September 27 2014

September 27 2014 Greetings My Friend, The more I walk in this faith journey the more I find myself praying which to me is amazing. At the start of this journey I wondered how in the world I’d find time to pray let alone read my Bible and digest it and the works. God has shown me step by step how to channel my whole life to revolve around Him and today I am in awe. The church I grew up in tended to have prayers that were written in the bulletin and we followed along reading out loud. The Minister’s prayers were so deep and often even flowery that I thought I’d never learn to pray. I could offer up a “popcorn” prayer here and there but making a daily habit of it seemed undaunting to me. These days I spend quiet time in prayer with God and I find myself having heart to heart chats with Him. I am learning to discern His voice from my own desires and I find myself growing so much. As the day unfolds though I find I pray about the smallest of things as well. When on Face Book I see needs and I lift the needs up in a prayer. I need to make a decision and I ask God to guide me in the smallest of details throughout the day. A fur child enters the room and I find a prayer of thankfulness going up. Sometimes I get encouraged by someone and I think “Father You are right here too”. Ever so slowly I find myself having a dialog with God on and off all day and into the night anymore. I’ve learned to start talking to God as I fall asleep and when I wake up at night and in the morning I have a tendency to finish talking to God. The ACTSS prayer format got me started in this dialog with God. A-adoration C- Confession T- thankfulness S- supplication S-service. When I am in a conversation with God I begin using this format and I may stay with it or drift off into something I am trying to work out. It is my starting point and generally I pray through each letter. At first I prayed each letter at each setting. Today though I may begin waking up with it and finish up with it at night as I fall asleep. Another prayer that is a part of my dialog with God is walking through Jesus’ last hours. This one shows me how much I am wanted and loved. This too helps me to stay focused on God and God alone. As an advisor to teens many years ago the letters “WWJD” was popular. I find myself asking this question often (What would Jesus do?) The more I absorb the fact that God knows each and every thing I think, say and do I realize that some parts of my life are things I would not want my husband, children and then the thought even God to know about me. As I absorb this fact I find that I’d rather not enter into those areas if I don’t want others to know that fact about me. The walking way is often hard so God guides me in the walking away. I admit to God that this has a stronghold on me and then after I admit it God begins to take me by the hand and show me how to leave this struggle alone. Many times to day as a thought enters my mind I am now able to say “Lord take this thought away please” and God does just that. I also know that if I mess up and go down the wrong path that if I sincerely confess that God will forgive me and then help me to get out of that moment. The thing is that eventually I find myself entering back to that struggle less and less often. I can’t do it and think that God will always forgive me and go do it again on purpose. That isn’t really being sincere or honest. God knows all things and He knows if I am truly trying to walk away or if I am making the motions of wanting to walk away. Why keep up the pretense? God knows. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet