Teach us how to pray…

Some seasons, some days are just hard, words just can’t be found to describe the pain, frustration, or even joy that we feel.  It’s hard to express and talk to God when your soul is just aching, bored, tired, or overwhelmed. Jesus gave us the answer in Luke 11 when his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  And Jesus answered them with this, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” ESV

It seems so simple, right?! How could this simple prayer be “enough” to communicate with such a big God. He doesn’t call us to big elaborate prayer. He just wants us. He just wants to hear from You.

AP.

I recently sat in my local church and listened to a story the pastor was telling from his childhood as an illustration for his sermon. He told about how he was smaller than most of the kids in his class. And how he had to deal with the neighborhood bully. The story went something like this…

“There was a bully, named Billy, in his neighborhood that lived about a block away where he grow up and everyday, whether it was raining, snowing, sleeting, hailing, the bully was waiting outside his house the minute he would leave the house there he was. The pastor told how he would take off running to escape this bully. One day when the pastors dad had noticed what was happening he called his son, our pastor, into the front room of the house and his dad said to him “if you don’t fight him, I’m gonna whip you within an inch of your life”. He went on to say that when his dad told him to do something, he know he had to do it, because he would do what he said he would do. And he further said he didn’t sleep much that night knowing and wrestling with the thought that one way or another he was going to take a whipping that next morning. He walked out that next morning knowing that if he ran he was going to get a beating or a whipping on of the two. So he walked out and looked at Billy and said I’m not running today, come on, bring it on. He said that Billy ran like a scalded cat.”

The purpose of the story was to illustrate that the enemy has no control or power over us and we don’t have to be afraid. He spoke about in Psalm 40 how David sang about how God had delivered him.

As I sat in there in the service I felt the Holy Spirt saying when you start caring more about what your Father says, the enemy, the big bully, suddenly doesn’t seem so big and bad. All the sudden the pokes and taunting from the enemy aren’t so scary.

Friend. The enemy is defeated. He has no power. We must die daily to the selfish ways and get a vision of what our Father says to us and about us.

““For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:10-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/59/jer.29.10-14.ESV

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:1-6, 13-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.139.1-18.ESV

Your Father sees you and loves and will give you strength to stand up and against the enemy daily. He has already done the work we just have to stand firm on what our Father says.

AP

I live five miles off of the main road down a two lane highway that is curves and hills and there is no where to pass.  Occasionally, I get behind this red truck on my way into work.  Now I don’t know the man who drives this truck, but as I know that when I get behind my drive to work is screeching to a near halt.  My normal pace of *cough* 55-mph is now at top speed 20-mph.  So what do I do I assign a story to this man.  I’ve named him Farmer Joe.  He is retired.  He is heading to the coffee shop in town to catch up with his retired buddies to solve all of the world issue from religion to political.  He has nothing better to do today besides drive 20-mph (at top speed).  As I have drove behind him on the way to work and made up a whole story for Farmer Joe.  I thought about how many times in life we do this.  We assign a story to fill in the gaps.  We assign a story to the stressful situations to make it easier to process.  We assign stories to the disappointed places.  Why this happened, why they did this, why I did that, and what it all means.  We assign a story in the midst of the misunderstood tone in a text message.  We assign stories to the absence.  We assign a story to the loss.  We assign stories in the disappointment.  We assign stories to the distant friend.  We assign stories everywhere.  We also assign stories to God and His plans.   When things go crazy, we assign a story.  When things look bleak, we assign a story.  When things don’t go the way the “normal” way, we assign a story.  We add to the story.  We insert our interpretations, like when Eve says “you must not even touch that tree, or you will die”.  Oooops, thats not exactly what God said.   We assign and add to what God says about us.  What if everyday we just followed what He had for us.  How much more peace and joy would fill our lives.  Oh how wonderful it would be to never take our eyes off of Him.  The author and perfecter of our faith, the one who has already assigned the beginning and end of our stories.

We are not those terrible thoughts that plague our minds.

We are not our past.

We are not that pattern we want to fall into because it feels comfortable and safe.

We are not our flesh.

We are not that discouragement.

We are not that disappointment.

We are not that anger that rattles us to our core.

