God
2. Submitting to his will and plan
3. Asking for our needs
4. Confessing Sin and asking/ receiving forgiveness and doing the same for those who we have to forgive
5. Asking for protection and guidance

I really like this plan, thought I don't always do it. The biggest point here is we glorify and honor God before we ask for anything. This is HUGE. It helps us to trust him, and remind us to trust him. If you remember who God is and what he has done before you ask him for something prayer is a restful and enjoyable activity. If we forget to do this it is little more than worrying about our troubles.

There is a fundamental belief I have about God. He gave the law to point out our sin. That is straight out of Romans (chapter 7 if you are curious). But, especially the food laws, the law (and in the new testament Jesus' commands) are also created to care for us to help us live happy and God focused lives. The food laws for Israel kept them safe from foods that were not able to be properly cleaned until the last 100 years or so. And I think part of prayer, why it is important and why Jesus gives us a model is God who created us knows how to encourage us and how we work, and doing it that way is the best way for us to do things. Let me explain.

Not only is God worth glorifying because of who he is and what he has done, but it is good to glorify and worship him because it helps create and reinforce the trust we have in him. If we do that in the beginning of our prayers our mindset shifts from just another way to worry about our lives and problems to a place where we are taking these problems to a God who has shown that He is trustworthy and powerful enough to handle our problems. We can say them to him, and leave them at the cross, leave trusting him to take care of him and being able to do whatever is before us that day.

Our reason to pray is to communicate with God. But I believe he gave us guidelines for how because it is much "how is should be" and honoring him as it is a practical way for him to remind us who he is in our own words.

The last few weeks I have been actively letting God know what I want and what is bothering me. But I have forgotten to remember to tell him who he is and remember what he has done and can do. Prayer became a drain and not the restful and encouraging thing it had been for me in the past. I was just telling a God I had forgotten to trust what was up. I was just sitting there stewing in my fears and problems and concerns and not receiving the rest and comfort God wanted me to receive from him. Recently I started to remember who he is and what he has done first in my prayers, and I noticed a substantial change almost after the first prayer.

Prayer is meant to be a way for us to communicate with our loving heavenly Father and to be an encouragement. If it isn't something is wrong.

Thank God it has become both again for me.

Venn Diagram of Awesome

So I have designed the "Venn Diagram of Awesome" for your viewing pleasure.

So, the important part of this diagram is the fact that everyone I know who also blogs is awesome.

Just something to think about.

:)

Community

Life is... well life.

As often as I start posts like this people must think I am an emo kid or something.

Well with another year starting there is a new Vision Team. And the new team is awesome. Lots of cool ideas.

But talking and planning events. Thinking about things to change. Talking about what is good.

And it was odd, with all that (about 2 days) my energy and passion was gone. Even though I agreed and was excited to see all the plans we had. So many of them were some I had even thought of (and several others as I learned). But my joy disappeared.

Then people got back. I got to see the chapter together again. I got to see people laugh and enjoy each other. I got to enjoy being with everyone again.

I guess I am posting this because I am realizing a new importance and joy from community. The joy of leadership and administrating a community is not in the theory and decisions you make. It is in loving people and doing what needs to be done to serve them and lead them in the direction God would have them go.

It seems so odd to me that making plans and changes for our community while not with them drained me, but while with them it is refreshing and enjoyable.

I guess I lost sight of why I wanted to do what I have agreed to do, and being with the chapter helped to remind me of that.

It is good to be back.

GUPY Reunion

This has been an awesome weekend. All but one of the students that did GUPY 2007 got back together in Glenwood this weekend. It was a good time. And since what I lack in frequency I make up for in volume :) here we go.

