The Most Important Thing to Pray for People You Love

In the last few years, I've grown in my amazement at the fact that we can pray.  We are actually invited to talk to the Creator of the universe.  He tells us He is listening.

There are so many other things to say about that, and I want to explore them.  But for now, I want to simply stand amazed that He listens to us.

When I was a young mom, I prayed for all sorts of things for my one child.  I actually prayed AGAINST a lot of things.  That she wouldn't be sick.  That she wouldn't be hurt.  That she wouldn't be influenced by bad friends.  That she wouldn't join a cult.  

It was amazing how quickly the ideas of what could happen got really ridiculous.

I did pray for the right things to happen.  For normal development.  For good friends.  For strong character.  For an obedient heart.  For wisdom.  For impact.

I am wired to look at possibilities and scenarios.  And it was backfiring on me.  I was SO anxious.  I somehow imagined that it was up to me to pray for the right things.  I had to be so specific if I wanted it to happen.  

And I will tell you that being specific is not bad.  But in this case, it was clouding things.

It wasn't until I started praying for my own anxiety that I had an epiphany.

I wanted peace.  I prayed for peace.  For me.  For my daughter. For our family.

I started praying from Philippians 4 (NLT):

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I would tell Him all I needed, or what I thought I needed.  What my family needed.  I thanked Him for what He had done.  I started looking at how He had been faithful so far.  

Then one day, I read further:

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

and there I saw it!

To have the peace of God, you need the God of peace.  

True peace comes from having a relationship with God.  

So the whole list of prayers from an anxious momma simply became, "Give them You, Lord."

There was also another verse God used to cement this line of thinking.  

Romans 8:28 (NLT)

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 

WHATEVER bad or good thing happened to my kid(s), they are covered by this promise.  All will be used for their good IF they are His.

So, I prayed for their salvation.

Once a child is a professing, growing believer, they get the benefit of prayers for wisdom and discernment.  Specific prayers for specific seasons.  But until they know Jesus, the only valid thing to pray is that they will respond to the free gift of God that is Jesus as Savior.

That is also the case for others who don't know Jesus.  I don't pray for their health and ease in life.  I don't pray for happy relationships and good jobs.  I pray for their eyes to see Jesus!

Because if they never have anything "bad" happen, and their life is considered "perfect" and "charmed," but they don't know Jesus.  What would it really have mattered?  This life is a breath in light of their eternity.

"Almighty, Creator of the Universe on Line 1"

Welcome to my index page for all of the entries for the #write31days challenge.  I will be writing on the topic of prayer.  Bookmark this page as it will be the one receiving updates.

1:  What I am doing in October
2:  What IS prayer?
3:  How can we even KNOW God?
4:  How does God talk to us?
5:  Tuning into His voice
6:  Why does God even want to talk to us?
7:  Does it matter who we are and how we come to Him?
8:  In the castle
9:  The ONLY way to Pray
10:  Seek Him FIRST
11:  WHY pray?
12:  Does my ATTITUDE matter?
13:  Anything else keeping me from relationship?
14:  The Phone Call
15:  5 Ways Gratitude Has Improved My Prayer Life
16:  Missing the Miracles
17:  Overwhelmed by Majesty
18: TEN Ways to Pray
19:  Where, When, and What to Pray
20:  The Next Generation
21:  Prayer is Counter-Intuitive
22:  Prayer IS Doing Something

late but done...

23:  God Reveals Mysteries



Join the journey--and join the discussion.  I anticipate needing some feedback on what angle to write about as the month goes on.

Of course, feel free to PRAY FOR ME!  :)

Thanks!

Cristina

Fighting Trolls

Setting goals that matter is not easy.  Especially when there are so many voices telling me what kinds of goals I should even be setting--and whether the whole exercise is even worth it.

"Goals are for people who make money."

"Who cares what a stay-at-home homemaker wants to do with her life?"

"You can barely keep your head above water--what makes you think you have time to do EXTRA stuff?"

"Who wants to hear what you have to say?"

"You're a big fraud and if you start writing, people are going to find out."

"God's gonna do what He's going to do, just put your head down and keep truckin'."

"And even if you made goals, you don't have the discipline to follow through--you've failed before."

