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22 entries for this category: | Windsurfing and Prayer |
Prayer is a little bit like windsurfing: I don`t know if you`ve ever done it, but you stand on this surf board in the middle of a lake, and then you pick up this big sail, and the moment the wind catches the sail is exhilarating, because a power much greater than you is propelling you through the water, faster and faster, and your job is just to hang on and have fun. That`s prayer. Prayer is when we raise our hearts to God, and his spirit catches us, and begins to propel us where he is going. That is the biggest adventure you`re ever going to have in your life. I`ve said before I believe the local church is the hope of the world. And if it`s the hope of the world it`s because of prayer. You see, prayer is not the spiritual equivalent of the chess club. It`s more like rugby. It`s where the battle is fought and won. Prayer is what sends the Devil running. Prayer is what mobilizes God`s people. Prayer is how we find out where God wants us to be in his grand adventure. Then things start to happen that are beyond all we could ask or even imagine according to the power that is propelling us, and we start to do things and go places that we never dreamed of before. By: Scott Dudley
Category: Jesus as Praying: Taking time alone with God |
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In Mark Chapter 1 verses 12 and 13, before his ministry started, it says that He goes off to the desert and spends forty days alone with God " prays. Then his ministry launches. In the same Chapter, in verse 35 it says: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to be alone with God and pray. ''Mark 1: 35'' Before He chose the twelve disciples: He went to a mountain and spent the night in prayer. ''Luke 6: 12'' After He fed the 5000, He withdraws to be alone with God. When He hears the bad news about His friend, John the Baptist, He goes away to be alone with God. It`s true throughout His life right up to the time He`s going to go to the Cross. He goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and brings some friends with Him, but He withdraws from them to be alone with the Father. All the time, He`s teaching His followers to do the same also. One time in Mark, Chapter 6, they`ve been in the middle of a really busy season, and Jesus pulls His followers aside, and He says to them: Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. ''Mark 6: 31'' I know that He says this to me. I don`t know how this translates for you, but for me it means that I need to spend some time alone with Him to get my mind in tune and my will surrendered each day. For me, the morning is the best time. Then sometimes, I need to spend some extended time with Him . . . a half-day or a day at least once a month. When I first thought about doing that, it was kind of a daunting thing. I thought: The next time I have a free day, I`ll spend it alone with God. Do you know how long I waited for that day to come? And then I had to write it down on a calendar. I was reading this week that if you live to be seventy years old or so, you will get twenty-five thousand days. You will have twenty-five thousand of these jars. It would be ironic to get to the end of them and say: God, I was never able to devote just a day to being with You, because there was always something else to do.By: John Ortberg
Category: Jesus as Praying: Taking time alone with God
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In Mark Chapter 1 verses 12 and 13, before his ministry started, it says that He goes off to the desert and spends forty days alone with God " prays. Then his ministry launches. In the same Chapter, in verse 35 it says: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to be alone with God and pray. ''Mark 1: 35'' Before He chose the twelve disciples: He went to a mountain and spent the night in prayer. ''Luke 6: 12'' After He fed the 5000, He withdraws to be alone with God. When He hears the bad news about His friend, John the Baptist, He goes away to be alone with God. It`s true throughout His life right up to the time He`s going to go to the Cross. He goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and brings some friends with Him, but He withdraws from them to be alone with the Father. All the time, He`s teaching His followers to do the same also. One time in Mark, Chapter 6, they`ve been in the middle of a really busy season, and Jesus pulls His followers aside, and He says to them: Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. ''Mark 6: 31'' I know that He says this to me. I don`t know how this translates for you, but for me it means that I need to spend some time alone with Him to get my mind in tune and my will surrendered each day. For me, the morning is the best time. Then sometimes, I need to spend some extended time with Him . . . a half-day or a day at least once a month. When I first thought about doing that, it was kind of a daunting thing. I thought: The next time I have a free day, I`ll spend it alone with God. Do you know how long I waited for that day to come? And then I had to write it down on a calendar. I was reading this week that if you live to be seventy years old or so, you will get twenty-five thousand days. You will have twenty-five thousand of these jars. It would be ironic to get to the end of them and say: God, I was never able to devote just a day to being with You, because there was always something else to do.By: John Ortberg
Category: Jesus as Praying: Taking time alone with God
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| Jesus prays |
After He heard about His friend, John the Baptist, He withdrew to a deserted place by Himself. After He fed the five thousand, where there was a rush of ministry success, we are told he "went up the mountain by Himself to pray." Luke speaks about this in a way that implies there`s a regular practice going on here: Jesus would withdraw to deserted places and pray. ''Luke 5:16'' He teaches His disciples to do the same thing. This is solitude. In solitude, I withdraw from people, noise, cell phones, beepers, pagers, faxes all the stimulation of life to be with God. I get away from all of the scaffolding in my life, all of my roles, all of the people who are either cheering me on or telling me where I ought to do something different. I get away from all of that to just be alone with God"to find out, Is there anything really just between God and me? I realize I have a Life. It`s way bigger than what I do. It`s way bigger than what anybody thinks of me. I have this Life. By: John Ortberg
Category: Jesus as Praying: Taking time alone with God |
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 | Learning to Be Alone in Him [Taken from my Facebook note] |
Current status: "Ashley is taking a week off to be alone with her Father. She'll be unavailable for pretty much anything until next Saturday's sundown, but she'll see you at church!"
