B-log

We moved to Texas in 2005. I was literally on the job for one week when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and brought historic damage to the gulf cities in several states. We up in Dallas did our best to welcome the wave (no pun intended) of evacuees who had been displaced by the storms.

A few times over the years that followed, we’d get a weather alert that a subsequent Hurricane had built up in the Gulf, or was making landfall, and that dangerous storms were to be expected. There were times when we’d be on the ball field and the lightning alarm would sound, and we would rush home to the news that tornadoes were sighted and may touch down in the area.

We were fortunate to always have the severe weather skirt around us, but we often saw the pictures or video of those who weren’t so fortunate. And as the 2011 Joplin tornado showed, sometimes the devastation can be so widespread it’s a wonder if anyone escapes the destruction.

Whenever those storm alarms would come, the meteorologist always gave the same advice. “Take cover!” The advice is always to go underground. If that’s not possible go to a central room, one without widows if possible, as insulated from the outside as much as possible, and get under anything that can protect you. We had to do that one time at church when a big storm hit, but never at home. We had a plan, though, to go to the pantry under the stairs…it was our “take cover” spot.

I got to thinking about our “take cover” spot when I came across this quote:

The pride of man and the strife of tongues find no entrance into the pavilion of God. The secret of his presence is more secure than a thousand Gilbralters. I do not mean that no trials come. They may come in abundance, but they cannot penetrate into the sanctuary of the soul, and we may dwell in perfect peace, even in the midst of life’s fiercest storms. (Hannah Whitall Smith)

I don’t know how much other stuff I agree on with Whitall Smith, but I find strong affinity with this statement of hers.

We all face proverbial storms, and some of them seem pretty dangerous. They threaten to destroy our well being, our family, our peace of mind, our important relationships. And just like a meteorologist’s storm warning, we can do some simple things to minimize the danger and mitigate the potential damage.

The smartest thing, though, that you can do when a lifestorm* is bearing down on you is for you to find sanctuary in prayer. I don’t mean “hide out from the world in prayer.” I don’t know how God does it, but he has made it possible for you to be completely engaged in the world while still being completely engaged in a spirit of prayer. And when you do that, you will find yourself in an incredibly sweet spot. And that’s where Whitall Smith has got it right…when you are deep in the sanctuary of prayer, God is able to protect you with perfect peace.

Here’s the challenge, at least in my own experience: being willing to go deeper into the sanctuary when the winds of the lifestorm are beating at your back (so to speak). I think the natural inclination for a person is to pray for a while, then to leave the communion with God and to go fight the battle waging on outside. To me, that’d be like me staying inside my inner pantry as the storm approaches, but then…right when the eye of the storm is overhead… I run out with a cooler full of ice trying to offset the warm air disturbance. It’s stupid and possibly tragic.

When I have faced adversity, the storm can feel relentless. When I enter into a season of prayer, I try to give God all my attention, where I can unburden myself of my fears, my worries, my concerns, my troubles. But the storm is relentless. It is distracting. It constantly is poking at me, whipping at me, beating upon me. The challenge is to not give my attention to the storm, but to seek deeper sanctuary, even while addressing the trials.

Look…I don’t have it all figured out. I just know that I wrestle with it. And I suspect you do, too.  The sanctuary of prayer is the safest shelter imaginable. I hope you get increasingly better at finding God’s protection within it.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 

Isaiah 26:3

*“lifestorm”…do you like that…I made it up. Google showed that there’s a lifestorm counseling service that has a duck as a logo. I don’t understand why.

(this is an adapted devotional I wrote with Rick Ferguson several years ago)

Prayer accomplishes three things: 

1. worship of the Lord
2. spiritual warfare
3. works of righteousness. 

When you communicate with God in prayer, your prayer may contain any one of (or all) five different elements. 

1. praise – adoring God for who He is.  
2. thanksgiving – expressing gratitude for what God has done.  
3. confession – to agree with God about your sin. 
4. intercession – praying on behalf of other people.  
5. petition – praying for your own needs and desires.  

Remember these elements and include them in your prayer life.  To be a consistent person who prays, you need to be in a constant spirit of prayer, which means to be communicating with God every waking moment.  Keep a constant schedule of prayer.  Make a daily appointment with God and keep it! 

Remember the three essentials when you pray: 

• pray in the name of Jesus
• pray in submission to the Holy Spirit
• pray according to the Word of God.  

