Praying Hands

I helped a pastor and his family move this weekend, and though I was personally very sad to see them go, I was happy to help them take the next step in the Lord’s plan for their lives. This post is a personal prayer for blessings on them as the serve the Lord and the people around them. I wasn’t able to say this prayer with them before leaving, but I leave it here in the hopes that it will strengthen the family and friends that read it.

Father, we praise You for the safe journey and for the fact that we have arrived safe and sound here in Michigan. We thank You for Your grace and Your guidance, and we thank You for pouring out Your Spirit on this family. We know that we are men and women of unclean lips and hearts that are not always focused on You, and we give ourselves over to You again today to abide in us and to cleanse us, enabling us to live in Your image. Lord, today we hold up the Troutman family to You for blessing. Here is a family that has dedicated themselves to You and your work, and we ask blessings on that work in Your church.

In Pastor Rob, Lord, we have a man who has dedicated his life on this planet to protecting and helping others. This Christian lion-hearted man has approached life here – in Your Spirit – with gusto and integrity. As Rob transitions from being a sheepdog for the sheep into being a shepherd of Your sheep, Lord, please pour out yet another special helping of Your Spirit, enabling him to walk among your church as an effective pastor. Give Rob the wisdom to bridle his strength as he boldly proclaims your word and approaches issues in Your church. Continue to pour Your Spirit into Rob’s heart, fueling his passion for helping others and for serving Your flock. Father, please bless Pastor Rob in a special way for Your service.

In Kenna, Lord, we have a princess and a lady. A Princess because she is the daughter of a King, and a lady of the land because she is married to a Knight in Your order. Help her to always carry herself as such, giving gentle strength and structure to Pastor Rob and to Your flock here in Saginaw. Continue to bless her with the ability to pass on a knowledge of You and Your Word to her children, help her to raise them up directly in the path of Your Light, and enable her to live as a Proverbs 31 woman, a shining and honorable example to Your church. Father, please bless Kenna as she walks with and helps Rob in Your service.

For Ryker, Lord, we ask that You accompany Him on his march into manhood. We know that he could have no better example than his earthly father here, save His heavenly father. Give him the wisdom to take direction from his lion-hearted father, and in those times when he cannot, help him to look to the lion of Judah for his help and sustenance. Father, please bless Ryker as he becomes a man in a difficult world.

For Kenton, Lord, we ask that you accompany her in a special and gentle way as she takes her first steps into womanhood. She has a shining example in her mother Lord, but we know that this is not always enough. Help Kenton to turn to you when this world seems too harsh and unforgiving, help her to level her mood and cheer herself with Your Spirit. Father, please bless Kenton as she grows into a strong Christian woman.

For the two little ones Lord (Kylee and Keris) (sp?), they are the luckiest little kids on this earth. They are cute (4 and 5 you know), they live in a Christian home with parents of integrity, and they have two loving and responsible older siblings. Even with this amazing start Lord, we know that we all need You, and we pray that these two precious children remember their lessons of You, Your mighty works, Your power, and Your personal interest in each of our hearts. Father, we ask blessings on these two little girls as they grow.

Lord, please bless the congregations that Pastor Rob and his family left, and the one they are coming into. Strengthen these local limbs of Your body, and bless them in proportion to their willingness to walk in Your way. We pray all these things in the name of Your Son, Amen.

Though God knows our heart and mind already, He wants us to tell him our innermost thoughts and put upon Him our burdens as we replace our worldly yoke with His mantle of righteousness, but He also desires that we are steadfast in our faith that He will provide.In James 4:2 we read that we do not have because we do not ask, and when we do ask, we ask for the wrong things. In the Lord’s Prayer we see that prayer is intended to work God’s will here on earth, not to get our will done in heaven. We should pray that God’s will is done in our lives, and that He show us our path to His perfect joy. Too many times we pick our own path to “joy” and then pray “God’s will” over that, trying to mold His omnipotent plan for our lives into an earthly form that matches our will.

In James 1:5 we see that we should ask and then be certain that this thing is already done in heaven. It does not matter when it happens here on earth, but we’ve prayed it and we have the faith that it is complete from God’s perspective. Mark Gungor (pastor and speaker) once moved from Stevens Point to Green Bay under immediate and rather harsh conditions. Many months after moving someone asked him, “Has your house in Stevens Point sold”? Mark answered – with a large smile across his face – , “Nope. Sure hasn’t!”. This person was flabbergasted that Mark could be so happy, because he knew that Mark “had” to sell that house soon. He asked Mark, “Why are you so happy? Have you prayed about it?”. Mark said, “Yep! I prayed and that’s why I’m happy. It’s already done!”.

