Lately I find that if I go through one busy day without getting some input from the Word of God I’m just tossed about by everything that’s going on in my little world. I am coming back to the realization that my spiritual man really does “live by the Word of God”. There is NO substitute for the living truth of the Word of God – whether in written form or the fresh word that He speaks when I quiet myself and tune in to what He is saying to my heart in a particular moment. I believe that setting my heart before Him and His Word is an integral part of my prayer life. If I hear His word, then I am more likely to believe it. Hearing His word over me washes my heart like no other person’s words can and shields it with the faith that comes by hearing as I go through my day. I believe that if I make Him my refuge I will be kept in the day of shaking and uncertainty. I believe He is faithful and for me. Simply believing and walking that belief out in the way I carry my heart in this season is doing the work of the kingdom and changing the atmosphere around me. Nice. I can give myself to that in the midst of the mundane.
Monthly Archive for October, 2009
So I was suppose to post something a few weeks ago, and I failed. It’s funny how our little blog is about living the fasted lifestyle in the busy world because that has been my life lately. Completely hectic and busy. I moved, my roommate got married, and I’m stepping into a new season of my life living in community with other women. We found a fantastic house down in the elmwood village. We are completely surrounded by college kids and I love it, and the opportunity we will have to love the lost, broken, and needy down here. I’ve been running into interesting people just about every day.
I have to admit that my prayer life is lacking due to the busy hectic schedule that has been my life lately. But I am seeing the need to escape to the secret place and have some time with Jesus, and I want it.
So I have nothing profound to say, other than I love Him, and He has been so constant and so faithful to me even when I stray.
I find that the struggle to live a life of prayer in my busy, 9-5 life is a bit of a paradox. And that kind of doesn’t surprise me, because most of the ways of the Kingdom of God seem to be be this way. Here’s what I find ironic: I believe that the easiest way to live a life of prayer in a busy world is to live out one of the hardest commands to fulfill, which is to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess.5:17).
It can be so easy for me to think that a life of prayer only looks like “quiet time”, or “contemplative prayer”…extended periods of prayer in solitude. While I know that there is no substitute for those sessions of long and loving meditation, I’m also learning (slowly but surely) that prayer can occur all day, every day. It is when I learn to converse with God through the little moments each day that I find myself living a life that more closely resembles the prayer-centered life that I long to live.
Someone once told me that life can be broken down into 30-second segments. It is in those little snapshots of life that I find it’s easy to build momentum moving towards God, or from Him. Those 30-second windows are perfect opportunities to offer up little phrases of love and thanksgiving…these are the very prayers that make Jesus say “…you have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes” (SOS 4:9). I also find that these are the moments when satan loves to tempt and distract. It’s so easy to “check out” in these moments. But I have also found that my heart makes it through the day with a much bigger “skip in it’s step” when I take these moments to love and adore the One who loved me more thoroughly than any earthly love.
I encourage you, in those slow moments today between work and family and phone calls and whatever else you do, take a breath and gaze with the eyes of your heart on the One whose eyes are forever fixed on you. Give Him a little “I love You”, and I know that you’ll start to feel that weak little prayer overcome His heart. And this type of prayer, in these little 30-second windows, is the doorway to praying without ceasing.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately on friendship with God. In this friendship with Him, God has opened my eyes to things around me that I had not noticed in the past. He is truly a great and committed friend.
As I consider friendship, I also think of other relationships in my life that I am thankful for – my best friend is my wife; my children are truly a blessing to spend time with; the FOTBWNY crew is a great group of die-hards who love to pray, worship, and love Jesus; and there are also the friends we have at church (Niagara Falls Vineyard). I really enjoy these relationships that God has placed in my life. I am more and more thankful for the ups and downs that I’ve encountered with all the friends who are in my life right now. If forgiveness were a muscle, I’d say we’ve all had quite a workout during the time we’ve grown to know each other as friends.
In January 1998, my life was given brand new meaning. That year is when I had a significant encounter with Jesus. I felt ready to begin life anew and ready to learn more about this mysterious Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I think we were near a place called Thunder Rock in Alleghany State Park (if I remember correctly). This was day two of our weekend retreat . There was several of us from a UB campus ministry group that wanted to know God more, so we did the extreme – we went on a weekend retreat to spend time away from everything else, and to dedicate time with God. We had time for bible study, prayer for each other, and fun time by the campfire. We also did something I didn’t expect – we went for a walk out in the woods to focus our attention on God. That’s when it happened for me. The Holy Spirit met me out there in the woods. On my knees crying my eyes out, I felt the Holy Spirit’s presence in an amazingly tangible way.
Dreams. Visions. Prophecy. Prayer. Fasting. I couldn’t get enough information about these topics after this retreat; after that encounter with the Holy Spirit. I had to know more about this Holy Spirit who came and turned me inside out. I had to know more about this Jesus who loved me so much. I had to know who this kind and gentle Father is in heaven. I dove into ANY and EVERY book I could find on these topics and I continually found myself returning to the Bible and to the simplicity of prayer. Much of that time period is a blur for me because there was so much good and bad that happened during the learning process (that’s where forgiveness has taken place).
One thing remains vivid on my heart during that time period – my intimate friendship with Jesus. When I looked for Him, He was there. I could find Him in the highs and in the lows. He was always with me, guiding me and cheering me on as I stumbled and fumbled my way forward.
Today, more than ten years later, here I sit with my children getting ready for bed… all of them have some likeness of me. I enjoy being with these four little ones that God has given my wife and I. I enjoy seeing how they have such a simple devotion to mom and dad, and the simple yet rich depth to the relationships we are building with each other individually and as a family. God has used these little ones so many times to reveal something of who HE IS to me, and something of who I am to Him. Many times these revelations are about how I’m made in His likeness, and how He has such an enjoyment with MY baby steps in my life with Him and with my family. He is the smiling happy God who loves to watch me grow.
Malachi 4:5-6 says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”
How humbling it is that such a Mysterious, Holy, Majestic, and Beautiful God desires such simple, yet rich, depth to my friendship with Him. He is truly committed to each one of us beyond what we could imagine. He is drawing my heart to Him and to my children as I continue to wonder at his Beauty and Mystery. My prayer is that fathers in FOTBWNY and fathers in the churches in this area would set their hearts and minds on the Triune God, and position themselves to pursue the knowledge of Him (Prov 2:1-9). The time is at hand for us to “go deep” in the things of God.
- Kevin