Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Prayer

this past sunday, i talked about prayer. even doing my post-sunday, armchair-quarterback analysis of the event is still difficult. prayer is the most dramatic, intimate, mysterious, and defining moment in a disciple's life. it says more about who we are and about who god is (to us) than anything else we do on our journey. prayer is hallowed ground. prayer is the secret place.
  • prayer is an act of remembrance...
  • prayer is refocus...
  • prayer is an expression of faith...that which i cannot see (or feel) is non-the-less real...
  • prayer is realignment...
  • prayer is a command...it puts me in the right place!
  • prayer reprioritizes...it puts my issues in the right place...underneath the umbrella of god's greater issues.

more than anything else, prayer is recognizing that i am not in control. no matter how hard i try, i can’t do it! prayer is acknowledging that i cannot do it on my own…no matter what “it” is. prayer is where i willingly admit that i don’t know what’s best for my life (or anybody else’s life, for that matter), but god does. prayer is admitting that am human, that am weak, and that i’m really not too bright.

i am reminded, everyday, that people make bad decisions. decisions that hurt others and mess up lives and make mockery of god's grace and god's law. i see the effects of people living "out of control". god help us. amen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

HI Mike,
This is going to get a little personal for me but I know that prayer is important, duh, but being a middle school leader I feel like i should be an expert at this prayer thing. I honestly hate praying out loud and have gotton away with not doing it since i've attended this church. The more I grow the more I feel I just have to get over my fear and do it. So the point is thanks for the sermon and admitting to us that even you have struggles.