You are a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Cor 5:17

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14

God is our strength and ever present help in times on need.  ie: discouragement, disappointment, pain, shame, delay, crisis, etc.  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah” Psalm 46:1-3

Friends lets grab hold of that today.  Grab hold of the writer of the story.  Lets focus on the one who has written the story and allow Him to lead and guide and assign the stories and details and moments of our lives.

AP

 

 

Knee jerk reactions or things we just always do or say out of habit or I just always do.

Our defenses that keep us “safe”.

I have spent my whole life as a picky eater. I just would not, could not eat certain things, sometimes it was just I didn’t like the taste and, on most occasions, it was the texture of the food in my mouth would make me throw up. Perfect example is when restaurants would put condiments and veggies on my sandwiches, yuck! When i was younger I would not eat it. My family will tell you from the time I was just starting to eat I would examine my food closely, I would look it over, touch it, smell it and if it passed all the tests, only then would I put it in my mouth. As I got a little older, I would try to eat foods, I tried salad so many times, but the texture made me throw up nearly every time. Sometimes not paying attention I would eagerly bite into a sandwich while driving down the road, only to have the rude awaking that my request for the sandwich to be plain had went unfulfilled and I would spit it out and lose my appetite.

I was recently at a drive thru window ordering a cheeseburger, out of habit I blurted out “cheeseburger plain”, I went through the ordering section, paid and then as i moved forward I thought why did i order that plain? Your not the same, you can eat some of that stuff, and actually enjoy it. Shocker! My family gives me grief about the changes, since I’ve always been sooo picky. One person even said you’ve changed so much that if you met yourself a year ago you’d have to introduce yourself. I’ve been on a journey to healthier living and so many things have changed. There are so many foods that i can eat now. Thank you God. But as I thought about this “normal” way of ordering out of habit. I thought about how many things I do throughout my daily life out of habit or out of normalcy, ways of doing things that keep me “safe” and keep me from getting sick.

For years I avoided trying new things to avoid the possible risk. The truth is this applies to more areas than just foods. There are many things I have done and continue to do as knee jerk reactions to keep myself safe and secure and to avoid risk.

God is making me new. I must surrender these old ways. These old reactions will keep me tied up and bound and unable to move forward in wholeness and abundant life that Christ dies to give. I must surrender my thoughts and be transformed into who He created me to be.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Where are you holding back? What things are you knee jerking over that you need to allow God to transform and renew? I pray that you will surrender those places and allow God to do the work He wants to so. His ways are truly better than anything we could ever think up.

AP

08-06-20  I recently asked a friend “do you know me well enough, that if I start to forget, that you can remind me who I am.”  It was kind of a trick question and serious question.  It been a rough season of life.  And the enemy has tried at every turn to distort the way I see myself.  I know the Truths, but he is trick in the lies about me and who I am.  He wants you to focus on this temporary earthly identity.  He wants to point out and compare us to the norms of our current society.  This cannot be our measuring stick.  As Christians our identity is not wrapped up in the norms of our current society.  Our identity is found in God our Creator.  We carry the very breath and image of our Heavenly Father.  

09-27.21 It’s been over a year since I started this draft.  And what a year it has been.  Lots of life has happened.  Lots has changed and a lots has remained the same.  But the fact remains that we must get a picture of what God has to say and what He sees when He looks at us.  All the things going on around us are not surprising to God.  He knows, He knew and He already planned for it.  

Ecclesiastes 1 (ESV)