These kinds of things are the trolls that live in my mind, trying to drown out the truth.  The one that tells me I am valuable and important and necessary and able to impact others, equip them, encourage them.  I am HIS--and that's what really matters.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been going through some goal-setting exercises.  The first step was identifying those very trolls.  Calling them out as lies.  And of course, not because it was part of the process, but because I know the one who is called Truth, I also took the opportunity to CALIBRATE my thinking about myself and the world around me.

One of the days, the song, "The Voice of Truth" came on the radio.  :)  Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that YOU have given me vision and desires and You will accomplish things through me.

Philippians 1:6 rings in my ears:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

I am excited to share more on my goals, including the one to launch a more purposeful blog soon.  I want to help, I want to encourage, so I need to know how I can best do that.

Will you leave me a comment or otherwise send me a message about how I could serve you?

In 2014, I asked God to make me more purposeful in my prayer life and more passionate about it--and He did!  So, I will be praying for this, and would love to pray for you--if you'll let me.  :)

Do not hinder them

Welcome to my scattered mind.  I DO want to finish posting about the John Piper teaching lab, but I was thinking of the things that encourage me when I go to Bible study.  


I wrote a few times past how I'd wished I'd gotten into a more disciplined study of God's Word way before I did. I recognize now that what kept me from committing is also precisely the reason I needed it.

My little children.  I wish I could go back and make different choices.  I know I can't.  I know I can move forward and make choices that I can be proud of.  Even if there is a pang of regret, I trust God to redeem.

And even my regret has given me eyes to see, has made me appreciate and even be encouraged when I see young moms bring their kiddos to Bible study.  They are there--and maybe they feel as crazy as I remember feeling, BUT THEY ARE THERE!

Matthew 19:14 says:

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

And although I feel regret that I was the one that hindered my own children from coming to Jesus earlier, I also feel hope when I see that.  And I want to tell many more--"I know if feels like it would be too hard, but being a mommy without being in God's Word is SO MUCH HARDER."

So, if you are not in some sort of Bible study where you are encouraged and fed and held accountable and prayed for, then find one!  You won't regret it!

And don't let the enemy convince you that you don't need a steady diet of truth, that your kids don't need it. He will do anything he can to distract you and derail you--he hates you and your kids.

Press on!

A LOT like Lot, part 2

In the first part, the SHALLOWNESS of Lot's faith is what convicts me to seek depth to my relationship with God. Today, I consider Lot's SELFISHNESS.

It was their time in Egypt, I think, when seeds of discontent were planted.

It didn't help that Abraham had traveled to Egypt because of a famine--circumstances that were testing his faith.  Abraham was looking to Egypt to provide rather than to God.

It was in this context of Abraham NOT looking to God, that perhaps Lot started looking elsewhere too.

Lot saw the riches of Egypt, which soon became his as he and Abraham received from Pharaoh for Sarah's sake.  Abraham had lied, Sarah had been taken (essentially bought).

Did Lot not realize he benefited materially as a result of someone's sin?

God graciously protected Sarah by inflicting Pharaoh and his house with a serious disease.  Pharaoh somehow figured it out and sent them out of Egypt.  But they keep their stuff.

Stuff is not an evidence of blessing.

I think this was a test.  Just like having need (famine) was a test, having no material need (prosperity) was a test.  It wasn't long before the stuff became a source of argument between Lot and Abraham.

How does stuff affect you?  Does it get in the way of relationships?  Do you choose stuff over people?

Abraham initiative to solve the problem shows leadership and trust in God to provide.  Lot's choice to take all the plain, that looked "like the land of Egypt," shows us his selfishness and his trust in the plain to provide.

Are you choosing your location because you're thinking how it'll provide for you?  A job that pays well, even if the environment is toxic?  Working hours that take you away from family?  A school that will look good on college applications even if you're far from God and His people?  Overloaded with extra classes and activities--neglecting God and others--to get into the "right" school?

Are you making choices that ultimately say, "I have to provide for myself" and in essence, "I don't trust God to do it"?

Don't misunderstand.  "Working hard" is not the issue.  "Having stuff" is not the issue.  It's about a heart that trusts God or DOESN'T.

You know best where you are and why you're choosing.  If this isn't convicting to you, then don't own it--it isn't for you.  Examine your heart and motives.