I'm writing this to let you guys know why I'm not going to 'be around' this week... So you don't think I'm just becoming a big, anti-social turd.
It's not a big secret to anyone that Ashley doesn't 'not do'... ever. She's always out with someone (usually several someones) doing something... and then another something, and then another something after that! ...The only places she's ever alone are her bedroom and her bathroom... because until she's married, those are sortof one-person places... ...and she usually doesn't even make it to bed until 4-5 in the morning!
Acouple weeks ago, a friend of mine sorta presented this to me, "If the day came when you couldn't see your friends or family anymore, would you be able to be happy?" Got me thinking... Would I be happy... or would I lose my mind? Is it enough for me to be alone with God, not surrounded by everyone else?
I spent some time thinking/talking/praying about it... and came to the conclusion (if you can call it an official conclusion, since it wasn't really all that conclusive, but sortof just a decision) that God gave me a passion for people... Jesus' ministry was people... I have my 'alone time' with God praying and praising Him... reading His word, writing Him songs, etc... What more did I need to do? It seemed like I had it all together fine. Why would I need to learn to be happy away from people... since I know it's God's plan to USE me in the way of people? So that idea sorta fizzled out, and I went on with my busy, always doing, never stopping life of excitement...
Wednesday night at Tribe (this awesome college Bible study/worship time... Ask me about it! You should come!), I was incredibly distracted by people... Just thoughts of people, completely distracting from my personal worship, learning, etc. I guess we could say that God used that to impress this back on me... I don't know how to be alone with God. I dont know for sure that I would be happy just being alone with God. He told me it's time to find out...
Yes, Jesus' ministry was people, but even He took time to just get away to be alone with His Father. Also, in the past when I've been in 'romantic relationships', I wanted to spend time alone with that person... No, not necessarily 'forsaking all others', but it was really nice to go out on dates alone sometimes or just spend time in eachother's company, involved in intimate conversation we just didn't get to talk about when everyone else was around... The little stuff, the big stuff... Just stuff* in their presense... That's how it is with God... He's IN LOVE WITH US! Of course He wants to be our #1! In my past relationships, I dare say that I could have ended up on a deserted island with only that person for the rest of my life and been MORE than content... been ecstatic even! Not that it would ever happen (or even that I'd want it to), but if it did, things would be awesome. ...And of course the idea of a week-long vacation with them was more than enticing... It should be that way with God! That's what this week's about... Learning to LOVE just being alone with Him... Yes, my vacation with God.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not thrilled about it... I want to go out with my friends... I want lunch out after church, movie nights, and days at the pool/lake... I want to have 'intellectual' conversations and and and and just BE with my friends and family... All this goes to say that this is something I NEED to do... because I should be thrilled about it. I should be THRILLED to get a week completely devoted to me and my God. I know He's going to teach me some awesome stuff this week, so I'm excited about THAT... just not the week in general. I know there are going to be alot of opportunities to not follow through on this... Even today already there were 2 (and the sun's only been down for an hour)! ...So needless to say, please keep me in your prayers!
...Ohh, and if you guys need any prayer or have some to pass along to me, I'll have plenty of time to pray for whatever it is (no matter how small), so let me know what I can pray for!By: Ashley Marie
Category: Jesus as Praying: Taking time alone with God
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