Prayer is purposeful and powerful.  You prayer is how God releases His power on earth.  Without it, you can accomplish nothing of eternal or spiritual value.  It is time to pray.

From my archives, dated 2/25/2004…

I’ve been pretty continually thanking God for last night answering our prayer to save Cotter. We’ve, as I mentioned before, prayed for his salvation ever since we knew he’d be a part of our family. My prayer has literally been, “Lord, please bring Cotter to salvation at a young age, so that he may live a long life of faith, knowing you and making you known.”

This morning I read a great quote found in the book Prayerwalking:

• Steve Hawthorne
  “As you pray with God’s heart, your prayers will begin to lock in on the completion of God’s purpose…

I’m in awe that God would provide us salvation. Last night, Cotter fell asleep wearing the biggest smile I have ever seen upon his face. This came after a wonderful conversation that will forever be one of the most precious of my life:

Cotter: What will I be in heaven?

Me: What do you mean?

Cotter: Will I be little, or grown up?

Me: I’m not sure…you’ll just ‘be.’

Cotter: I’ll just be “Cotter?”

Me: Right.

Cotter: Cool….Will I be able to play catch with Jesus?

Me: I’m sure He will be thrilled to play catch with you.

Cotter: I’ll want to be the Broncos. He can be the Jaguars.

Me: Will you let me play, too?

Cotter: Of course. You can be on my team….Daddy, is there a rainbow in heaven?

Me: The Bible says there is.

Cotter: Cool! What else is there in heaven?

Me: Well, The Bible says that there’s a giant tree in the middle of heaven, and a beautiful river that flows right through heaven. The streets are made of gold…It’s always bright and sunny…There’s no more nighttime, and you never get tired and you never go to sleep. And you are never sad.

Cotter: Can I climb the tree?

Me: You’d probably be able to do all the tree-climbing that you’ll want to.

Cotter: I love to climb trees.

Me: And you’ll get to live in a mansion…

Cotter: What’s a mansion?

Me: It’s a big, huge house that Jesus is making just for you!

Cotter: Is it bigger than our house?

Me: A lot bigger.

Cotter: Like a hundred and sixty times bigger?

Me: I don’t know, but it’s a lot bigger.

Cotter: Heaven sure sounds cool.

Me: Doesn’t it? I’m so glad we get to be there together…

Cotter: Me, too, Daddy. And Mommy and Kaylyn, too. And someday Kelsi will pray like I did tonight, and she’ll get to go to heaven, too.

Me: That’s our prayer, buddy. It’s time for sleep….

And as my son rolled to his stomach so I could have the privilege of scratching his back to induce slumber, I prayed a new prayer for him:

Lord, thank you for saving Cotter. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Lord, I’d ask now that you’d protect him from the enemy, protect him from the temptations of the world. Give him knowledge, discernment, and understanding that can only come from You. Use Him however you see fit to bring glory to yourself. Give me the strength to be satisfied and submissive to Your will in His life, and keep me from getting in the way of his spiritual growth. Help me be a father worthy of a son who belongs to You. Set him apart to be a boy and then a man who influences others, who impacts the culture and who radiates your love and truth to this lost and dying world. Please don’t let Cotter settle for anything less than your will, your plan. Keep him from compromise, so that You would be lifted up, through his faithfulness. Thank you for the miracle of redemption. Praise Your Name!

10. What are your specific and regular practices regarding the spiritual disciplines (e.g., personal prayer, Bible study, meditation, stewardship, learning, etc.)?

First, let me commend you on the proper use of e.g. Most people instead use i.e., which is not correct. So kudos to you on that.

I’d be lying if I said something like “I pray every day from 6-6:30, have a quiet time that lasts 20 minutes,” and so on. Here’s the reality:

I pray every day. A lot. I believe that I’m supposed to pray without ceasing…so that’s what I try to do. Much of my prayer is done with my eyes open, and most of the time I’m listening for God rather than telling God what he already knows. I have times every day of dedicated talking and intercession and petition and confession and praise and worship. I pray for friends daily. But prayer is not something I have on a “to do” list that I check off once I’ve recited some specific prayers. I try to be available to God as much as possible.