1 The words of the Preacher,^[a] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

AP

I knew something wasn’t right, but I never imagined that things had gotten that far out of control.  In August of 2017 I walked into the doctors office for my routine 6 month lab work and check up.  I hadn’t been great, things seemed off, but i never imagined just how far things had gone out of control.  I stepped onto the scale and seen the highest number I had ever seen in my life, and I was in shock!  I couldn’t believe it.  My first thought was oh no my body is shutting down, i am retaining everything, again!  I am back to square one.  What is going to happen now.  The thoughts just kept coming.  What if this, what if that, what if, what if, what if.  I sat there in that little room waiting for the doctor to walk in.  While he didn’t seem as concerned about the insane about of weight gain in the short 6 months (approximately 40+ pounds), I was at a loss of what I was going to do.  Then the doctor came in and we discussed lab results and sure enough my thyroid had gone off the rails, again!  This has been a part of my story for the past 10 years, and while there had been small ups and downs, but it hadn’t went completely off the rails since the initial diagnosis in 2009.  I left the doctors office and headed back to the office, the doctor’s answer being yet another medication adjustment and no real answers as to the cause.  I have learned that listening to the doctor is the best option, as far as taking the medicine goes, I tried deviating and doing it my way in the beginning, and it didn’t work.  I headed back to the office wondering what I was going to do to get the weight off and get to a better, healthier place.  I starting praying, praying a lot, I turned over my health and my battle with the thyroid to the Creator, who knows way more about the way my body works, I mean He created me.  He knows me inside and out.  He even knows how many hairs are on my head, and if you seen the amount of hair I lose on the daily, you would understand what a miracle it is He can keep up with that.  Now I would really like to be able to say that the clouds opened up and scriptures popped out and some miraculous moments happened that shifted and perfected everything, and then give you that magic prayer, but it didn’t, that has not been how God has worked in my life.  I am now 18+ months into that prayer.  God has been faithful to lead me through a process of getting my health back on track, thyroid is still not exactly where we want it, but it’s getting closer and I am 90+ pounds less than what I was when I started and feeling great.

What is an area you are struggling with today?  What is the thing that doesn’t seem right that you are avoiding and hoping is really nothing.  My prayer is that today is your day, write it down, place a marker on the road and say today is the day things start to change.  Surrender to the God who has the answer and wants to meet you right where you are. And he wants us to let him have control, and then, here is the hard part, be still and let Him work.  He will lead and guide and prepare the steps.  He isn’t afraid of the messes.  He already prepared the way and wants to lead us along the way, say yes to His pursuit today.

AP

God loves us so so much. He has pursued us from the beginning.

When I set up this blog and felt led to name it Actively Pursuing.  I thought maybe it was a play on all the things I had my hands in at the time. But in the last month I am seeing it had nothing to do with me. Its about the pursuit of God after me and after us. I have always seen his hand in my life. But looking back through history and thinking of all the ways he pursues us, when he doesn’t have to. Mind blowing!

He has pursued us from the beginning. He continued to make a way for us, knowing we are prone to wander, prone to sin. But he created us in his image, even in our worse state he sees himself in what he created and pursues us and makes a way to draw us back to that original design. He wants us to trust him, rely on him, and follow his ways. Jesus revealed all things to us. He created us to depend on him for our very breath.

Even from the beginning, he could have wiped us all out and started again with a newer better version, but he didn’t. Instead he used Noah and his family and then promised to never do that again. Then story after story of God bringing us back to himself and then the final reconciliation using Jesus to pay the price for us once and for all. It’s settled, its done; we are his.

AP

 

Sharing with a Friend

God is teaching about:

Himself:  He loves me soooooooo much.  Much more than I can comprehend.  He wants to be involved in every area of our lives.  The day to day moments and the major milestones.  He designed us, he knows us and he longs for us to know ourselves and see ourselves the way he sees us.  We will never attain a full understanding this side of heaven, but daily I see more and more.

The state of your heart:  Is in desperate need of more of Him.  There are soo many doors and windows I had/have closed.  I struggle to release control.  I had/have conditioned myself to be self-reliant.  I have believed I could take care of myself.  The last two years have been a real journey of learning to trust God in those moments.  I’ve said I trust him, but he has called me out and really asked for me to trust and rely on him.  I felt like I was trusting before, and to an extent I was.  The act of obedience when he asked for the next level, to leave the comfortable and step out in the unknown has been such a ride.  It was more than leaving a job.  I was walking away from a way of thinking, a way of doing life.  I have seen God do some interesting things in my life.  And I’ve had to sit and wait on Him.  I have had to get on my face and confess the frustration, anger and discontent with so many things and situations and ask him to help me.  I’ve had to lay down dreams.  I’ve had to repent when I’ve felt my way would’ve been better.  Or when the old place, ( I call Egypt), looks soo much better than the momentary issues.  I’ve had to realize that even in the hard work of being good, I’ve harbored some sin, that needed to be washed out.  In the last few month the Lord has illuminated some things and said lay these down, this can’t move into the next season.  The state of my heart is Trust in Him, and resting in Him.  Trusting him when its good, when it hurts, when I don’t see it….simply saying God this looks________, but I choose to trust you.

