prayerlessness

I know for me, I need to be more constant in my prayer life. I should be praying throughout the day, in constant communication with my Heavenly Father. Instead I pray when big situations come at me...when in reality, I need to be in prayer during the calm moments of my days...not only the crazy stress-ful moments that I live through.

On a larger scale, I've been thinking that not only must I deepen my prayer life, but so must the church. In order to combat the evil that surrounds us, we must be in constant prayer for us and for one another. Satan is the god of this world and in order to be salt and light we must be in constant communication with our Heavenly Father through prayer. And I find it so amazing that when we don't know how to pray, that the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf.

Not only must the believers deepen their prayer lives, but we need to be wrestling in prayer for the unbelievers around us. In a day, we as believers face tough decisions which need prayer but we also must present the souls of the unsaved to God..because at this moment they are going to spend eternity in hell. Prayer opens doors for witnessing and softens the unbeliever's heart. Prayer is powerful and sometimes I think that we forget to realize just how powerful prayer truly is. We neglect to see the power of prayer because we overlook the Provider of our prayer requests. We pray to an ALL POWERFUL GOD.

I sometimes find myself wondering: what if I prayed more? What would God do through my prayers? Would lives be changed for eternity? Would God heal the sick and hurting people in my life? What would God do if I spent more time in prayer?

The answer to that question is that God would do more than I would ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). If God promises to do more than I ask of Him or more than I can imagine Him doing, why don't I spend more time in prayer? Why don't I pour out my requests to my Saviour?

Somedays, I must confess, that I am so distracted by this world. I know that I am called not to be part of the world but the world sometimes consumes my time. In my life, in order for me to spend more time in prayer, I need to get my own Gethsemane. A place where I can pour out my heart to my God and not be hindered by what the world has to offer me at that particular moment. When I pray, I need to be away from the world. I shouldn't be able to hear the tv that my brother is listening to, and I can't listen to the radio when I pray because then I get distracted.


One final thing, I was reading last night and this quote caught my attention...which made me write this post. Anyway, it asks, " Have you ever lost one hour of sleep over the tragice spiritual death of your town or city? Has it ever kept you awake? And have you cried, ' O God, what can I do about this thing?'"

OH, how i miss THEM: 28-2

This entry is dedicated to my 28-2 girls. I miss them so much. Here are a few pictures that I found tonight to remember them (and our crazy times) .

...in the end, I want to stand in the beginning with you...
Movie night freshman week. Group pile of 28-2. We were stangers piled on each other but by the end of the year we are friends.

Oh, the random fun moments...how I miss them...and the girls who made the moments eventful.


The Mud fighters of 28-2.

28-ers at Jenny's Bridal Shower...it was a SURPRISE :)


The Worn out mattress surfers-tis so tough.

Never a dull moment on the hall-even at curfew a random camping party in the dorm room.

The crowded back seat of Heather's car when we decided to get dressed up to celebrate Dana's Birthday.

The BIG 4 of 28-2: enjoying our snowday :)

God blessed me with an amazing hall. I am grateful to have the chance to serve as RA on 28-2 for 2007-2008.

Proper Perspective-Praise

Psalm 103

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals

all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.

Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

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So often, I neglect giving praise to my Creator. Sure, I pray and read the Bible, but daily praise is one aspect of Christian life that I can improve on. Daily I go through my day void of praise...when in reality, I have so much to be giving God praise for.

Today, for example, I can praise the Lord for:

~my salvation

~my freedom in Christ

~my family

~friends

~the gloomy weather but its beautiful-RAIN

~forgiveness

~Cross Creek

~who God is

But so often I fail to praise the Lord. I get caught up in this worldly mindset that I don't have to be grateful or give praise to anyone.. but I should be giving all my praise to the One who gave his life for me.

Psalm 103 pretty much sums it up- Praise the Lord, o my soul.

Peace in a Stressful Time

Romans 15:13

~May the God of hope fill you WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may OVERFLOW with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I realized while reading this verse today that I am lacking a sense of peace in my life. I've been trying to figure things out on my own (which I know doesn't work, but I still try to figure things out anyway). Anyway, when I trust Jesus for everything, then I will have a life of peace and hope. An amazing life of peace and hope because I will have perfect peace and hope when I leave all of my thoughts and worries in the hands of the One who made me and gave His life for me.

Right now I am also learning to completely trust God for everything. I just don't have all the answers. Plus the world is so out of control. Gas is soaring and natural disasters are happening left and right. Often I've failed to see that God is still in control. He was never not in control. I just sometimes get too carried away in the here and now and that I fail to look to the One who holds everything in His hands.

I can trust God because I don't know what tomorrow or next week may hold for my life but I know that God holds my life in His hands. My future is full of perfect hope.