I came into the weekend tired, with many ideas for the coming semester, but lacking the feeling of joy and excitement I am used to going into a semester. I walked into Marshall's house with Kelly and Jeremy and saw the other people from GUPY I felt a peace, but my face barely showed it. We were hanging out, marveling at how much Jacob (Marshall's youngest) had grown, and eating dinner. Then we started sharing about our semesters. We all had hard ones. All had instances of how things did not go our way. But at the same time I feel like there was still hope for the future, hope for how God was working even in the most difficult stories. As we went around, trying to keep it short, jokes were made about my being long winded. Jokes that are accurate, but when my turn came I felt and odd cold, I could barely talk, like I was nervous, but I wasn't. I really don't know what was up with that.

Then I got to sleep on the magically deflating air mattress (twice as I would learn later). I didn't sleep all that well. But the next day we had a quiet time about abiding in God (John 15). That was awesome. I really feel like God has been blessing me with letting me see him use me even when I do not feel I am in him as much as I would like. That has been a blessing to me, but I felt like I was becoming content in that and not trying/ desiring him to use me more, to work on the disciplines to help me be more ready to hear his voice and see his leading. He has been pruning me a while, and as Marshall noted while most of us felt like we were being pruned the main focus of the passage is not the pruning but living in him, and the promise that if we are in him he is in us and we will bear fruit. It was just a good time to refocus and see what God is doing, and can do. I think we were all encouraged through that reading.

We got to give some feedback on GUPY and help Marshall plan for GUPY 2008. I think it was a good reminder of all we did to talk about what was good. I think it helped revive some of the memories of what we had learned and left wanting to do. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, catching up, sharing jokes, reminiscing, eating at Natty Green's, talking about Vision and leadership and complaining about the candidates avoiding the questions during the debates.

This morning we went to Grace Community Church. And I loved the sermon, the video didn't make any sense, but the sermon was good. It was the lead pastor talking about the vision and direction for the church. How he had spent a year searching for it. And basically his response was communication, growth, and service. I think his exact words were connect, grow, serve, share... maybe this is more simple than what I said. I guess the part that resonated the most with me was where he said college grads talk about all the growth they had in college then say they got to busy and stopped growing afterwards. That is something I have noticed, and feared on some level with the Church. Something that has caused me to question when staff with campus ministries tell us to go to a church and not just our meetings. I feared the church didn't notice or care. It was really encouraging to see a pastor mention that. Granted UNCG is right down the road, but still. And being there to see Marshall begin his transition from IV to Grace and GUPY was cool as well.

Then after lunch, and getting back on the road it was hard to leave again. I found myself wanting a group of my friends from college to chose to move to a city so I wouldn't have to leave them all. But at the same time the conversations and prayer we had were what I needed to get the joy and excitement I thought I should feel. And while riding, reading, listening to music, and conversing with Jeremy, I got a few texts from a friend. Nothing huge, but it was kinda cool to know someone from VT was thinking of me, it made the drive back feel more like a transition back to school than just waiting around in Richmond. I have 4 days before the Vision Team retreat where things start to get interesting, and I know I need those to pack, and prepare. But I just felt like I should be on my way to Blacksburg, not Richmond. I feel like my heart and mindset, at least for now, are oriented to see little things as blessings and encouragements. That is just cool...

sooo this had no real plan or direct purpose, other than being my thoughts at the moment.

God's got big plans, I can't wait to see what he does.

A Look at 2007

2007 was an interesting year. My years have been full of growth, relationships, fun, pain, stress, and just about every emotion imaginable since I started college. I would be lying if I said I have liked every minute of it, but I have loved college overall.

This year has been difficult. I started serving on the vision team of InterVarsity (IV) at Virginia Tech. That has been difficult and rewarding. I have grown so much through this. Learning how to care for people more and more. Learning to trust my instincts about plans. Learning to trust God to lead me and to care for his people. That he has put me in a position to work with him, but that he is going to do his work and it is not up to me. He will do his work and not all of it is for me to do, not all that I wish to do is for me to do. And he will do his work even if I feel I am to weak. He also will strengthen me and equip me to do the work he has set before me. I expected this year to be hard being on vision team, as odd as it seems I also expected this year to be harder and also to have more awesome times than I could expect. That I would come to the end and be amazed. But I had no idea. After classes and leader selection I thought I had had the hard stuff. Then the 16th happened.