I see myself as Lot, trusting in what my eyes see, maybe even saying, "Hey, I have seen you, Abraham.  How you talk to God and show others how great God is.  I'll just move near that sinful city and show them God.  Oh, I won't actually go live there, just pitch my tents NEAR there.  The plain will sustain me while I live where they can see me."

Makes sense to me.

This is how God speaks to me when I choose by sight, out of fear, when I trust stuff and position rather than Him.  He shows me how much I am like Lot so I can choose well the next time.

He shows me Abraham who by contrast set himself apart and takes Lot's "leftovers."  Abraham TRUSTED GOD TO PROVIDE.

A LOT like Lot, part 1

I have been captivated by the character study of Lot.  I wanted to post on it, but it is SO much that I will break it up into a few posts. 

Lot's story makes me flash back to high school English class and learning about a foil.  A character that makes the main character, presumably the hero, look good.  More precisely:

Foil

The term ‘foil’ refers to a literary device where the author creates a character whose primary purpose is to create a contrast to another character by laying emphasis or drawing attention to the latter’s traits and characteristics through the former’s obviously contradictory ones.

The study we'reworking through is a study of the life of faith of Abraham (who is Abram at the beginning of his journey).  Chapter 2, however, was a study of Lot--as Abraham's foil.  We can learn about Abraham's life by seeing the life of Lot, his contemporary, his "like-a-son" nephew.

BACKGROUND
We are introduced to Lot when Abraham is introduced (Genesis 11:26-28).  We learn Lot's own father, Haran, died while the entire family was still living in Ur of the Chaldeans (present-day Iraq).  We know from Acts 7:2-3 and Genesis 15:7 that God spoke to Abram/Abraham and called him out of Ur to go to Canaan (still highly-contested real estate in the Middle East).

However, we see in 11:31 that the WHOLE FAMILY leaves Ur, but stopped in Haran. [I've been curious about the name of the city and Lot's father, but I'll investigate some other time.]  It's not until Terah (Abraham's father) dies that Abraham resumes his journey.  

Abraham does not continue alone.  Lot goes with Abraham to Canaan (Gen 12:4,5) then to Egypt (as evidence by his return from Egypt 13:1, 5).  I imagine that Abraham had contagious faith--that Lot wanted to be where Abraham was because God spoke to Abraham and it was OBVIOUS and ATTRACTIVE.

We don't know how Lot showed his faith: nothing is recorded for us about building altars or calling on the name of the LORD or hearing from God.  Was Lot there when Abraham did those things?   Did Lot think that was enough?  He was witnessing God's words and work, he was being led by a man who was obsessed with hearing God.  Is proximity enough?

We do know Lot had SAVING faith--he is called "righteous" in 2 Peter 2:7-8.  [God's word is the best commentary for itself and we should look for clarification to come from its pages.  God's word is TRUTH.]  I imagine Abraham must have "preached" to Lot and Lot believed, so it was "accounted to him as righteousness."  Abraham was communicating with the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE--I would be excited to share too!

Romans 4:5However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

I am not making a judgment on Lot's life, I am going with what God's word says.  God, the Holy Spirit, inspired Peter to record for us that Lot was a righteous man.  Whatever any evidence leads me to conclude, the TRUTH of God trumps what I think.  Lot was see by God as righteous, therefore that is what he was.

However, we do not see any DEPTH to his faith.  As long as Lot was near Abraham, he seems fine, but then they part ways and it does not go well for Lot.

Seeing him as he relates to Abraham has caused me to reflect on how much I am like Lot.  I love how God uses these ancient, seemingly irrelevant stories to grow us--to convict us so that we can make decisions FOR Him.  As I mentioned before, conviction is very different than guilt.  God doesn't reveal our sin so we can live in defeat, God shines a light so we can work on things. 

Only by His grace can we see it, only by His power can we work on it.  He gives us the victory.

How about you?

Do you see yourself as Lot?  Do you do well when you're near someone who has strong faith: a parent, a friend, or a pastor?  While you're near them: in their home, hanging out with them, or at church? 

What happens when you venture away?When you hang out with other people?  How strong is your faith?  Is there evidence you have any?

Are you feeling conviction?  It should hurt and cause shame.  It's not a fun feeling.  STILL, choose to thank God for it because that shows your heart is soft, your ears are open, and you are able to move forward with Him in victory.   This is where GROWTH begins!