Friday Fun segment and a new addition to the Wolfgang clan....

Last week I wrote about a book I was reading on prayer but this week I have been able to participate again in a 21 days of prayer adventure with a local church in a neighboring town.  It means rising earlier in the morning to make the 15 mile drive through some winding rooms to join others to lift our voices to God.  

Each morning I enter the room to the musical notes of another Christian song and the greetings of others who have come to participate in the same thing.  We start by singing a song together.  A short devotional follows by one of the members of the church and then we move onto the matter of praying.  There are prayer cards on the platform that are available to pick up and pray for but there is also the freedom to just stay put or wander about the room talking to God.  The music is playing and sometimes a very familiar song comes over the PA system and I find myself stop praying and singing along these words back to God.  The time flies by and soon we are called back to the front for a closing prayer in a more corporate way.  We sing together a final song and then depart but not before a couple hugs and handshakes.  I always leave looking forward to the next morning meeting.  

What have I learned so far?

Day 1 was a lesson on desolation and consolation but I will leave the contents of this instruction for another time.  I created a radio broadcast so you will hear more of it a week from Sunday.  Needless to say, it was so helpful to me that I took the time to craft it into an episode of "Down To The River."  

Day 2 was a lesson about inviting God's presence into everything that we do.  The young woman was standing at the sink rinsing dishes to put in the dishwasher.  She left the water running at the kitchen sink while placing the silverware into the compartment made for it in the dishwasher but it was taking longer than she thought it would.  Her mind goes back to the water running at the sink and reached to shut off the tap.  Why?  Because water is something that is precious and not to be wasted.  The thought entered her mind, "Time is precious too, time with God."  

She thought about all the times she had been doing mindless things and had been prompted by the Holy Spirit to stop the idleness because time is precious to God.  Conviction set in because, I too am one who can find myself doing something but it is really idle toward God.  I don't want to do anything without God.  As affirmation of what can happen when I make sure to focus on God, as I was that morning, a thought came to mind that would be the key and crucial point of the sermon I was preparing for Sunday.  When God is prominent in our lives our discernment becomes sharper, our purpose clearer, and our love deeper.

On a side note about this presentation, it was done in a "Ted Talk" style.  I have watched so many of these presentations on a variety of subjects on YouTube that I can pick it out but I have never been in front of someone doing this "live."  My experience has always been through the screen and seeing that red dot on the floor.  Because it is a popular way that we listen to a topic digitally, it was easy to grasp the short sentences and the word pictures that you were anticipating to come.  It made me wonder if I should really consider this style sometime when asked to do a short devotional in the future.

Day 3 was a lesson on the life of Job.  Job endured many trials but was also a man who was righteous in the sight of God.  We were given 5 "take aways" from this man's recent study of the book and his own "dry time" before God.

1. Let God be God - sovereign.
2. Be humble and ready to confess sin.
3. Don't stop talking to God.
4. God's silence is sometimes normal.
5. God is never not speaking to us.

Day 4 was a great weaving of an Old Testament verse with a New Testament one.  First we go to Psalm 139:16, which says,...

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

God has the plan for me written in His book before I was ever born.  It made me ask the question, "What is my part in this?"  The answer came that I am to participate and live it out to His glory.  Now came the New Testament verse some 1000+ years later in Ephesians 2:10, which says,...

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Look at all the similarities between these two verses.  The Bible gives us a single message over all the years to hold onto up to this very day.  So lets end this blog post with another similar verse from the Old Testament, Jeremiah 29:11, which says,

"For I know the plans I have for you" - this is the LORD's declaration - "plans for your well being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

May I recognize today that each step I take God knows and God wants me to use for His glory.  Each word I speak and thought that I think He knows and He wants me to use for His glory.  God's intent for me is to do good and not to be separated from the One who knew and created me for it.  I think I am ready for another day, another early morning rising and drive, and more instruction from God's word to put into practice.

Closing, I am so thankful for another great addition to our family.  Meet Conner Lawrence, born on Tuesday to our son Abe and daughter-in-law Laura.  We now have 8 grandchildren, 4 boys and 4 girls.  We will be hitting the road Monday morning to see this precious one in person.  

Adam