I’m in the Word of God virtually every day, and not part of a prescribed reading program. I understand the value in that, and in different seasons of life, I partake in such activities. Right now, I’m spending a lot of time in James, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. It’s a bit of a chicken/egg situation, but a lot of my teaching comes from my Bible study discoveries, and a lot of my Bible study discoveries come out of my planned teaching schedule. I don’t separate my devotional time from my study time. I’m just not wired that way, and I think it makes my teaching more genuine and impacting. Again…I always have the Word with me (thank you, technology), and I like to go to the Word in quiet moments, times of waiting, in the morning before things get busy, and at night as I wait for sleep to arrive.

Stewardship - I believe in whole-life stewardship. We practice it and recommend it to others as a way to see the faithful work of God in life.

Meditation - Another ongoing, daily discipline. Either you let the word of God shape your world view, or you let the world shape your god view. Taking every thought captive isn’t something you can accomplish in 30 minutes every day. It requires living perpetually in the third chair and conscientiously letting the word of God be the final arbiter of truth in your life. Case in point: I determined to use this 56-question marathon to meditate on my convictions, rather than just puke out a small booklet to satisfy an initial requirement.

Learning - The world is a classroom and every person is a student. I hope I’m always learning in every opportunity. Not afraid to make mistakes, but determined to not make the same mistake twice. Rarely, learning requires a conference or a classroom, but most often the best learning environments are the ones you visit every day in the normal routine of life. I enjoy reading the writings of smart, godly people, listening to dynamic biblical preaching and teaching, and conversing with all people about the mysteries where faith and life intersect.

Summary - We have a habit of sucking the life out of God’s life-giving purpose. The spiritual disciplines are beautiful, life-giving, enriching experiences that are designed to make a difference in the lives of other people (see 1 Cor. 13). Like the Sabbath itself, believe that the disciplines were made for man, and not man for the disciplines. By being disciplined to explore my relationship with God in spirit and in truth, God develops me for his purpose in this world. 

The consequences of prayerlessness:

• This is the “default” life. A preview of life apart from God, separated from him.
• Choosing to be “uncovered.”  Little specific grace, little special mercy.
• Extreme limits on wisdom, knowledge, understanding.
• Forfeiture of favor and influence
• Acceptance of loneliness, isolation, and ignorance.

·       Why should you pray?  Reasons to pray

• You were created to pray (Ps. 27:8).
• You are commanded to pray (1 Thess 5:16)
• You are commended for praying. (Pr. 15:8)
• You are calmed by praying (Phil 4:6-7; 1 Tim 2:8)
• You are carried by praying (James 5:13)
• You are corrected by praying (James 5:16)
• You are communicating with God through prayer (Matt. 7:7)
• You are changed through prayer (Ephesians 1:17-19)
• Miracles are confirmed through prayer (Rom. 10:9-13; 2 Chr. 7:14; James 5:13,16)
• God is consecrated through prayer (1 Chr. 29:20; Ps. 34:1; 103)

A Wisconsin judge has ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. This ruling won’t go into effect until/unless the President’s administration exhausts all its appeals. 

Once again, nobody needs permission to pray. America grants freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to peaceful assembly.  And even if the United States did not grant these freedoms, God does.

This May 6, and any day in the future, assemble for the purpose of prayer. Take your needs to God, worship him in spirit and in truth.

I’m taking a day alone with God today as part of my personal preparation for our church’s upcoming GROW weekend. I’m taking a bit of a mid-day break…not from God, but from the “experiential” part of it so I can record some of my thoughts, and refer back to them.

The day really started last night as I went to bed. As I tried to relax to fall asleep, I found my thoughts keep wandering back to what I would experience. In a lot of ways, I spend most my days with God, in the sense that I recognize that everything I do is because of his power, his strength, his guidance. However, there are certainly plenty of times that I walk in to a situation “on my own.” So as I was thinking about my DAWG (I’m not in love with this acronym, but it’s quicker for the typing), I was really looking forward to it with a sense of expectancy, but also fearful/humbled about the prospect of discovering what God would have in store for me.

So morning came after a good, dreamless night of sleep (as far as I can remember). I determined to see the family off before I started my DAWG. I didn’t “pray God in” as a welcome, because I believe that he’s here with me, all the time. He’s not in my presence, I’m in his presence. So I determined that I just needed to clear away my distractions and focus on him.

I began by opening my Bible and reading some Psalms. There’s no rationale for where I began. I believe I can open my Bible to any page and find God there. So I began reading in Psalm 145. Here is some of what stood out to me (my comments/reactions in italicized parentheses):

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