More thoughts on prayer

For the past few days I have been praying more than I ever have before, more focused prayer has been coming through me, and I have to say that it has brought me closer to my creator and my Healer more than I have ever been. I have always wanted this and have always heard talk of it, that feeling that he is near, that he is whispering in my ear, that he is pushing me into the person that God intended me to be, when he formed me out of nothingness in my mothers womb. The more I put myself under his authority and ask him to guide me even in my own prayers, so that I could be evermore closer to the oneness that my heart craves, so that I could truly be more in line with what he is praying for and what he is wanting to get done, so that I can be more of a conduit of his love and his healing. Truly focused on the bringing of his Kingdom through me. The struggle for him is truly worth it, that feeling of being lost is in all of us, but when I touch the hem of his robe and I feel connected to his will that feeling starts to fade away, I don't feel so lost, I feel like I have a purpose that is deeper than me, it grounds me and feeds me, and shapes me from this lump of clay into a true work of art, I may not be totally there yet but know that I am on the path.

Prayer

Prayer has been something that I always felt odd about, I have always done it but had this feeling that I was missing something. I have this strong desire to live out my convictions and I know that prayer is a very important aspect of that. Resting in Gods arms and letting his will lead my life has always been a hope of mine. Prayer is something that I feel is a beautiful thing, someone calling out to their creator asking for help being the person that they were created to be, communing with God, that's awesome! But as I am learning now more about prayer there are so many more aspects to prayer itself, that it really takes some effort; time to devote to it, a heart that you can dig into and use, and humbleness. The Daily Audio Bible has been having a "class" from John Eldridge and Ransomed Heart ministries about prayer, which has been very informative for me. It has given me more understanding toward prayer. Thank you Lord.

Pods

After a lots of driving on a long business I am finally back home, on my trip I loaded a lot of podcasts onto my mp3 player and dove deep into them, which is something that I love to do. I am so thankful for the ability to have so many ideas at my fingertips. Here is some of the ones that I have been listening to;The daily audio bible (which has helped me so much in my walk with God, giving me a chance and the ability to journey through the bible), Mars Hill Bible Church(Which some of you know is the home of Rob Bell, one of my favorite teachers, I always feel so lifted and learn so much from Rob and many of the other pastors), Starving Jesus (which is a cast from Craig Gross and JR Mahon from XXXChurch, very awesome), and of course Revolution Church (Jay Bakker's church, a like minded follower of Jesus). I feel so energized, thank you Jesus....

authentic community

This thought has been in my mind for a while and just recently I have stumbled on a website called Thrive Ministries it is a missional based ministry, concerning creating an authentic community, and living out Missio Dei or the Mission of God; which is the idea that God is actively working to restore his creation to wholeness. This has put a hop in my step thinking about creating a community where we as God's children can come together in total honesty and trust to heal the wounds that cover us, were we can learn to love each other's true self the self that God created. My whole life I have been thinking along this path, that I want something deeper where I can shed the false self I have created and have a true community that I can trust and be trusted in. Where I can be healed and help others heal. A place where love permeates and we can help each other learn to love our spouses and children more, and spread the healing and redemption of the whole world. This is what I feel that Jesus was talking about, bringing God's Kingdom here. Something here and now not just a prayer that we pray so that someday we will live for eternity with God, we all need that relationship with God healed.
From Thrive I heard a quote from author Parker Palmer that expresses this quite well "Afraid that our inner light will be extinguished or our inner darkness exposed, we hide our true identities from each other, in the process we become separated from our own souls. We end up living divided lives so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the integrity that comes from being who we are." he also said "How can affirm anothers identity when I deny my own, how can trust anothers identity when I defy my own." A thank you from me goes out to Thrive Ministries for futhering my walk with God...

School?!?!?!

Wow here comes school again, and I am not ready, but I can handle it as long as Gods got my back.

new year.....

So for years I have not made any resolutions, but this is a new year, right? Lately I have been very moved to write down some goals so that I will be motivated to become the person that I can be proud of, so here goes my new year resolutions:

1:To seek God more, and let him father me; praying more regularly, fasting more and loving more.
2:Seek out what it means to be a man, and what it means to lead.
3:To love my wife more, show her that I picked her because I want relationship with her more than anyone else, I want to build her up and show her that she is an amazing woman and mother that deserves praise.
4:I want to live my life more fiscally responsibly, I want to learn how to live within my means, and still give my family what they need.
5:I want to seek out deeper friendships with folks from our church, spending more time with them.
6:I want to do the best that I possibly can at work and school.
7:To be the father I like to think that I am, spending more time with my kids and talking to them more kindly.
8:To follow Jesus more closely, letting his way of thinking invade my life and free me from my old mindsets.
9:To love more deeply every thing that I do or interact with.

