iPray - pt. 3

Here are a few quick thoughts from the last night of the iPray series I did at Fuel.

• Jesus could have talked about any facet of prayer, but He focuses in here on these three things... 1. Declare God's Greatness. 2. Get Your Will in Alignment With His. 3. Acknowledge Your Dependence On Him. Then He launches into this story in Luke 11 about that thing that frustrates us more than anything about prayer, and I am so glad He did. He begins to talk about what happens when you don’t get what you want from God. He could have said anything about prayer right here, but He chooses this area because He knew the frustration we would feel.
• Jesus tells a parable about a man who asks his neighbor for some bread...at midnight. The man tell his neighbor to go away...it is late and he doesn't want to wake his family. The man finally gets out of bed and gives his neighbor some bread...not because the man is his friend, but because he is tired of his neighbors consistent and persistent knocking.
• The moral is kind of clear…if you want something from God just keep banging on the door and eventually He will get up and do something for you. Not because he loves you, but because you just bother him to death.
• This is not as weird as we might think…Remember a time when you just bugged your parents to death and they gave in just so you would shut up! Your parents don’t love you any more or less when that happens. Really it has nothing to do with love or your relationship with them. Sometimes you go ask your parents for something and they say no...and you say, “Yes sir” and walk away…and your parent says, “Hey common. Let’s go!” Your response to them caused them to change their mind because you had such a good attitude.
• God is not bothered by your persistence asking, sometimes he is moved by it. The parable could not be any clearer: tell God how great He is, align your will with His, and tell Him what you need…and oh yeah, DON’T QUITE ASKING!
• Your persistent prayer has the potential to move the heart of God. You have that kind of potential!

iPray - pt.2

Last night was the second installment of the iPray series at Fuel. Here are some quick thoughts from last night:

• Matt. 6:9 - We are told when we pray we are to start with God! I know there are times when I bypass this and head straight to me. Declaring God's greatness is vitally important in prayer. Why? It puts into context who it is we are talking too and who we are. You see, THE MORE TIME WE UNDERSTAND AND RECOGNIZING WHO IT IS WE ARE TALKING TO, THE LESS CONCERNED WE WILL BECOME ABOUT ALL OF THOSE UNRESOLVED ISSUES WE CAN’T WAIT TO ASK HIM TO RESOLVE. Declaring God's greatness gives us confidence in God and who he is!
• The second part of the "Lord's prayer" in Matt. 6:10 is this issue of surrendering our will to God. THIS IS THE WHO ISSUE OF PRAYER. Before we get to our needs, wants and wishes, we need to tell God that no matter what the answer may be, we do not want our will for our lives, we want His! This is very difficult to do IF we are lacking in the first area. It becomes a little easier to surrender your will to His once we get a solid picture of who He is!
• Lastly, we get to the part of the prayer that we are pretty good at, "Give...". Matt. 6:11-13 tell us to acknowledge our dependency on God for our daily provision, daily pardon form sin and daily protection.

You see we start with God, end with ourselves and it is the middle where the issues arise...whose agenda, will and purpose is going to take control? What about you? How are you doing with that second part? Do you have anything you aren't giving to God? He is begging you to come and talk to Him about this issue that you are not trusting him with. God doesn't want what you are holding on to, He can take that anytime he wants...He is God! He does want you heart. Will you give it to Him?

A Letter About Sex

Last Friday I sent an e-mail to each of the high school parents. The email informed them that on Thursday, Oct. 23 we will be talking about sexual sin in chapel. I have to admit, I was blown away by the response. The POSITIVE response. I must say that I thought most of the feedback would be a little hesitant on the parents part. After all, we are covering the issues of pornography, oral sex, masturbation and homosexuality. These are not easy topics to discuss...but the students did ask for it. If they are already thinking about these issues, why doesn't someone address them in a Biblical way?

There are always a couple, no matter where you are, that think there child does not need to be a part of such discussion. That is fine. I am sure the parents think they know what is best for their child...and most of the time they do.

I would appreciate your prayers on Thursday around noon. Pray for the student body here at GCA. Pray that the others who have not been involved in sexual immorality can continue to make the right choice to exercise self control. Pray for the student that have been caught up in this mess of sexual immorality will be set free. There is HOPE in JESUS!

Helping the Elderly Transition To DTV

This video post from Todd at Monday Morning Insight was funny! I had to share it. Perhaps we (the church) should help them out. This would be a good service project!

glumbert - Are Old People Ready For The Digital Conversion?

iPray - pt.1

Here are a few quick thoughts from my talk last night with the students at South Harriman Baptist Church about the subject of prayer.

• What if we have been praying wrong all along? What if prayer isn't about us getting stuff from God?


• Matthew 6 is the only place in the Bible that I can find where someone asks someone else how to pray. (The disciples were pretty smart. They saw that Jesus was praying differently than them and they wanted to know how to get it right! Great lesson for us!)


• The first point that Jesus makes about prayer in Matt. 6:5-6 is that location is important!


• We can talk to Go the rest of our lives and not feel connected to Him because we do not spend intentional, intimate time with Him in our room with the door shut.


• The reward mentioned in Matt.6:6 is that we will know...no matter if the answer is yes, no or nothing...that God is with us!


• Matt. 6:7 lets us know that words are important. We do not have to impress God. The pressure is off.


• Matt. 6:8 really messed me up when I first understood what it was saying...God already knows what we need before we ask Him...Most of the time our prayers are telling God the stuff He already knows. Obviously we have missed something.


• The most important thing in the world is your personal, intimate realtionship with God because everything else in life flows from that one thing.

We pick back up next week with verse 9 of Matthew 6. I'll post some thoughts about it next Thursday.

iPray

I will be teaching a series on prayer to the students at South Harriman Baptist Church for the next three Wednesday nights. I am excited about this opportunity. Just wanted to share a little video promo I made for the series. I'll post some updates tomorrow.


iPray from Craig Price on Vimeo.

This Is What Happens When You Are Bored...

I had some free time on my hands today so I made a little video of Landon playing in the yard. Enjoy!


Landon playing in the yard. from Craig Price on Vimeo.