10 Things to Pray for your Community--back to school edition

Katie was not thrilled with first day of school pictures this year...Too bad!  Mom's are invincible. 

Ok, you invincible moms, the kids are back in school.  Our God is good.  So what are we doing on our knees?  Here's a quick guide to taking a look around your community with God's eyes and heart.  You can do this as you're out walking for exercise, running errands, or just as you talk to others around you.  

1.  Open Eyes. Ask the Father to open your eyes to what He's already doing and pray for it to grow (John 5:17).
2. Purpose. Ask Jesus what purpose He has for your community.  (Daniel 2:21) What are their strengths?  What are their weaknesses?  What do they honor?  All of these hint at the purpose God has for your hometown.  Pray that they use that purpose to honor God and serve each other.
3. Expose and End Wickedness. Ask God to expose wickedness and oppression in order to end it.  If you're brave, you can ask to be part of the solution.  (Pr. 31:8-9)  Repent for the sins you see on their behalf.
4. Wisdom. Ask the Holy Spirit to give your community leaders wisdom and practical insight.  (I Timothy 2:2)
5.  Homes. Ask the Father to turn the hearts of the fathers and children to each other.  (Malachi 4:6)  Remind God that He has promised to be a Father to the fatherless and a Husband to the widowed and abandoned.  
6. Remit the Sins of those you see around you according to John 20:23 ("If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven.")  Jesus did it from the cross before He died to give us an example to follow.  Those of us under Christ experience no condemnation from Christ because He has already forgiven all of our sins.  He gave us that authority as well, not necessarily to forgive everything for all time as Jesus did, but to release people from the condemnation that keeps them from seeking God at all.  Watch how open people become to God when you do this.
7. Wise Teachers. Ask God to provide wise teachers that make learning a joy, rather than rebellious teachers that spout foolishness (Pr. 15:2).
8. Peace. Ask for God to shine His light on us and guide our way into peace.  (Luke 1:78-79).
9. Not talk; Action. Ask God to keep your lips and the lips of all in your community from evil, deceit, or gossip. Ask that we would be careful to replace foolish talk with fruitful action that pursues peace and opens the Lord's ears to our cries.  (Ps. 34:13-15)
10. Trust. Commit to release your anxiety over the things you see and replace it with gratitude for all God has already done and prayers of hope and blessing for all He can and will do. (Phil 4:6-7)  Choose to trust that He can and will do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think in order that He can show His glory through us (Eph 3:20-21).

Have fun and don't forget to just enjoy being with Him as you move around the community.  He's great company!

Honoring God with my body...

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

This is not going to be one of those diet posts.  It could be, but it's not. 

Today--Akiane Kramirk

One of the the things the Lord has been pushing me on is my mind, will, and emotions.  Many years ago, I learned through long series of crisis after crisis that I could place my emotions on the back burner in order to do what needed doing.  I've been pretty diligent to bring those emotions back up and deal with them later.  Buried emotions come back to haunt you, and the dirt does them no favors.  Now, He's pushing a bit farther.  

What he's pushing me on is the idea that when Jesus died, he paid for all of my sin and everything painful, negative, or hurtful--these are all consequences of the same sin He paid for so they all belong to Him and were nailed to the cross.  They no longer belong to us because He bought them, so we have no right to hang onto them.  In return for giving them up, He promised to give us abundant, overflowing, joyful life.   Every time I experience stress, loss, pain, or anxiety, my dear Friend is pushing me to recognize that those emotions are real, but they are for Him to carry, not me.  I can acknowledge them and hand them over to Him because they do not belong to me anymore.  

Peggy Joyce Ruth wrote an entire book about something similar.  In Ps. 91, it says, "Those who trust in the Lord shall not be disappointed."  The word, "shall" is a command, not an outcome.  It is God's direction to us to choose not to see our current circumstances as the end.  If we are currently experiencing disappointment, it means that this is not the end--He has more to do and we will not be disappointed with it in the end.  

Last week I failed qualifiers for my PhD.  My advisors said the plan is not ready.  I don't have to defend it again, but I do have to rewrite it and that pushes my timeline back at least a semester.  By the time I made it home, I had a piercing pain in the center of my back, as if someone had stabbed me.  That pain ultimately turned out to be the start of shingles.  Truthfully, it does still hurt, both physically and emotionally.  Still, I can hear my dear Friend gently prodding me to let it go into His hands.  Not only am I not strong enough to carry it, but He paid for it already and has joy waiting for me as I hand it over to Him.  I've had to hand it over more than once in the last 2 weeks, and I'll probably have to keep doing it for awhile.  My body, all of me, now belongs to Him and my life is hid in Christ.  It honors Him to trust Him to carry my pain and disappointment.  He promises peace in return, and the peace follows the process as naturally as the dawn follows the night.  

Today will be a good day.