our prayer for you

Please view the prayer below

my prayer for you

This is my prayer for you this week.  Please watch the video below.

someone is praying for you

As I write this entry I have just finished a time of Bible reading and prayer, which is my normal routine.  As I have been praying the last few weeks, my prayer has become passionate for the people of SCC.  I know that many of you are having battles that are very difficult and in times like that you can have the feeling that no one cares or understands.  I would like to tell every person that God cares because he keeps you in my mind to pray for you. 

I hope that knowing someone is praying for you will give you the added strength you need today to move forward and not give up on God doing the miracle you need.  I don’t know how it makes you feel to find out that someone is praying for you, but it makes me feel that God is hearing me.  Many times I have had people say to me, “I don’t know why but God has put you on my heart to pray for, but I want you to know that I am praying for you.”  That just lifts me up because it always seems to be at a time when I have been hurting on the inside and I think, “God do you really hear me?” and someone will come up and make that statement.  The power of those words help me to see the power of God.  My situation may not change, but I just have the assurance that God is listening.

So today I pray that as you read this entry, you know that I have prayed for you.   Even if you don’t attend SCC, I have prayed for all who receive this blog.  Let this be a sign that God is hearing your prayer.  Here is my prayer for you right out of God’s word. 

Romans 15:13 (NIV)   May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

when delayed….pray

 Have you ever had one of those days that nothing turned out the way you had it planned?  Well, today is one of those days for me.  We left our hotel this morning at 6:30 so we could be at the airport in plenty of time.  The truth is I have a three day window when it comes to being away from home.  Traveling is not something I enjoy for business, it is only enjoyable when Rhonda or the kids are with me on vacation.  Days like today are why. 

 So let me tell you what has happened.  We got to the airport and through security at about 7:50am, which was very early.  We ate at McDonalds and went to our Gate for departure and saw that our 9:45 flight to Phoenix AZ, had been delayed.  We thought that will make us miss our connection to Atlanta, but no big deal, Atlanta is one of busiest airports in the world we will get on a later flight out of Phoenix.   WRONG!!!  So as I write this entry from thirty thousand feet the present plan is that we spend the night in Phoenix and if everything goes good we will flight out tomorrow at 3:45pm and be at Atlanta at 9:50pm.

 I am praying now that something changes before we land in Phoenix.  That may sound like it is silly to you to ask God for something like that, I mean I don’t have an emergency or anything.  I believe God is concerned about the little things in our lives and wants to help us if we will only ask him.  It takes faith no matter how big the problem is and God wants us to grow in our faith so why not ask God for the little things in your life every day and watch what will happen.

I will let you know how my trip turns out.  If God does the miracle I will be at home tonight with my beautiful wife and children and if he doesn’t, I will be stuck another night with Pastor Ricky.  After writing that, my prayer just became more intense.  PLEASE GOD, PLEASE GOD let me get home tonight.

 Ask God for the little things and you will have the confidence in him to ask for the big things when they come.

 James 4:2 (NIV)   You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

How to be healed

Yesterday I talked with someone who was dealing with the same problem they had to deal with two months ago.  Some how I knew it was going to repeat itself again.  I was trying to explain to this person how God wants them to be healed of their problem not give them a quick fix.

 That is what I see so many times as a pastor.  People come to me and ask for advice and I give them the best Biblical counsel I can give from God’s Word. You can see the relief on their face as they see hope begin to arise in their minds and hearts.  The problem is they try to live on that little bit of hope that I give them without taking the next step.  You see, God wants us to be healed and not just give us a quick fix.  The only way you can get better in whatever problem you have is to ask God to heal you, not just make you feel better.

 I don’t know if you have ever had surgery or not, but if you have, you know the doctor cuts open your body and makes a wound to repair what is hurting you.  Then, after the doctor finishes, they sow you up and the healing begins.  This is called the recovery time, which is the most critical, and we must do exactly as the doctor says to heal.  If not, we will have to have surgery again and at that point we will have issues with scar tissue.

 I see people all the time who need surgery on the inside, but will not take the next steps and do their part to get what God wants them to have.  Like going and talking with a Christian counselor, or going to celebrate recovery, or making prayer and reading God’s word a part of their daily life.

 So, I watch a lot of people repeat the same cycle over and over again because they keep choosing the quick fix that only lasts a short time and refuse to take the step of healing.

 God’s will is that you be healed.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  If that is the case, most of us are nuts.  Why not today make a decision to take a step toward healing.  Call the counselor, start making prayer and reading your Bible a daily habit, join a small group.

 James 5:16 (NLT)   Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.

How to have Peace

Today I am reflecting on the last four weeks and the series we just completed called, “Broken.”  It has been one of the most effective we have ever done.  We have seen many people commit their life to Christ and make a commitment to membership.  We have recorded numbers of people going into small groups.  Many people are getting involved in ministries at SCC.  Many have served in the community. 

 

As I look back, I am amazed at what God has done.  I don’t know how many people that I have personally talked to who have said, “I have never put my trust in God, but I have now.”  One man I spoke with yesterday said, “I am in my 50’s and I have never been a Christian until now.  I have given my life to God and he is changing me.”  This is the story I am hearing from many people.  The other thing that I have heard from those people is that the people here at SCC are so real and loving.  God is up to something big.  Today I see God doing things that I could have only dreamed of. 

 

I have asked myself, “what made this series different from all the others we have done?” I think I have the answer.  PRAYER!  Remember, I asked 100 people to pray for 5 minutes a day for 20 days so we would have 10,000 minutes of prayer.  I myself got away for three days and prayed and fasted asking God to do something great in this series.  He answered our prayers. 

 

So, I have concluded it was not what we did differently it was what God has done as a result of prayer.  I have taken the prayer challenge myself, I wrote down ten things and called it a prayer list and began to ask God for them.  It is amazing how I see God at work like never before.  I think we forget prayer takes things out of our hands and places them in God’s hands. 

 

The more you pray the more peace you will have.  So what’s it going to be? Stress or peace?  You get to decide by choosing to pray or not to pray.

 

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)   But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Stop, Drop, and……Pray

Sunday I shared with the people SCC that one of the greatest ways to have your heart healed by God is to start praying.  I shared a story about a time when firemen come to our school to teach us not to play with matches, but they also taught us that if our clothes were to catch on fire, our first reaction should be to stop, drop, and roll.

I believe that when I our life is burning out of control and we feel we are going to be consumed by our problem, it is just a sign for us to stop, drop, and pray.  The Bible says it this way,  Psalm 46:10 (NIV) “Be still, and know that I am God…”

I really think God desires for all of us to reconnect with him through prayer.  I shared Sunday how that if we really wanted God to answer a prayer that we should make a prayer list.  Just write some things down on a piece of paper and ask God everyday to do something about those needs.  I can tell you that something changed in me when I did that for a couple of weeks.  I found myself letting go of trying to fix the things that were out of my control.  It was like when I wrote them down I was really releasing them to God.  The more I pulled the list out and prayed over it, the more I began to trust God that he was going to do the miracle.  I can tell you my list is not all about me and my family.  But I did have one personal request for myself out of the 10 that I wrote out.  Can I tell you the one that God chose to answer first was the personal one for me?

I encourage you to make your list and ask God everyday for His help with whatever is on your list.  You may be surprised like I was at which prayer he decides to answer first.