When we read the accounts of various prayers in the Bible, we see many characteristics of effective prayer. The one I’d like to call out is in 1 Kings 18. In this prayer, Elijah is to be the Lord’s tool for ending a drought and proving to the people that our God is the Lord of Hosts and that there are no other gods before Him. To do this, Elijah allows the pagans to do their thing, for a very long time, making fools of themselves and tiring out. Elijah then involves the people in his prayer, even ceremonially rebuilding an altar with stones of the 12 tribes. He then takes an incredibly precious resource (water) and douses the sacrifice and altar so that none can say that a man start the fire. Elijah, knowing he was in the will of the Lord, called upon the Lord in perfect faith that the Lord would prove Himself, and our God burned the altar and its content to the ground. The faith of the people of Israel was strengthened and evil was slaughtered that day.

We have this same power available to us when we know that we are in the will of the Lord. Do you pray to Him every morning? Do you have a relationship with Him that places you in His Spirit and will? Do you talk with Him about everything and do you listen for His voice? If you do, praise the Lord and thank Him today for His mercy and gifts to you. If you do not, start again today and ask Him to begin once again molding you into a vessel for His Spirit.

Several things struck me about the trip, and I’ll relate just a few here. First, when we found our seats, the fans around us were incredibly nice and everyone talked together, laughing and joking.. very good natured. By the 3rd quarter however, the mood had changed. Now there were braggarts, loud folks – men and women alike – that were throwing curse words around, yelling at the coaches, and generally misbehaving. This was with the Packers winning the game. So,what might make a person act this differently? The answer is simple; a lack of temperance and the ready presence of alcohol. The game is every bit as fun to watch with one beer in you as it is with five. The difference is, with one beer in you, the game might continue to be fun to watch for everyone around you!

The second thing I’ll comment on is a comment RJ made to me when we first arrived; “Dad, are you sure that’s the right field? That doesn’t look anywhere near as big as the one on TV”. Isn’t it that way with many things in our lives? We desire and pant after a thing that we think will make such a HUGE difference to us, and when we finally get it, we find that wanting was so much better a thing than having. We, rather, should stand with Paul who said that he was always comfortable because he had learned to be content in all circumstances (Phil 4:11).

Finally, the Packer began this game “shaky”. Brett Favre was not “on” with most of his early passes and it seemed almost like pure luck that we got a couple of first downs. Once a few series were behind the Pack however, their confidence increased and they established the run and began throwing the long ball. As the game continued in their favor, they picked apart the pass defense of the Vikings and ran the ball right over them in addition (first 100-yd game allowed by the Vikings all season). It’s the same in our spiritual lives. We cannot expect to “throw the long ball” until we have established a relationship and pattern of success in our Christian lives. We cannot expect to see results on one big prayer if we haven’t given God the opportunity to build our confidence and faith in Him by praying again and again about little things, and looking for the answers to those prayers.

In the Army we talk about “Be” and “Do”. that is, what character traits should a warrior have and develop, and then how should those affect their actions? We see the same thing in our Christian walk. As we come into contact with the Savior, we see His love, his mercy, and His grace that saves us and we feel the love He has for us, being better able then to pass that on to others. As we study our Lord, we see what He demands of His followers and how we are to communicate with Him to become closer in relationship and “being” to Him.

Why then are we always so focused on one or the other? In this case, I was focused on being a “good Board Member” for Hope Pregnancy Resource Center. I wanted to pray – even setting myself aside a little – and worship for a spell, but then I wanted to set that all aside and “get some work done”.

This conference has made clear to me that “BEing” prefaces “DOing”. I mean, that since we do not pray our will to be done in heaven, but God’s will to be done on earth, we must discern what His will is and we cannot do that unless we know Him. In order to know Him, we must spend time with Him. More than this, we must spend time with Him together, in community with others of faith. God has told us that He will be with us in community… do you understand what that means? I know now that God means that we can understand His heart if we seek Him together, setting ourselves aside, gathering together in agreement to seek His heart in a matter. Once the Spirit of an Almighty God descends on us and gives us each a part of His truth, we can fellowship one with the other and piece together a fuller view of what He desires for our ministry.

Rather than praying a short prayer after a 5 minute devotion, we need to worship our Lord, praising Him and thanking Him together for His work with us. After this, we can pray His answers back to Him in a corporate setting, piecing His will for us together, in community with Christ at the center of that effort. With that level of intersection with the power of an Almighty God, we cannot help but be more effective and on fire for His work.

It is time to put the Lord back on the throne of our lives and back onto the throne of our various ministries. In Psalms 46:10 God says to , “.. be still and know I am God”. We need to set ourselves aside, be transparent one with the other, and connect with Christ as our Lord and Savior.

I praise Him and thank Him for the opportunity to be at a conference with so many faith-filled people in daily contact with a Living God.