His desires for you:  To trust him.  I lean in closer and trust his plans.  To know him, to know his character and to allow myself to be transformed by Him.  In letting him into the closed off places, allowing other in also.  Allowing him to use other people.  Iron sharpens iron.  He is doing different works in all of us and he never meant for us to go through life alone.  We are designed for companionship, and friendships that will allow us to bring more Joy into our lives and bring us closer to Him.

Where to go from here:   Just keep saying Yes.  Yes to vulnerability, yes to authenticity, yes to hard conversations, yes to conversations in general, yes to friendship, yes to Him. Yes, to Trusting, even when it hurts and doesn’t make any sense. Yes, to sharing. Yes.

So many times this is my best prayer. “God I love you, God I trust you!”

What is looks like for you to live experiencing freedom:  uhm, I would say it will would be peaceful.  The more I lean in and trust, open doors, and lay myself at His feet the peace I walk in.  The more honest I am with myself and others about what I am feeling, even if it’s just a glimpse, the admission that I am weak.  Leads me to a deeper trust in Him and his peace washes over me.

I stand amazed at the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God!

I encourage you to take some time to ask yourself and ask God what he is teaching you in these area of your life also.  It changes in every season as we grow and submit our lives to Him each day.  It’s beneficial to look back at where we’ve been and how he has pursued us and then focus in on where you’re going.

Himself…

The state of your heart…

His desires for you…

Where to go from here…

What it looks like for you to live experiencing freedom…

AP

Yesterday I blew it!  Last night as I was laying down for the night, like every night I was discussing the day with the Lord and I had to repent of the failures of the day.  We all have things that trip us up.  Sometimes its seemingly minor things like wishing you had done this or that differently and sometimes its sin, ugly sin, things you know God said no to and you couldn’t resist.  And yesterday,  I blew it!  I think about the words of Paul in Romans 7 when he is describing the two natures fighting within us…

“I don’t understand why I act the way I do.  I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate.” Romans 7:15 ERV

My apologizes to the Lord and requests for forgiveness poured from my heart and  I drifted off to sleep, resting in His grace and mercy.  When I woke up this morning I felt this shame from the failures of yesterday.  Why did I do that?  Why am I not stronger? Why?  What if I mess up again? The shame hung around my neck like a heavy cloak.  The enemy… he comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  He wants our future.  He wants us weighed down and frozen with the fear and shame.  He doesn’t want us walking in freedom.  God is faithful.  As I came before the Lord once again I laid my life down, I laid down that cloak of shame, and the heavy burdens the enemy had strapped around my neck and in return picked up His grace, mercy, and his burdens which are easy and his yoke is light.

My verse of the day on my Bible app describes the desire of my heart to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 ERV

God loves us! The good, the bad, and the ugly.  He desires for us to know him. He wants us to invite Him into our struggles.  There is nothing more refreshing in any relationship than to know someone completely and to be known by them.  There is something deep that happens when you find your people, a tribe of people who know you and love you no matter what.  God is even better than that.  He loves you, be encouraged today, he knows everything about you, he knit you together in your mothers womb, and he knows the number of hairs on your head, and he knows your deepest hurts, failures, and shame and he loves you.  Pursue Him!

AP

Day 4

Isaiah 11:6-10

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

New King James Version (NKJV)

When I am studying scripture I like to look at in several translations. I like this translation from the ERV.

Then wolves will live at peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down in peace with young goats. Calves, lions, and bulls will all live together in peace. A little child will lead them. Bears and cattle will eat together in peace, and all their young will lie down together and will not hurt each other. Lions will eat hay like cattle. Even snakes will not hurt people. Babies will be able to play near a cobra’s hole and put their hands into the nest of a poisonous snake. People will stop hurting each other. People on my holy mountain will not want to destroy things because they will know the Lord. The world will be full of knowledge about him, like the sea is full of water.At that time there will be someone special from Jesse’s family. He will be like a flag that all the nations gather around. The nations will come to him and ask him what they should do. And the place where he is will be filled with glory. ERV

All I can say is WOW. What a day that will be!

I want to spend my days building people up and not tearing them down. I really struggle with people who do things and then wonder why this is happening and then continue to repeat the same things. Help me Holy Spirit to be a beacon of light and to build people up and help them along their journey.

Who can you choose to help build up instead of tear down?

AP