I think that these will keep me busy for a while.

Today I tried to preach a sermon....

Well today I got up in front of my church and tried to teach about my thoughts on the genius of Jesus, I was half nervous and half exited to share some of my thoughts and feelings about Jesus, I defiantly have a heart for teaching, I think that as soon as I get my auto-cad degree that I will probably start perusing some kind of theological degree. I have a certain view point on Christianity, and have a passion for history, which has to lead me somewhere, right? Well here is some of my thoughts about the genius of Jesus;

Prayer:

Jesus if you would show yourself to us in this community today,

For I know that you are already here with us,

Help us feel your presence,

Help us feel your genius today,

Help us be a true community all in relation to you,

Open our minds to your will,

And open our hearts to the love that you have for us,

And in this New Year lead us to be a community of disciples fulfilling your mission.

In my journey I have been around the block, so to say, in the spiritual realm.

I have been involved in many different paths trying to find my way to God;

Ever since I was very young I had a strong yearning to seek God.

And I'm not going to deny some of the awesome moments that I went through and the fact that I truly believe God was there with me, in fact I know that he was.

Another thing that I know is that it was all to lead me here,

To be in communion with you all,

and to be in communion with my King, or if I may say, my president Jesus.

No other spiritual practice or path speaks so eloquently to all aspects of our lives,

teaching us how not only to get our selves right with God but almost more importantly giving ourselves to our neighbors and focusing all of our intentions on LOVE.

So speaking to the genius of Jesus I want us to look at 3 verses today if you have a bible with you today please open them to Mark 2:15,

For me this is a great example of the way that Jesus thinks,

To help us understand this let us look at the context of this passage,

As I understand it in Jesus’ time most of the Pharisees blamed the occupation and fall of Israel to Rome on the sinners and nonreligious Jews,

They felt like if only the people of Israel could be more religious and clean like them they could rise again,

And more over the idea of communing and eating with them was blasphemous,

They could not be brought down to the level of sinners that would corrupt them and ruin them in God’s eyes,

So Jesus’ thinking is that we not only need to stoop to the level of sinners we need to eat with them and show them the love of God,

He is not thinking about his reputation,

He is not thinking about bringing Israel back to its once held glory,

He is thinking about Gods healing love right then and right there.

On to our second passage Mark 4:21-25 please follow along,

For this passage I would like to read out of the Message Bible,

It really helped me understand what Jesus is trying to say,

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To bring it into context Jesus is talking to a large crowd,

so large that he decided to get out on to a boat to speak while the crowd listened from the edge of the Sea of Galilee

he is talking about how to live life to this group first using a farmer as a metaphor,

something that they are all very familiar with,

with most everyone in those times having to grow most of their food,

and then the metaphor of a lamp which was a staple for all households,

but it is that last point that he makes is what gets me,

Generosity that is Jesus’ way,

That is Gods way.

Lets move on, Mark 10:17 once again from the Message

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The context here is that someone is trying to understand how to gain eternal life,

To understand how to get into Gods Kingdom,

And Jesus turns right around and tell the rich man that he needs to give it all away,

I would argue that this is the last thing that he was expecting to hear,

I think that Jesus saw right thru the man and saw that he wasn’t ready to let God take control,

Genius,

Which leads me to my next point,

The Great Reversal, what a great thought, what a genius way of putting it,

The ones with the most , last

The ones with the least, first

This is the way it is in Jesus’ upside down Kingdom,

I mean in our culture we see things and have been taught things in a certain way,

That we want to be on top with the few, the rich, that’s success, right?

We don’t want to mingle with those who have the least,

The riff-raff, the unclean, the non religious, right?

We see hundreds of adds a day that tell us we need more,

Which means we need more money, right?

Jesus says no,

We don’t, we need to be with the least, Eat with them,

Mingle with them, Love them, count our selves among them,

and with our generosity show them Gods healing love.