He Said -- She Said June 6, 2008

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. - Psalm 119:105 Walking in the Dark - He Said By Eddie Jones I walked in darkness, taking small steps as the trail curved down and into the woods. To my left a creek drooled over rocks, spilling into the lake. Beneath my boots the path felt smooth and I used its solid familiarity to confirm my steps. But the darkness was oppressive, cloaking the forest in a heavy blanket as tree tops formed a canopy overhead. No moon, no stars. Not even the wink of red and green running lights from an airliner. I paused and whistled for my dog. Ahead a curled finger-shaped shadow wagged, and I walked on. I could have flipped on my flashlight, but I was about to make a large decision in my life, so I needed to learn to trust in darkness. I needed to discern God's will. The Latin word for will is voluntas. It means yearning. That night, as I walked, I asked, "Lord, what do you yearn for me to do for you? What is your will for my life? Which way should I go?" He did not answer. But I walked anyway, placing one foot in front of another. Wrestling with the decision I had to make. Would this choice be a better use of my gifts? Would the other make me more loving? Which one would benefit those I love the most? Would either lead to fulfillment and a sense of peace? An hour later I walked out of the darkness. There were other paths I could have taken that night and any one of them would have led me back to my car. But I had to walk the path in darkness. I had to learn to trust in the small steps of His leading and the faint flicker of a dog's wagging tail. I had to learn to move on. What yearning has God placed in your heart? What hard choice has He asked you to make? Ask others to pray that He'll give you discernment as you ask the hard questions. Then trust the decision that He puts in your heart. Going back isn't an option. It only leads to more darkness.

The Position of Submission - She Said By Cindy Sproles The text on the church sign warned, "Famous last words: I did it my way." I laughed because I've been known to do things my way, to plow forward and run ahead without thinking about the consequences until the problems in my path trip me up. There's another way that works much better. It's the path of posture. I've learned my best decision making comes when I'm on my knees with my hands clasped. God and I talk a lot when I'm like that. Well, mostly I talk. He listens. God knows I'm a lousy decision maker, so He's patient because I'm not. Lately He's been teaching me to turn to His Word for discernment. The past few weeks, when tough times tackled me, I found peace in the Psalms. I quoted His scripture back to Him. "I have suffered much, O Lord, so preserve my life according to your word." Psalm 119:107, the New Cosmopolitan Cindy Version (NCCV). Recently I had to make some tough decisions that worried me. I couldn't sleep. I threw God's words back at him again. "Your word says, 'He makes me lie down in green pastures,' so make me, Lord. Make me lie down and rest." Waiting on the Lord is hard work. I wanted to move ahead, but He said wait. This morning I picked a spot by the pond where the early mist hung heavy over the lily pads. I watched as His breath clung to the grass along the bank, moving like zephyrs across the water as the breeze ruffled the pond. The only noise I heard was the peaceful trickle of the water against the rocks, His voice whispering through creation. I closed my eyes and tried to discern His muffled message. But the Psalmist would not be quite, "Direct my footsteps according to your word," I heard him say. "And let no sin rule over me." Psalm 119:133, the New Inspirational Cindy Version. (NICV) Are you facing a tough choice? Take a moment to pause and wait upon the Lord. Give Him the chance to pop a scripture into your brain. Kneel, listen and ask, "Lord, what would you have me do? Which path is right? Guide my steps with your light." When I have hard decisions, I take the position of submission. I go to my knees and hand it to the Father, and He leads me with His word. The decisions are no easier, except I have Him to lean against and look toward. In Christ, Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles Christian Devotions Listen to Position of Submission by - Cindy Sproles

Dance of the Gooberheads

The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. – Psalms 6:9

God must have a sense of humor. I can’t imagine His not having a hardy one when He relaxes in our home. He pushes the recliner back and kicks open the foot rest, then wiggles into a comfortable position just to watch the entertainment our family provides. Better yet – He continually teaches me through it.

I recently popped a bowl filled of water in the microwave. Punching the timer to 1.25 minutes, I hit the on button then headed to the drawer to grab an oven mitt. I slipped the mitt over my right hand just in time to open the microwave and retrieve the boiling water. Between the thickness of the mitt and the steam in the microwave, I lost my grip on the bowl and scalding water careened down my hand and arm. Shouting was an understatement. Hopping around the kitchen in agony, trying to blink away the tears only led from one disaster to the next. My older son grabbed the mitt and yanked, taking with it, hide and all, while my younger son, grabbed my arm and buried it in the ice bucket from the freezer. Though the three of us orchestrated a perfectly in-sync dance of idiots through the kitchen the fact remained, I had scalded my hand and arm seriously.

After several hours of ice, and the pain that accompanies a nasty burn, the redness had centered itself around my wrist and was joined by a bit of swelling. In the living room I could hear my adult children roaring with laughter as they shared the story with my husband. I furrowed my brow and starred at the burn. This really wasn’t funny. It hurt. Still my family found great humor in the fact that as I hopped through the kitchen I found myself stepping in the scalding water as well.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself, I emailed my friend Mark and relayed the story to him. He immediately returned a concerned note and suggested I put myself on the prayer list. I couldn’t put such a gooberhead thing on the prayer list. Still, Mark reminded me I wouldn’t hesitate to put his gooberhead antics on the list – I snickered because he was right.

I spun my chair around and gazed out the window at the rain. “God, it was a stupid accident. Really embarrassing.”

