Saturday Morning Men’s Prayer Report – SM²PR

I mean, really? What could happen in 20 minutes?

Woke up last Saturday morning determined to get an earlier jump on attending the Men’s Prayer meeting. But, as I’m heading out the door I remembered there was something I had to do that could not wait. Oh well, I’m going to be later than I hoped.

I finally head off and of course I go to the wrong location. Based on the circumstances the group occasionally changes locations. (I still think it’s all an effort to dodge me) But, as God would have it, sitting there all by his lonesome is my good buddy in Christ, Dave S. He was waiting for a friend for another event so we chatted and caught up on things.

When we were done it was about 7:30am and by the time I would get to where the meeting was it would leave only about 20 minutes in the prayer meeting. I wondered, At this point should I even bother?

I shrugged my shoulders and concluded, Why not? So, I headed over, entered into the prayer room glad to see that there was a pretty good turnout. The guys were well into a prayer topic. I sat silently praying, trying to get up to speed with the flow of prayer and not really expecting much before someone would soon offer up the concluding prayer at around 8am.

Then Dan spoke up to encourage us to be faithful in listening for God’s voice and to be bold to share what we trust God is revealing – even if it doesn’t seem to make sense. He reminded us that there is no better place to step out and risk embarrassment than with this group.

Dave G, who has really been stepping out in this way turned to me and said, “God gave me a picture for your son.” Cool. He laid it on me and it fit perfectly with where my son is at and what God is doing in his life. Then Pete followed up with more imagery for my son that related to how God has been using something He led me to be doing even while questioning “Why am I doing this?” Not fully understanding it’s purpose but now realizing, if for nothing or nobody else, it was having an impact on my son. Jim followed up with scripture he was led to share that further spoke of where God was in all this.

Wow! I could not have been any more encouraged. Within minutes of stepping into the prayer meeting God had spoken to me through multiple voices but with a consistent message.

Then Pete offered up a request and we began to pray for healing but then the Holy Spirit redirected us that it may be more about praying for God’s wisdom for Pete to understand what God is doing beyond the circumstances.

Dan then offered up a prayer for a dear sister in Christ we all know. She is gifted in many ways but is now suffering from serious back pain and considering surgery. We prayed in confidence that God would heal her even from a distance “à la” the Centurion. It struck us, unlike an instantaneous back healing that Dan had once experienced, that this Sister’s healing would go almost unnoticed. That she would go about her day and realize that the pain was gone, not even comprehending when it happened.

As we were coming to this realization, one of the guys had a revelation. He had once been “mysteriously” healed from serious back pain.  He had attributed it to supplements or some other treatment, but was never sure what the true source was. He had not really given God the credit for it. Now he was praising God for a healing that he was only just then fully understanding was all God’s work.

This testimony took me to Isaiah 45:5 – I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

There were a number of other prayer requests raised up during the time I was there. Dan offered up a concluding prayer and the guys were pumped up, ready for the day and the week ahead.

What’s the point of all this? There was no major healing (not that we know of yet), but in 20 minutes time, the Holy Ghost (H.G.) showed up to guide and direct our prayers and to speak through us consistent messages of His goodness, righteousness and truth. I look back and wonder, “How did God do all that was covered in that short amount of time?”

How? Because God controls time and space. Ecclesiastes 3 begins with, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” and goes on in verse 11 to say God, “hath made every thing beautiful in His time.” In Solomon’s search for truth, he concluded that God has a purpose for everything, and the times and seasons are in His hands. Jesus confirmed God’s control of time and space when he said to His disciples in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.”

So, the next time you think the time is too short for God to act, Give a listen and think again!

One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingy. “Oh, it’s for you. H.G.’s on the line.”

Take the call.

 

 

 

 

 

Either Choose It or Ooze It! 

Matthew 5:48 – “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Willow Creek Perfection. I’m not going to pile onto Bill Hybels here. However, if his accusers are telling the truth (there seems sufficient evidence that they are) then Bill Hybels is not the victim and the real victims deserve our primary focus to provide for comfort, healing and restoration.

Yet, for me Bill Hybels and Willow Creek created an image of a Christian utopia. An amazing story of church growth and ministry that has expanded to impact people in powerful ways across the globe. A church with a gospel message that has found a way to uniquely engaged the secular world around us. Bill Hybels – leading, preaching, teaching, authoring best-selling books, advocating for change and even building leadership teams, boldly having women in key church positions. Perfect!

But, Oh no! Here we go again. Another church leader who we put up on a pedestal has taken a dive. The very things that he taught from the pulpit were things he failed to do for himself. Sound familiar? – Paul writes in Romans 7:14-20 – “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

So, once again, we must apologize as Christians relying on the old adage – “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.”

But wait a minute didn’t our Savior himself, declare to his disciples in Matthew 5:48 – “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

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“And now . . . for the rest – of the rest of the story”

Luke 15:5 – And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

(Continued from the Blog Post of 7/17/2018)

So, it’s the next ski season and I’m back on the slopes again, enjoying careening down pristine mountain trails. Praise God! It’s glorious. My shoulders are in perfect operation and I’m feeling fine. So fine that I get this idea that I’m going to go off a jump and “catch some air”. Something I rarely do. I take off and the second my skis leave the packed powder I realize this was not a good idea. A snowboarder undercuts me, I throw my weight back and land on my back with my left arm tucked underneath me. Owe, that hurt!

I get up, pull myself together, and feel a sharp, familiar pain coarse through my shoulder. Oh no! But this time it is not my right shoulder, the one that had been miraculously healed, it’s my left shoulder. Good grief! I can’t believe it.

I go through almost the exact experience I went through with my right shoulder. People praying for God’s healing but it only seems to be getting worse. Once again, I conclude that, while I was spared surgery before, surely another miracle is out of the question. I mean I was healed once for a skiing accident, at some point God’s got to be thinking, if that’s how you want to risk your body for enjoyment then be prepared to suffer the consequences. Like the Seinfeld Soup Nazi, God must be saying – “No more miracles for you!”

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Does God really ‘Design’ or Plan Out our Trials?

At some point in our lives, we’ve all been hit with an unforeseen event or circumstance that rocks our world. It may absolutely be due to no fault of our own. Something hits us “out of the blue.” We literally feel as though we have been sucker-punched or “busted in the chops.” (“chops” refers to the jaw and/or mouth area, so being busted in the chops means to be hit very hard in that area.) Another vivid description of the sensation is feeling as though you’ve been “kicked in the gut.”

In the first chapter of James he writes of “falling into various trials.” This creates similar imagery – the idea of strolling along without a care in the world and suddenly the world drops out from under you and you’re falling, crashing into the bottom of a ditch. You are left broken and bloody, gasping for air and wondering, “What just happened?

My question is, “Who is the author of this calamity?”

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