That day and the weeks after were the oddest combination of joy and pain ever. Such sadness and confusion about what happened. Yet the time I got to spend with friends was amazing. So much time with people who have meant so much to me. People who I want to get to know better, and people who already have been let into the deepest parts of my heart. It was awesome. Everyday waking up with only the desire to be with people, be with God, and enjoy the presence of both. It is confusing to look back and wonder if I should look back with joy or sadness. But I would not trade any moment I got to spend with anyone those weeks for anything in the world.

Then came Rockbridge. Again it was an awesome time. A time to get away from Blacksburg, be in the woods, but still have good food and comfortable beds. I was more somber than usual. I also spent a good deal of time thinking and praying through what I had been experiencing. Then I saw people in the chapter having problems. Problems that I did not know the cause of or the way to fix them. I did not know how I was to help. How I was to care for them. But as I sat there thinking and praying, worrying, I saw God use other people to care for them when I could not see how.

Then came the weeks before GUPY. They were nice, I got to rest and sleep. I also got to get away for a while. But they were also unbearable. I started to feel the effects of having no purpose for so long. Let me explain. I had no school work, no work, we minimized the requirements for my involvement in IV, we spent our time with each other. At home I had no chores or jobs, no reason to wake up except being tired of being in bed, no reason to sleep besides being bored with being awake. Never before had I realized so clearly something central to myself and many if not all men. The need for a purpose. I held on only with the thoughts of GUPY coming.

Then GUPY. That is a whole different animal. I got to know 9 other students (only 2 of whom I knew before) well. In 6 weeks we went from learning names to being in some of the deepest relationships I have had, definently the deepest in the short time. We had great times in Cracker Barrel, the park in down-town Greensboro, and on the corner of Silver and Haywood. We also had hard times in Atlanta, across the street from Greensboro Urban Ministries, and La Presa, Mexico. I personally had a very hard time in Mexico. As I told some of the people at GUPY, I experienced the range of emotions I usually experience in a whole year just in that few weeks. There were times I questioned why they still talked to me, suffered through having me around. That is an emotion I thought I had dealt with a year ago in Blacksburg. That time helped me to grow in so many ways, it also helped solidify and reemphasize what I had learned in the past.

Then after dealing with the loss of those relationships (we keep in touch, in fact most of the readers of this that I know of are people from GUPY), but they are not the same as they were. We are back to our lives from before, only changed from our experiences. Then coming back to Blacksburg, trying to rebuild relationships that I had not gotten to talk with much or see in three months. I talked about this time in an earlier post and this is starting to get long so I am moving on.

This semester had times of awesomeness. I had some amazing times and moments with very close friends. Times where life made more sense than ever before, followed by times where I had no idea what was going on. Not everything went my way, in fact many things did not. Classes went my way. Other than that the best I can say is that things went God's way as often as possible, which ends up going my way once I am enough removed to see his plans. And I was able to help things go my friends way. So it was a good semester.

One thing that happened a few weeks ago, right before exams, is my uncle died. Matthew C. Westerdale died from the progression of Muscular Dystrophy. I got to see him over Thanksgiving break, about a week before he died. He was awesome, he was encouraging to people, he was sharing Jesus with everyone that came by. He was tired, but when awake he was on fire for God. My family told me when he died he looked at peace, and though he there were a few times he thought he was going to die that night and didn't. He again predicted he would go, and slowly and peacefully passed on. I am glad he is now at rest and free from his aliment, but it is still hard to see someone go.

This was sooo much longer than I intended. But looking at all this that has happened I cannot begin to imagine what this year holds. But I also cannot wait to see. I expect it to hold alot of challenge, opportunities, pain, and stress. But I am confident that God's Will will be done and I will grow through whatever happens.

That is what he does, takes to good and the bad and uses it for his purposes. And his purpose is to love us and reveal himself to us so we can do his work and so those who do not know him have the opportunity(s) to come to know their heavenly father. How awesome is it that we get to be part of His work?!

Bring it on 2008!