“Entertaining, at least,” the Father remarked, “still an accident.”

“I’m embarrassed. Wounded.” That’s when the Father chuckled out loud.

“Wounded. Shesh, your gift in writing is coming out. Interesting choice of words – wounded. However you word the phrase, it was still an accident and you were…okay, wounded.”

I could feel His sarcastic tone. “You want to know about the gooberhead things?”

“First of all, I already know about the gooberhead things. And secondly, why it is so hard to ask? We’ve been through this time and again.”

I hung my head. “I don’t know why.”

“I do.” The Father leaned close and whispered. “Pride.”

The words shot through me like a bolt of lightening. “Pride?”

“Yes, pride. Get the hint? Put the dance of the gooberheads on the list. I care about those things as well. I hear even the gooberhead prayers and for the record, they aren’t gooberheads to me. That’s strictly your term. Humorous as it is, that one is uniquely yours.”

Isn’t that amazing? The Father wants to hear every detail, good, bad or indifferent. He hears our cries for mercy and accepts our prayers. Lesson learned – again, the hard way.

Prayer: Lord, when I am stubborn, forgive me. When I am foolish, love me anyway. When I’m a gooberhead – keep me safe.

How Do I Pray?

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. – Romans 8:26-27

Prayer time has become more than my time to sit and talk to the Father. It’s reached a pinnacle – a place where I feel lost and alone without. The Father has become such a good friend that I find I miss Him when I am doing other projects.

Recently, I have found it very difficult to pray for myself. It’s a bit awkward and feels somewhat selfish. There have been moments when my heart has felt sad and alone, troubled and I had no idea how to ask God for what I needed. When He moves into our lives He takes the situations that happen to us and uses those things to shape and refine us. So when Romans mentions all things working to the good of those who love the Lord, it doesn’t necessarily mean everything is good. It means God uses the events of our lives to His good. I think that good referred there, is our spiritual aspects.

There are times when life bogs us down spiritually and when that happens we never really know how to ask God to help us. Our cries feel selfish or unwarranted – maybe they seem whinny. Rather than ask –we clam up and fail to lay the sadness before the one who can change it. The Father already knows our needs and our insecurities. He waits for us to acknowledge them and that means searching our hearts deeply enough to find those issues and lay them before Him. He cannot and many times does not work in us until we recognize and are willing to lay our needs before Him.

It’s a painful process at times. Even when our lives are overall joyful, none of us are perfect. Below the surface lies the sin we know is there but many times choose to ignore. My heart grows sad when I dig into these parts. A dear friend put it beautifully, “Sometimes you have to pick the scabs of old wounds and let them bleed before God can clean up the mess,” and how true is that? Completely accurate.

I said to God just the other day, “I don’t know what to ask Father.”

“Ask for what you need.”

“It sounds selfish and wrong.”

“Let me be the judge of that. That’s not your place.”

“But I feel wrong asking for myself.”

“You are never wrong to ask. This is how I work in you to repair the damages. If you don’t ask, then you aren’t willing.”

“Oh, I get it. So, You’re saying that if I don’t ask I’m not to the spot you want me.”

“Kinda. It’s a matter of submission. You don’t have to pinpoint the exact need, because sometimes even you don’t know how to articulate that. But I do. You simply need to say, ‘Father there’s something there. I need help. I need to understand,’ and then I take care of the rest.”

“So I should ask anyway?”

“Most definitely. Ask even when you don’t know what to ask for, and I will fill in the blanks. Remember, seek me and you will find me.”

So, the Father makes a good point. When I don’t know how to pray, I simply pray anyway. I just ask and admit that I’m not sure. When I seek him and ask – He finds me.

Pray Seriously

They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. – Acts 1:14

(Photo by Karma Shuford -copyrighted, 2007)

A favorite catch phrase for Christians is, “I’ll pray for you.” It’s become something we say, when we don’t know what else to do. There’s nothing wrong with telling someone we’ll keep them in our prayers however, telling and doing are two different things.

When someone asks us to pray it’s because they are seeking and more than likely, seeking desperately. Agreeing to pray is something we should take seriously. I chuckled the other day when a sweet friend sent me an email and asked me to pray for him. I re-read his email and then immediately typed him a prayer. Within moments he was emailing back saying it was the first email prayer he’d received. He jokingly remarked it was a little weird but as he moved through the prayer, he found himself truly praying with me. Sometimes a prayer request needs to be immediate. If his concerns were serious enough for him to send me a special email, then his heart was crying for resolution.

Jesus never hesitated to pray. It was one of the first things on his agenda. Time, and time again He sought refuge in the solitude of His prayer life. There He found patience, love, and persistence to continue. Even until His last agonizing breath, Christ was in prayer.

Learning to take prayer seriously is the beginning of a long and in-depth relationship with God. When we develop our time from rigid and uncomfortable, into a relaxed and dependant time with the Father, our lives change. Talking to God should be as easy as talking to your best friend.

When we’re asked to pray, it doesn’t mean we fall to our knees in an animated and long prayer. It simply means that as we pray we lift that person before the Lord, trusting in His will. From arrow prayers to long conversations, the point is that we pray, and we with a heart of sincerity. It’s an honor and a privilege when someone trusts us enough to ask for our prayers. Lift them before the Father with sincerity and compassion. Pray seriously.

Prayer: Lord, may we remain faithful in our prayer life. May we pray without ceasing.